Lee Vanderbilt

Lee Vanderbilt (born Kenrick Pitt) is a Trinidadian soul and rock singer.

Vanderbilt was born on 9 August 1935 in San Fernando, Trinidad, moving to the United Kingdom in the late 1950s. In 1964 he signed his first record deal using the stage name, "Ebony Keyes", with Parlophone Records, releasing two songs, "Brother Joe" and "Under the Apple Tree". In 1967, after an introduction from his friend Peter Gage (a founder of Geno Washington & The Ram Jam Band and Vinegar Joe), he signed to Pye Records where he released a number of singles on the Pye Label; on their subsidiary record label Piccadilly Records and on the label of their primary Australian distributor, Astor Records. The records included: "If Our Love Should End"; "Sitting in a Ring"; "Country Girl"; "Cupid's House"; "How Many Times"; "Don't"; "Sweet Mary Anne (Sweeter Than a Rose)"; and the hit “If You Knew”. In 1968, he signed to the United Artists Record Label when, at the suggestion of an A&R executive, he changed his stage name from Ebony Keyes to "Lee Vanderbilt". While with United Artists he released a number of singles and sang on a number of film sound tracks including the theme song, Some Girls Do, for the 1969 British spy-spoof of the same name, directed by Ralph Thomas and starring Richard Johnson. "Some Girls Do" was released by United Artists as a single in 1969. In the same year Vanderbilt was asked to represent the United Kingdom at the Gibraltar Song Festival, where he won gold and bronze medals with two songs of his own composition, "How shall I Know" and "A Woman's Way".

In the 1970s, Vanderbilt was regularly in the studio, working as a session musician. Through his session work he met many artists with whom he would go on to collaborate including an aspiring musical arranger, producer and songwriter from India called Biddu Appaiah (also known simply as Biddu). Biddu and Vanderbilt became friends and collaborated for many years on a number of projects. In 1973, Biddu established his own production company to which he signed a number of artists, including Vanderbilt. The first commercially successful artist signed to Biddu's production company was Carl Douglas, who in 1974 released his well-known disco hit “Kung Fu Fighting”. Carl Douglas also recorded three songs written by Lee Vanderbilt, “I Don’t Care What the People Say” (Biddu-Vanderbilt), “Stand Up For Love” and “Never Had This Dream Before”, all three of which appeared on his “Kung Fu Fighter” Album in 1974.

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