1931-2021
Johnny Worth
1931-2021
Johnny Worth
Johnny Worth, known under the pseudonyms Les Vandyke and John Worsley, was an English singer-songwriter from the 1950s to the 1980s. Born on June 21, 1931, in Battersea, South London, he was named Yannis Paraskos Skordalides by his father, a Greek Cypriot, but his mother insisted that he be named John Worsley and christened in the English church. As a boy, he used the name John Skoradalides and trained as a draughtsman until he was called for mandatory military service. He returned home in the early 1950s to pursue a career as a singer and took the name Johnny Worth. John would perform out in various pubs, but his professional career took a turn to success when he landed a television appearance, which was seen and praised by the wife of bandleader Oscar Rabin. John spent five years with the Oscar Rabin Band and made an assortment of recordings for Oriole Records, Columbia Records, and Embassy Records label.
Worth would go on to join the Raindrops vocal quartet which appeared on the television show Drumbeat. It was on this show that he met Oscar-winning composer John Barry and singer Adam Faith. Following his pursuit of songwriting Worth asked pianist Les Reed to arrange a demo of his song "What Do You Want?" which he brought to Faith and record producer John Burgess. Faith took the song on, and it reached number one on the UK Singles Chart in 1959, where it remained for nineteen weeks.Still signed to Oriole Records as John Worsley he adopted another pseudonym, combining pianist Les Reed's first name with his own telephone exchange, he became known as Les Vandyke.As Vandyke, John would continue to write songs for Adam Faith, in January 1960 he earned another number-one single "Poor Me,” and would go on to compose six more Top Ten hits including "Someone Else's Baby," "How About That," "Who Am I," "The Time Has Come," "As You Like It," and "Don't That Beat All." In addition to working with Faith, he also collaborated with Ron Grainer on the score for the drama Some People (1962), and wrote and composed Eden Kane’s number one single "Well I Ask You," plus two more Top Ten hits, "Get Lost" and "Forget Me Not."
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JohnnyWorth
Beginning in the late 1960s Worsley stopped his use of the Les Vandyke pseudonym and was credited under his real name John Worsley or occasionally as John Worth. During this time Worth became very popular in Australia, where two of his songs were covered by well-known artists including "Doin' The Mod" by Ronnie Burns's band the Flies, originally recorded by Vandyke with British band The Bambis, in 1964, and "Dance Puppet Dance" by Little Pattie, first recorded by Dave Duggan on Columbia in the UK, in 1963 which reached number twelve in the Sydney-based pop charts. He continued his work as a songwriter and wrote several more big-hit records. In 1971, he wrote the United Kingdom’s Eurovision entry "Jack in the Box", performed by Clodagh Rodgers, and wrote and produced "Gonna Make You an Offer You Can't Refuse" a number 8 UK hit in 1973 for the American singer, and Jimmy Helms for Cube Records.
Worth also found success in cinema and theatre, he wrote the music and songs for a number of movies during the 1960s and 1970s, including What a Whopper (1961) The Kitchen (1961); Mix Me a Person (1962); Some People (1962), Johnny Cool (1963); Psychomania (1973) and The Playbirds (1978). He also sang and recorded three songs for the score of the 1968 short film Les Bicyclettes de Belsize, including the title song. In 1986, Worth met his wife Catherine Stock, sister of his fellow songwriter Mike Stock. Later that year, utilizing the pseudonym "John Worth", he wrote, produced, and arranged Catherine’s Stock's UK hit "To Have and To Hold", which reached number 17 on the UK Singles Chart. His songs would go on to be recorded by various reputable artists including Petula Clark, Anthony Newley, Sammy Davis Jr., Engelbert Humperdinck, and Bobby Vee, as well as the Foundations ("Baby, I Couldn't See"); Jackie Trent ("I'll Be Near You"), Shirley Bassey ("Does Anybody Miss Me"), Cleo Laine ("Life Is a Wheel"), Barbra Streisand ("I Can Do It"), and many more. John passed away peacefully on August 6, 2021, at the age of 90 in his home in Consett, surrounded by his family, his sister Tina, his two remaining sons, David and Christos, and his daughter Janet.
Throughout John’s career, he received numerous praise, the AllMusic journalist Bruce Eder stated, "Vandyke is one of those rare talents in English pop music whose songwriting success crossed several genres and eras, from the end of the 1950s right into the 1970s". And Simon Platz, the managing director of Bucks Music Group, commented “John was a fantastic composer and songwriter, with an enviable career spanning many decades. He was also a unique character with a passion for music that never waned. Even in his late 80s, he was still sending me tracks.”
