Peter Skellern

A (relatively) in-depth analysis of English singer-songwriter Peter Skellern in under thirty minutes.

Peter Skellern rose to fame in the 1970s and had two top twenty hits on the UK Singles Chart: 'You're a Lady in 1972, which typifies his signature use of brass bands and choral arrangements and 'Hold On to Love' in 1975. In the 1980s, a decade before the Gallagher brothers, Skellern formed the band Oasis with Julian Lloyd Webber and Mary Hopkin. He also established a long standing musical comedy partnership with Richard Stilgoe.

You're a Lady has been covered by many artists including Brigitte Bardot, Davy Jones, Dawn, Johnny Mathis, Hugues Aufray and Telly Savalas to name a few.

On her 1985 BBC TV comedy series, Victoria Wood performed an affectionate parody of Skellern's musical style, accompanied by a brass band and choir, in a song entitled Skellern in Love.

Skellern died in 2017. Since 2019, fans have crowdfunded CD reissues of his back catalogue. Two compilations have been released so far: The Complete Decca Recordings (2019) and The Complete Island and Mercury Recordings (2021) by Mint Audio. These collections feature all of Skellern's albums and singles from 1972 to 1982 (except music from the Happy Endings TV series). In 2024, another crowdfunding campaign was launched on Kickstarter to release the Happy Endings soundtrack on CD.

In this episode I am in discussion with Dr. Andrew Webber.

Mathew Woodall

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