Judie Tzuke - Press Cuttings.

The following article was published in the SURREY HERALD on the 31st August 1978.

Not so long ago Judie Tzuke flunked a job interview with the Herald. But with a single picking up critical acclaim and airplay from major radio stations, this 22-year-old blonde singer is losing no sleep over that small setback. Judie started singing when she was 15. Because there were no other singers at the boarding ballet school she unhappily attended. She just wanted to be different. Later she played two self-written songs to an executive from Rocket Records and her assurance that she had another 20 up her sleeve won her a valuable second appointment.

"I never kept it- I didn't have any more finished songs and I was far too embarrassed to admit it, and I spent the next couple of years singing in folk clubs and gigging round Europe. Finally Judie re-established contact with the company and early this year signed a long-term recording contract with the company owned by Elton John.

The single 'For You' came out in June and has been played on Capital Radio and Radio One. "I can't believe that people are going out and buying the single. They are taking my voice home and listening to it, and that is fantastic."

'For You' is distinctly unusual for a single in 1978. The only musicians lending a helping hand are the members of a string quartet. For the rest, Judie overdubs her voice time after time. "I don't play any instrument very well, and one night I thought I'd just try out singing a few harmonies against myself. 'For You' was the result."

At 5ft 1in with shoulder length blonde hair, Judie is a pleasantly familiar sight in and around Weybridge.

Now that 'For You' is turning into a minor success story, people are beginning to stop her in the street.

"I'm normally quiet and shy, so I quite like being looked at and recognised" she said "but For You is a fluke."

After the single comes the album, and Judie is now hard at work at Air Studios, Oxford Street, on a collection of songs she and her partner Mike Paxman have written. "I have always written with Mike, and although sometimes managers and producers have tried to take one without the other, we need each other to write songs. I can be objective about what Mike does and he checks what I write."

The album, which has a working title of Welcome To The Cruise, is scheduled for release in the autumn but there could be a new single on the market before then, and Judie has already recorded sessions for Radio One and Capital.

For an unknown singer with no friends in high places to make it in rock music is no small achievement. Judie knows how lucky she has been to win the coveted recording contract, especially with Rocket. "I really have been fortunate. Rocket is a big company, but has the atmosphere of a small concern. Everybody is so friendly." And The Biz, as musicians call their world, hasn't fooled Judie for an instant. "I know the only reason I'm making it now is because I'm a girl singer who writes songs. Since Kate Bush got into the charts every record company wants their own girl singer. If I were a man I wouldn't have stood a chance."

Many of the reviews of Judie's. single compared her with Kate, whose quirky voice and strong lyrics catapulted her to number one in the charts. "It's funny, that. I am really into lyrics but Kate and I are nowhere near each other musically. But reviewers and even EMI who distribute both our records think we're in competition. Ironically we are using the same studios at the moment and we met in the corridor last night.

We both looked embarrassed and Passed by without saying anything." When the album emerges Judie hopes to go on tour and is thinking about small clubs rather than the draughty concert halls generally associated with modern rock music. "It all depends on the type of band I have. I want a really excellent band behind me, but I don't know who'l1 be available. Sometime I'd like to do some acoustic work, just a string bass player, that sort of thing, but for now I'l1 just concentrate on the album." Britain is considered the prestige market for most rock singers, but America is where the money is, and Judie has enlisted the help of superstars Thin Lizzy across the water. "They're in the States doing a radio interview tour, and Scott Gorham is handing out copies of my single." Judie yawned. She'd been up half the night at the studio going over and over the tracks already laid down. "I just can't keep away, and so virtually every night I drive up to Air Studios and listen." And then it's back in the early hours to her home where she lives with her parents, brother, sister, dog and nine cats. She is obviously enjoying the excitement of full -time singing, but the owner of Weybridge's record shop, who knows Judie well, and stocks her single, has a word of warning. "The record has sold well for an unknown," said Mr Duncan Mort "but the singer's name on a record means everything, and if you're not famous then it's hard to get into the charts." Judie is unconcerned: "If I make it I'll go on the road. If I don't, I'll just have to go on the streets!"

Return !!!