Lenny Zakatek
Encyclopedia
Lenny Zakatek also known as "The Voice" (born Lenny du Platel 1947, Karachi
, British India) is a pop
and rock
singer and musician who has lived in London
since the age of thirteen. Zakatek was born just prior to Karachi becoming part of Pakistan
and is best known for his work with the British bands Gonzalez
and The Alan Parsons Project
.
ist. On their first tour of US
military bases in Europe, they became familiar with the Motown sound. The Trailblazers returned to the UK
with a new soul influence and were renamed Funky Fever. They toured the UK and Europe for several years and also played nightclubs in London, including Gulliver’s, Whisky a Go Go
, The Marquee, Ronnie Scott's, The Scotch of St. James and The Revolution. Funky Fever also backed Inez and Charlie Foxx
and The Drifters
on their European tours.
Lynsey de Paul
and Dudley Moore
took an interest in Zakatek's voice, look and stage presence in the early 1970s. De Paul dubbed him "Zakatek" and wrote two singles
"I Gotcha Now" backed with "So Good To You" (later recorded by Paul as the B-side
on her hit single
"Won't Somebody Dance With Me") and singles
"Get Your Gun" backed with "Gotta Runaway". Ms De Paul introduced him to the UK through an article in the Daily Mirror entitled "Sugar Heap Girl's Big Find". The musicians who were featured on Zakatek’s solo work were already known as some of the members of 10cc
.
. They recorded successful album
s, including Our Only Weapon Is Our Music, and Shipwrecked. The worldwide disco
hit, "I Haven't Stopped Dancing Yet" came from this collaboration.
In 1977, Zakatek became a studio vocalist for The Alan Parsons Project
, singing on many of their hits over a ten year period. He was featured on twenty four songs on eight of The Alan Parsons Project albums, which included the hits "I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You", "Games People Play", "You Don't Believe" and "Damned If I Do". About Zakatek's vocals on Alan Parson's Project tracks, the allaboutjazz.com reviewer Todd S. Jenkins
wrote that: "Lenny Zakatek's singing on "I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You" and "Games People Play" is prototypical of soulful prog rock
. His delivery adds a funky, bluesy air".
by Alan Parsons
for A&M Records
. Single releases included "Brandy", "Say I Love You" and "Where Is The Love". In 1986, Zakatek formed a band called The Immortals, with John Deacon
on bass guitar
, and Robert Ahwai on lead guitar. Their single "No Turning Back", was included on the soundtrack
to the film
, Biggles.
In 1986, he guested on the track "Angel", written by Bob Weston
, included on the Dick Morrissey
album Souliloquy
, and which also featured both Ahwai and Weston.
In 1988, he started a parallel career as a manager, music publisher and record producer. He managed and co-produced three of Japan's most prolific recording artists, Tomoyasu Hotei
, Miki Imai and Kumiko Yamashita. In the UK he managed 7th Heaven, Huff and Herb, and The 3 Jays. The latter two acts achieved successes in the dance
market. Zakatek's publishing company All Zakatek Music, co-published some of the cuts on Kubb
's debut album. He has published and managed Sony/BMG artist Jah Waggie, the creative alter-ego of Jeff Patterson. Zakatek’s second solo album Small But Hard, was released in 1989.
In 1995, Zakatek performed with Joni Mitchell
at the Great Music Experience in Nara City, Japan. He shared the stage with INXS
, Bon Jovi
, Bob Dylan
and Tomoyasu Hotei
and worked with Michael Kamen
, with whom he went to do other projects.
band. He also appeared at corporate events as a solo performer, showcasing his different musical styles. His two children, singer Amber du Platel and singer-songwriter Leon du Platel, sometimes accompany him at those events.
In March 2010, Zakatek announced a return to the stage playing a selection of Alan Parson Project songs.
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
, British India) is a pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
and rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
singer and musician who has lived in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
since the age of thirteen. Zakatek was born just prior to Karachi becoming part of Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
and is best known for his work with the British bands Gonzalez
Gonzalez (band)
Gonzalez were a British R&B and funk band. They became well known as a backing band for touring R&B, funk and soul stars. Their eponymous album was released in 1974 and they recorded a total of six albums before disbanding in 1986,...
and The Alan Parsons Project
The Alan Parsons Project
The Alan Parsons Project was a British progressive rock band, active between 1975 and 1990, consisting of singer Eric Woolfson and keyboardist Alan Parsons surrounded by a varying number of session musicians....
.
Early years
In 1964, Zakatek formed a rock band called The Trailblazers, as lead singer and rhythm guitarRhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
ist. On their first tour of US
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
military bases in Europe, they became familiar with the Motown sound. The Trailblazers returned to the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
with a new soul influence and were renamed Funky Fever. They toured the UK and Europe for several years and also played nightclubs in London, including Gulliver’s, Whisky a Go Go
Whisky a Go Go
The Whisky a Go Go is a nightclub in West Hollywood, California, United States. It is located at 8901 Sunset Boulevard, on the Sunset Strip.-History:...
, The Marquee, Ronnie Scott's, The Scotch of St. James and The Revolution. Funky Fever also backed Inez and Charlie Foxx
Inez and Charlie Foxx
Charlie Foxx and his sister Inez Foxx were an African-American rhythm and blues and soul duo from Greensboro, North Carolina. Inez sang lead vocal, while Charlie sang back-up and played guitar.Their most successful record was with their novelty composition, "Mockingbird"...
and The Drifters
The Drifters
The Drifters are a long-lived American doo-wop and R&B/soul vocal group with a peak in popularity from 1953 to 1963, though several splinter Drifters continue to perform today. They were originally formed to serve as Clyde McPhatter's backing group in 1953...
on their European tours.
Lynsey de Paul
Lynsey De Paul
Lynsey de Paul is an English singer-songwriter. Allmusic journalist, Craig Harris stated, "one of the first successful female singer-songwriters in England, de Paul has had an illustrious career".-Early life:De Paul was born to Meta and Herbert Rubin, a property developer...
and Dudley Moore
Dudley Moore
Dudley Stuart John Moore, CBE was an English actor, comedian, composer and musician.Moore first came to prominence as one of the four writer-performers in the ground-breaking comedy revue Beyond the Fringe in the early 1960s, and then became famous as half of the highly popular television...
took an interest in Zakatek's voice, look and stage presence in the early 1970s. De Paul dubbed him "Zakatek" and wrote two singles
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
"I Gotcha Now" backed with "So Good To You" (later recorded by Paul as the B-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
on her hit single
Hit single
A hit single is a recorded song or instrumental released as a single that has become very popular. Although it is sometimes used to describe any widely-played or big-selling song, the term "hit" is usually reserved for a single that has appeared in an official music chart through repeated radio...
"Won't Somebody Dance With Me") and singles
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
"Get Your Gun" backed with "Gotta Runaway". Ms De Paul introduced him to the UK through an article in the Daily Mirror entitled "Sugar Heap Girl's Big Find". The musicians who were featured on Zakatek’s solo work were already known as some of the members of 10cc
10cc
10cc are an English art rock band who achieved their greatest commercial success in the 1970s. The band initially consisted of four musicians -- Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley, and Lol Creme -- who had written and recorded together for some three years, before assuming the "10cc" name...
.
Success
Between 1974 and 1981, Zakatek was the lead singer with GonzalezGonzalez (band)
Gonzalez were a British R&B and funk band. They became well known as a backing band for touring R&B, funk and soul stars. Their eponymous album was released in 1974 and they recorded a total of six albums before disbanding in 1986,...
. They recorded successful album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
s, including Our Only Weapon Is Our Music, and Shipwrecked. The worldwide disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
hit, "I Haven't Stopped Dancing Yet" came from this collaboration.
In 1977, Zakatek became a studio vocalist for The Alan Parsons Project
The Alan Parsons Project
The Alan Parsons Project was a British progressive rock band, active between 1975 and 1990, consisting of singer Eric Woolfson and keyboardist Alan Parsons surrounded by a varying number of session musicians....
, singing on many of their hits over a ten year period. He was featured on twenty four songs on eight of The Alan Parsons Project albums, which included the hits "I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You", "Games People Play", "You Don't Believe" and "Damned If I Do". About Zakatek's vocals on Alan Parson's Project tracks, the allaboutjazz.com reviewer Todd S. Jenkins
Todd S. Jenkins
Todd S. Jenkins is a jazz author and journalist based in Southern California. He is a member of the Jazz Journalists Association....
wrote that: "Lenny Zakatek's singing on "I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You" and "Games People Play" is prototypical of soulful prog rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
. His delivery adds a funky, bluesy air".
Solo work
1979 saw the release of Zakatek's first solo album Lenny Zakatek, which was producedRecord producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
by Alan Parsons
Alan Parsons
Alan Parsons is a British audio engineer, musician, and record producer. He was involved with the production of several significant albums, including The Beatles' Abbey Road and Let It Be, as well as Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon for which Pink Floyd credit him as an important contributor...
for A&M Records
A&M Records
A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:...
. Single releases included "Brandy", "Say I Love You" and "Where Is The Love". In 1986, Zakatek formed a band called The Immortals, with John Deacon
John Deacon
John Richard Deacon is a retired English multi-instrumentalist and song writer, best known as the bassist for the rock band Queen. Of the four members of the band, he was the last to join and also the youngest, being only 19 years old when he was recruited by the other members of the band...
on bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, and Robert Ahwai on lead guitar. Their single "No Turning Back", was included on the soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
to the film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, Biggles.
In 1986, he guested on the track "Angel", written by Bob Weston
Bob Weston (guitarist)
See Bob Weston for the American bassist and recording engineer.Robert Joseph 'Bob' Weston is a British musician best known for his brief role as guitarist and songwriter with the rock band Fleetwood Mac....
, included on the Dick Morrissey
Dick Morrissey
Richard Edwin "Dick" Morrissey was a British jazz musician and composer. He played the tenor sax, soprano sax and flute.- Background :...
album Souliloquy
Souliloquy
Souliloquy is an album recorded by Dick Morrissey in 1986. It was his second solo album for Coda.- Track listing :#"Clouds" #"East Sunrise" #"Lord Mayo"...
, and which also featured both Ahwai and Weston.
In 1988, he started a parallel career as a manager, music publisher and record producer. He managed and co-produced three of Japan's most prolific recording artists, Tomoyasu Hotei
Tomoyasu Hotei
is a Japanese musician, guitarist and actor. In 2003, HMV Japan ranked Hotei at number 70 on their list of the 100 most important Japanese pop acts.- Life and career :...
, Miki Imai and Kumiko Yamashita. In the UK he managed 7th Heaven, Huff and Herb, and The 3 Jays. The latter two acts achieved successes in the dance
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
market. Zakatek's publishing company All Zakatek Music, co-published some of the cuts on Kubb
Kubb
Kubb is a lawn game where the object is to knock over wooden blocks by throwing wooden sticks at them. Kubb can be simply described as a combination of bowling and horseshoes...
's debut album. He has published and managed Sony/BMG artist Jah Waggie, the creative alter-ego of Jeff Patterson. Zakatek’s second solo album Small But Hard, was released in 1989.
In 1995, Zakatek performed with Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
at the Great Music Experience in Nara City, Japan. He shared the stage with INXS
INXS
INXS are an Australian rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. Mainstays are Garry Gary Beers on bass guitar, Andrew Farriss on guitar/keyboards, Jon Farriss on drums, Tim Farriss on lead guitar and Kirk Pengilly on guitar/sax...
, Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi is an American rock band from Sayreville, New Jersey. Formed in 1983, Bon Jovi consists of lead singer and namesake Jon Bon Jovi , guitarist Richie Sambora, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, as well as current bassist Hugh McDonald...
, Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
and Tomoyasu Hotei
Tomoyasu Hotei
is a Japanese musician, guitarist and actor. In 2003, HMV Japan ranked Hotei at number 70 on their list of the 100 most important Japanese pop acts.- Life and career :...
and worked with Michael Kamen
Michael Kamen
Michael Arnold Kamen was an American composer , orchestral arranger, orchestral conductor, song writer, and session musician.-Background:...
, with whom he went to do other projects.
2000 onwards
Zakatek now plays throughout Europe and the UK with the Boogie Brothers, a 12 piece R&BRhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
band. He also appeared at corporate events as a solo performer, showcasing his different musical styles. His two children, singer Amber du Platel and singer-songwriter Leon du Platel, sometimes accompany him at those events.
In March 2010, Zakatek announced a return to the stage playing a selection of Alan Parson Project songs.