Steve Clayton - Girls are imitating Twiggy

 

The vocalist and songwriter Steve Clayton can be said to have a career something like that of Mel Tormé, minus the fame. Then again, Tormé, with all his songwriting talent, never came up with a record such as "Stay out of That Empty Building," concocted for the burgeoning children's music market of the early '60s but probably more suitable for a slasher film. A main similarity with Tormé is an ambition to crack the pop charts in the early years followed by a later period in which the vocalists were encouraged to explore the more profound world of the jazz singer. Pianist Derek Smith was a partner in one such recording project, the Clayton Sovereign release entitled At His Very Best.

The singer released singles such as "Let's Tell Them Now" in 1960, in a smooth pop style retroactively described as pre-rock. He worked with longtime record producer and label manager Joe Davis a few years later, and wound up inspired by the idea of children as record buyers, or at least conduits to their parent's wallets. Talented young vocalist Leslie Uggams was one of the hotter irons Davis had in the fire during the period when he also contracted the somewhat lukewarm Clayton. Some of Clayton's efforts at winning the minds and hearts of the wee ones included a 1971 collaboration with songwriter Candy Anderson entitled "Lullaby and Goodnight.

In 1967 he recorded "Girls are imitating Twiggy", which is posted here