Barry St. John

Born and raised in Glasgow, Scotland, Liz Thompson sang from a young age, and joined local beat group, Bobby Patrick's Big Six, before they moved to London in 1961. The group toured Germany and played clubs in Hamburg, before Thompson decided to start a solo career and returned to England.

As Barry St. John, she signed with Decca Records in 1964 and released her first single, a version of the Jarmels' "A Little Bit of Soap". Her follow-up, a cover version of the Newbeats' hit "Bread and Butter", made the German pop charts later that year. Although she continue to release singles in the UK, they had little success. In 1965 she moved to Columbia Records, and had her only UK singles chart entry with "Come Away Melinda", a Weavers song previously recorded by Harry Belafonte which St. John recorded at the suggestion of record producer Mickie Most. Later releases on Columbia were less successful, although several became popular a few years later on the Northern soul scene. In 1968, she recorded further solo singles, on the Major Minor label, and also released an album, According to St. John, produced by Mike Pasternak, alias Emperor Rosko.

She sang with the Les Humphries Singers between 1972 and 1973. St. John was also a background singer on many records, including Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon (1973), the concept album The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast (1974), and Andy Fairweather Low's, La Booga Rooga (1975). She was used as a session musician by a string of other artists including Alexis Korner, Long John Baldry, and Duster Bennett in the late 1960s, and with Bryan Ferry, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel and Elton John in the 1970s. Her other project work the following decade encompassed Vivian Stanshall, Kevin Coyne, John Cale, Daevid Allen, Tom Robinson and Whitesnake. Her work continued into the early 1990s with Squeeze and Jorge Ben Jor.

Singles

• "A Little Bit of Soap" / "Thing Of The Past" (Decca, 1964)
• "Bread and Butter" / "Cry to Me" (Decca, 1964)
• "Mind How You Go" / "Don't You Feel Proud" (Decca, 1965)
• "Hey Boy" / "I've Been Crying" (Decca, 1965)
• "Come Away Melinda" / "Gotta Brand New Man" (Columbia, 1965)
• "Everything I Touch Turns To Tears" / "Sounds Like My Baby" (Columbia, 1966)
• "Cry Like a Baby" / "Long and Lonely Night" (Major Minor, 1968)
• "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" / "Turn On Your Light" (Major Minor, 1969)

Albums

• According To St. John (Major Minor, 1968)