Judie Tzuke - The Facts.
Judie Myers was born at the Middlesex Hospital, London, on the 03rd April 1956. Her father was Sefton Myers and her mother was Jean Silverside. Judie was one of three, her brother was Andy and sister Wendy. Sadly Judie's father and sister are no longer able to see the wonderful work that she has produced, but I am sure they would have been very proud of her achievements.
When she was 8 years old she found out the story of her 'real' name, Judie's grandparents had moved to Yorkshire in the 1920's and changed their name from Tzuke to Myers in an attempt to blend in. Myers was a common name in Yorkshire at that time.
Attending school, at the now demised London Ballet and Drama School in Piccadilly, Judie was expelled on several occasions for smoking and bad behaviour. Eventually at the age of 15 she was expelled and did not return.
Even at this age Judie had already started writing poems, although mainly to impress a teacher, and even started playing the acoustic guitar. Joining the two together she formed some of her first tracks including the brilliant 'Bring the Rain' which Judie is said to have written at the age of 15.
Judie approached the newly formed Rocket Records for a recording contract. She played two songs, which they liked, and claimed to have 20 more ready - they asked her to come back and record the other songs. Judie didn't have any more songs - she didn't return!
There then came the chance to sign up with 'Island' records but owing to certain pressures at the time she declined.
In 1974/75 Judie met up with Mike Paxman. She was supposed to be joining the band Mike was drummer with, but Mike ended up joining Judie instead. They started writing together, 'These are the Laws' and 'It's Only Fantasies' were some of the first songs penned together.
An approach was made to Jonathan King's Record Label, he was interested but unable to make a decision. On the same day they approached the Good Earth Record Label who were interested and signed them up. 'These are the Laws' was released as a single in 1977 on the Good Earth Record Label with 'It's Only Fantasies' on the flip side .
Later that year Judie, now 5 feet tall with blonde hair and blue eyes, re-approached Rocket Records and played several tracks including 'Stay With Me Till Dawn'. This time Judie had the songs and was snapped up. Paul Muggleton and Bob Noble also moved from Good Earth and joined Judie in the studio at Rocket.
See How did it begin for details.
The first single, 'For You', was released in 1978, followed by 'Stay With Me Till Dawn' and the first album, 'Welcome to the Cruise'.
John Edwards and Jeff Rich, both of whom are now with the Mike Paxman produced group, Status Quo, joined Judie and Mike to form the first Judie Tzuke Group. 'Sportscar' and 'I am the Phoenix' were recorded for Rocket before moving on to Chrysalis Records.
'Shoot the Moon' was recorded in 1982. Judie was now touring to full concert halls throughout the UK and some parts of Europe. Some of these concerts, mainly the Glastonbury Festival and The Hammersmith Odeon, were recorded and used to form the brilliant live album, 'Road Noise - The Official Bootleg'.
In 1983 Ritmo was released but Judie was not happy with Chrysalis and decided she would have more joy with a smaller record company. 1985 saw Judie joining Legacy Records, a much smaller independent company. Legacy really tried to push Judie and released the three album versions in three different covers. The CD, vinyl and tape all had their own unique sleeve.
Not only that but Legacy also attempted to release remix versions of singles and included posters, etc. It was a nice try and Judie had another brilliant tour but Legacy just were not big enough to 'really' push Judie. Maybe if they'd had more clout things might have been different.
Judie had realised this too and decided to try a bigger company again. There was a slight pause between records as she found herself without a record company once more. She did however find other things to do with her time and in 1987 Judie and her partner, Paul Muggleton, had their first daughter, Bailey.
The new company was Polydor Records. Judie had signed an eight album record deal but unfortunately due to managerial differences Judie left Polydor after the release of 'Turning Stones'. The album was quickly deleted but still made a slight dent in the charts. This was to be Judie's last chart success. Unfortunately this also meant that the tour had to be cancelled, with no record company backing, Judie had to return to her own studio and start recording without a record deal.
In 1989 Judie signed with Columbia Records, part of the Sony Group. 'Left Hand Talking' was released in 1991 but again this was to be a 'one off'. Judie joined Essential Records for the release of 'Wonderland' in 1992, this album was recorded solely at her own studios, The Big Ocean Studio. It was becoming obvious that the big record companies didn't have enough interest in Judie Tzuke to try to push her, they dictated how she recorded, what should be released, etc. It was not a situation that she liked. The smaller record companies didn't put on too much pressure but didn't have the power to really push Judie - although they did try.
Where should she go from here?
There was now to be a gap of several years and Judie's second daughter, Tullula, was born in 1994. The only way Judie could see a way forward was to take complete control. This meant recording and releasing the albums herself! Now, some 4 years since her last studio album, Judie releases her next album, 'Under the Angels', on her newly formed record label - Big Moon Records. The album released in 1996 was, and still is, only available through Mail Order or over the Internet.
Judie was back but the four years of silence, the cancelled tour, the constant change of record companies, had cost her dearly. A lot of the fans had either found someone else to listen to or... were not on the Internet! This was a problem. A new album had been released but was only available to those on the internet or still on the mailing list. I was on the mailing list but certainly didn't receive any information! In fact I was unaware that Judie was still playing!
Without albums on the record store shelves it was certainly going to be an uphill struggle. Judie did still have her dedicated fans that had 'kept in touch'. The word of mouth and occasional posters were enough to sell enough CDs and seats at concerts to keep Judie going. Indeed in 1997 Judie toured quite extensively - it wasn't quite Tiffany singing in shopping malls but it was enough to get people interested again. CDs being sold at the door, flyers advertising the web site, etc. It all helped.
From this tour another live album was recorded, 'Over The Moon', which was released in 1997. Judie's natural 'bad luck' wasn't over though! A new album was in the pipeline but Judie was struck with an illness that postponed another tour and saw the release of the album being put off until almost 1999. Her latest album 'Secret Agent' was released in December 1998. A fantastic album which was followed by an even more fantastic tour. Judie is back. Her songs are better than ever. We just need to let everyone else know she's out there. How can you help? Well for starters the albums are still available by mail order and can be purchased from www.tzuke.com. See you at the gigs.
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