Michael Julien

Michael Julien (a.k.a. Peter Warne; 1 August 1927 – 29 December 2020) was a British songwriter, who was the co-writer of a number of hit songs across the world. He co-wrote the winning song at the 1969 Eurovision Song Contest and received an Ivor Novello Award for songwriting.^{[citation needed]}

Early career[]

During his early career, Michael Julien wrote a song for Norman Wisdom's album Heart of a Clown called "Impossible" in 1954. Julien's first major hit came with "Kiss Me, Honey Honey, Kiss Me", written with Al Timothy, sung by Shirley Bassey^[1] in 1958. It proved a great success, peaking in the charts at number three, and staying in the charts for an impressive 17 weeks.^[2] After this, Julien composed songs for films, including Jazz Boat in 1960.^[3][4] During the sixties, he continued to write songs for established artists such as David Hughes for whom he wrote "Teach me (how to love him)". Julien wrote the English lyrics to Cliff Richard's adaptation of "L'Edera", translating as "Constantly". It was a global hit, reaching the top ten in six countries.^[5] Julien's first major hit in the United States came with what is today a wartime classic. He wrote the title and lyrics of "Let's Live for Today", recorded by The Grass Roots in 1967.^[6] It was originally recorded a year earlier by The Rokes but the version adding Julien's lyrics was first recorded by The Living Daylights. This song was voted by troops in the Vietnam War as their favourite song, and is now a pop standard in the US.^[7]

Eurovision success[]

After his success in the United States and with Shirley Bassey, Julien wrote the English lyrics for the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest winning song "La, la, la". Although the Spanish version had the most success, Julien's version reached number seventeen in the Rhodesian charts.^[8] The next year, he was invited to write the lyrics for a song for the BBC's national selection process for the 1969 Eurovision Song Contest. His song, "Boom Bang-a-Bang" won the televised competition, and represented the United Kingdom in Madrid. The song placed joint first, with a total of 18 points. It went on to be a hit, peaking at number two in the charts in the UK, in which it remained for 13 weeks.^[9] The song also had success in Europe and Australia, in its foreign language versions. He also wrote "Nine Times Out Of Ten" for Ireland's 1969 entrant Muriel Day who performed "The Wages of Love".

Later works[]

Following Eurovision, Julien co-wrote "Love is a Gamble" with Alan Moorhouse, sung by Jackie Lee, marking her debut with her record label Pye Records.^[10] Subsequently, he composed many other songs that were recorded by American artists.

In 2015 Julien did a number of other works. In April, for the first time he released a song as the artist. The track, entitled "You're so Loveable", was released worldwide on iTunes and other major distributors.^[11] He did a one-off concert at The Pheasantry, Chelsea to showcase his songs, in association with Test of Time Productions. The show featured Rhiannon Drake and Richard Beavis, amongst others. On 1 October, he appeared on The Chris Evans Breakfast Show talking about his career and Eurovision.^[12]

Death[]

Julien died on 29 December 2020 at the age of 93 after catching Covid-19 whilst in hospital.^[13]

Awards and accolades[]

References[]

External links[]

• Chartwatch.co.uk