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Wayne Bickerton, along with his future songwriting and producer partner Tony Waddington, was a member of the Pete Best Three. Not necessarily the most auspicious start to your career, but Bickerton & Waddington went on to better things: Waddington turned into a decent songwriter whilst Bickerton mostly looked after business, first at Deram and later as Head of A&R at Polydor. It was whilst he was at Polydor that the two of them wrote 'Sugar Baby Love', originally intended as a Eurovision Song Contest entry (where it would have lost to 'Waterloo') and then offered to Showaddywaddy. When they turned it down, Bickerton & Wadington went back to the session-musicians who'd been on the original demo and asked them if they wanted to form a band. They did and The Rubettes were born. The success of 'Sugar Baby Love' and subsequent Rubettes records, together with 'Sugar Candy Kisses' by Mac & Katie Kissoon, encouraged Bickerton & Waddington to set up State Records. They had some success there, but they were never quite prolific enough to challenge the real leaders in the songwriting/production league: double-acts like Chinn & Chapman and Martin & Coulter probably didn't lose too much sleep. Which is not to say they were lightweights: 'I Can Do It' by The Rubettes was one of the great singles of the decade. Dr Bickerton went on to occupy senior executive positions within the Performing Rights Society and SESAC International. ![]() click for photo |
Eddie Amoo |