Ivor Novello Award
The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the Welsh entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and Musical composition, composing. They have been presented annually in London by the The Ivors Academy, Ivors Academy, formerly called the Britis ...
for songwriting. He also practised as a
psychotherapist
Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of Psychology, psychological methods, particularly when based on regular Conversation, personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase hap ...
.
Early career
Julien trained and qualified as a solicitor, but never practised. Instead, he trained and practised as a
hypnotherapist
Hypnotherapy, also known as hypnotic medicine, is the use of hypnosis in psychotherapy. Hypnotherapy is generally not considered to be based on scientific evidence, and is rarely recommended in clinical practice guidelines. However, several p ...
Norman Wisdom
Sir Norman Joseph Wisdom, (4 February 1915 – 4 October 2010), was an English actor, comedian, musician, and singer, best known for his series of comedy films produced between 1953 and 1966, in which he portrayed the endearingly inept charact ...
's album ''Heart of a Clown'' called "Impossible" in 1954. Julien's first major hit came with " Kiss Me, Honey Honey, Kiss Me", written with Al Timothy, sung by
Shirley Bassey
Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey (; born 8 January 1937) is a Welsh singer. Known for her career longevity, powerful voice and recording the James Bond music, theme songs to three James Bond films - the only artist to officially perform more than o ...
in 1958. It proved a great success, peaking in the charts at number three, and staying in the charts for an impressive 17 weeks.
Following his early success as a songwriter, he opened and ran the Club d'Azur in Frith Street,
Soho
SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...
, which became popular with film stars and other celebrities. In 1965, he sold the premises to
Ronnie Scott
Ronnie Scott Order of the British Empire, OBE (born Ronald Schatt; 28 January 1927 – 23 December 1996) was a British jazz Tenor saxophone, tenor saxophonist and jazz club owner. He co-founded Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London's Soho district ...
, who moved his existing
jazz club
A jazz club is a venue where the primary entertainment is the performance of live jazz music, although some jazz clubs primarily focus on the study and/or promotion of jazz-music. Jazz clubs are usually a type of nightclub or bar, which is licens ...
to the property.
Julien composed songs for films, including '' Jazz Boat'' in 1960.Stubblebine, Donald J. (1997) ''British Cinema Sheet Music: a comprehensive listing of film music published in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, 1916 through 1994'', McFarland & Co., , p. 68 During the sixties, he continued to write songs for established artists such as David Hughes for whom he wrote "Teach me (how to love him)". Julien wrote the English lyrics to
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is a British singer and actor. He has total sales of over 21.5 million singles in the United Kingdom and, as of 2012, was the third-top-selling artist in UK Singles Chart histo ...
's adaptation of " L'edera", translating as "Constantly". It was a global hit, reaching the top ten in six countries.
Julien's first major hit in the United States came in 1967, when he wrote new English lyrics and title of " Let's Live for Today", from the 1966 Italian-language song "Piangi con Me" ("Cry with Me"), a
gold record
Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...
for The Rokes, co-written by David "Shel" Shapiro of The Rokes and Italian lyricist Mogol. The version using Julien's lyrics and title was first recorded by The Living Daylights, but it was the recording by The Grass Roots that earned its own
gold disc
Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...
and reached #8 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart in 1967.Shapiro, Nat (ed.) (1973) ''Popular Music: An Annotated Index of American Popular Songs'', Adrian Press, p. 162 This song was voted by troops in the
Vietnam
Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
War as their favourite song, and is now a pop standard in the US.
Eurovision success
After his success in the United States and with Shirley Bassey, Julien wrote the English lyrics for the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest winning song " La, la, la". Although the Spanish version had the most success, Julien's version reached number seventeen in the
Rhodesian
Rhodesia ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state, unrecognised state in Southern Africa that existed from 1965 to 1979. Rhodesia served as the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to the ...
charts. The next year, he was invited to write the lyrics for a song for the
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
's national selection process for the 1969 Eurovision Song Contest. His song, " Boom Bang-a-Bang" won the United Kingdom's televised selection competition, and represented the nation at the full competition in Madrid. The song placed joint first, with a total of 18 points. It went on to be a hit, peaking at number two in the charts in the UK, in which it remained for 13 weeks. The song also had success in Australia, and in Europe in its foreign language versions.
Later works
Following Eurovision, Julien co-wrote "Love is a Gamble" with Alan Moorhouse, sung by Jackie Lee, marking her debut with her record label
Pye Records
PYE or Pye Records is an independent British record label. It was first established in 1955 and played a major role in shaping rock 'n' roll and pop music history. The Pye name was dropped in 1980 due to trademark issues, after which it produced ...
. He also wrote "Nine Times Out Of Ten", a single for Muriel Day; coincidently, Day had been Ireland's 1969 Eurovision entrant. Subsequently, he composed many other songs that were recorded by American artists.
After retiring as a
psychotherapist
Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of Psychology, psychological methods, particularly when based on regular Conversation, personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase hap ...
, Julien did a number of other works. In April 2015, for the first time he released a song as the artist. The track, entitled "You're so Loveable", was released worldwide on
iTunes
iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...
Julien served in the military and received a commendation for bravery after suffering severe burns in a tank blast. He lived in Essex before moving to Shenley,
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...
, in the early 2000s.
Julien died on 29 December 2020, at the age of 93, after catching
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...