Eden Kane

 

Eden Kane photo

Eden on stage at the California

I first visited the California Ballroom in 1962 with Eden Kane.

The owner, Mr. Green, also managed a wonderful band called The Rhet Stoller Group. Rhet was an incredible guitarist and Eden quickly booked them as his backing band.

The line-up of the band was; Rhet Stoller (lead guitar), Roger Rettig (rythmn guitar), Brian Gregg (ex Pirates on bass guitar) and Bernie Martin was the drummer.

Mr. Green had a beautiful daughter who, I believe, was called Edwina, and she acted as Roadie and drove the van for the band on a few gigs, the first being a Sunday concert at the Princess Theatre, Torquay.

Malcolm Cook, Prostar Management


See below for Eden's biography
All pictures © Eden Kane



Eden Kane advert - California Ballroom

As far as we are aware, Eden Kane appeared at the California on three occasions:
9th February 1962 - Admission 4/6d
Eden Kane, Peter Jay and the Jaywalkers, The Cannons, Johnny Ringo, The Diamonds

25th May 1962 - Admission 4/6d
Eden Kane, The Jaywalkers, Terry Dene, Rhet Stoller and the Dynamics, Jeff Knight and the Challengers

4th August 1962 - Admission 6/6d
Eden Kane, Rhet Stoller, Johnny Angell, Johnny Dave Five, Freddie Maydwell Orchestra

I've also found a bit of a mystery
19th October 1962 - Vince Eager, Paul Kane (Eden's Brother), Bobby Angelo, The Echos, The Blue Notes

22nd December 1962 - The Red Price, Ricky Marino, Wes Sands, The Stormbreakers

24th December 1962 - The Duke D'Mond, Wes Sands, Geoff Stokes Orchestra, Barron Knights, The Tartans


This Biography courtesy of Malcolm Cook
Prostar Management & Hal Carter Organisation

Whenever "Well I ask you" is played on the radio or a jukebox, listeners must wonder whatever happened to sixties pop idol Eden Kane. The answer is simple, he's alive and well and has been living in Los Angeles for the past 25 years.

Richard Sarstedt was born in India where his father managed a tea plantation in the Darjeeling region. Along with his younger sister and two younger brothers, his education was undertaken at the boarding schools favoured by the European community. Following the early death of his father, the family returned home to England and settled in Norbury, south London.

The mid 50's saw a rise in the popularity of the coffee-bar and with it the emergence of skiffle and rock'n'roll as forms of popular music for young people. Richard soon realised the potential and formed his own group under the name The Fabulous Five. The Fab 5, which featured younger brother Peter on tea-chest bass, gained a certain amount of local success, but as Eden says "We earnt a few pennies, smouldered a bit but lit no fires!"

In 1961, Richard entered a talent contest staged at the Classic cinema in Kings Road Chelsea. Among the judges were record producers Michael Barclay and Philip Waddilove, who realised the potential and declared Richard the winner, signed him to a management contract and began to groom him for stardom.

Things moved fast - the main prize was a contract to promote Cadbury's Drinking Chocolate on Radio Luxembourg, and with it went the enviable title Hot Chocolate Troubadour. The commercial promotion resulted in a one-off self-penned release on Pye Records titled "Hot Chocolate Crazy".

Then Decca moved in with the offer of a record deal! On the strength of Richard and the offered major production deal with Decca, the Barclay-Waddilove team decided to inaugurate what was to become the first American style management company in Europe. The company was launched as Audio Enterprise with the intention of managing, producing, booking artistes, together with handling their press and promotion - the complete in-house package.

For Richard Sarstedt, the first move was a change of name. Eden because of its relevance to where Adam met Eve, Kane due to Citizen Kane being Michael Barclay's favourite film. Then came the change of image - white suit, shirt, socks and shoes, with a brown knitted silk tie did the trick!

Success was instantaneous, the first Eden Kane single for Decca "Well I ask you" shot to the No.1 slot in the 1961 charts. Then followed a whole string of Top 5 hits. "Get Lost", "Forget Me Not", "I don't know why" and "Boys cry". Over just a relatively short period of three years Eden Kane records featured in the charts for no less than 74 weeks.

Along with success came concert tour offers from promoters Larry Parnes and Arthur Howes which saw Eden co-starring alongside the likes of Billy Fury, Joe Brown, Helen Shapiro and Marty Wilde. In the late sixties Eden accepted an offer to tour Australia. Such was his success there that he soon found himself hosting his own weekly TV series, which led to offers to appear at the swish US cabaret venues in Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe.

In 1989 Eden accepted an invitation to tour Great Britain with Marty Wilde and Brian Hyland. The tour proved to be a tremendous success which made Eden determined to return to Great Britain on a regular annual basis.

In 1993, Eden jetted in to London to appear as a "Special guest" on the Capital Gold Anniversary Concert at the Royal Albert Hall. Following his performance, he drove to Caesar's Palace in Luton to join Marty Wilde and John Leyton in an exciting one-off performance of "Oh Boy!" Such was the audience response that concert promoters The Flying Music Company decoded to promote a lengthy concert tour starring Eden Kane along with Marty Wilde and the Wildcats, Joe Brown and the Bruvvers, John Leyton and the Vernon Girls. The show was titled the "Solid Gold Rock'n'Roll Show" and played to sell-out business at 51 venues..... with the legendary Brenda Lee joining the show at the Royal Albert Hall.

Such was the success of the tour that Flying Music have promoted it on an annual basis ever since..... and with the same line-up of artistes, in fact the show has now acquired cult status and continues to draw capacity crowds.

Eden is married to Charlene and they reside in Los Angeles, while up until recently their son Robbie and daughter Ami lived on the family ranch in Arizona. Eden's sister-in-law is "Hart to Hart" star Stephanie Powers, while his next-door neighbours include Smokey Robinson and "Columbo" star Peter Falk - hence acting would seem a natural progression. Successful cameo parts in "Dynasty" led to Eden being featured as the Pilot of the starship Enterprise in the cult TV series "Star Trek" - and in the closing scenes of the last series he featured as an Admiral of the Fleet bringing the starship home. Eden continues to be a contract artiste with the series today.

NB. For the Trekkies amongst you. Eden plays the Admiral in the last episode of Voyager. Check out the photo above and you'll be able to pick him out no probs!

For the ladies amongst you with absolutely no interest whatsoever in Star Trek. Just check out the photo!

For those with no interest in either: Richard's brothers are Peter and Robin Sarstedt both of whom are in the music business and both of whom had chart hits. Peter with "Where do you go to my lovely" in 1969 and Robin with "My resistance is low" in 1976. Robin played the California Ballroom in the sixties under the name Wes Sands.


Sole Representation:    
Hal Carter Organisation, 101 Hazelwood Lane, London N13 5HQ, England
Tel: 0208 886 2801 Fax: 0208 882 7380 email: artistes@halcarterorg.com

 





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