My friend Barry St John, who died at the age of 76, was part of the elite group of choristers who were the first choice of the great artists of the 1970s wanting to have a powerful soul sound behind them. She has appeared on albums by Elton John, Pink Floyd, Steve Harley, Bryan Ferry, Kevin Ayers and John Lennon, among others, and can be heard on the soundtrack of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. “Most of the time people called you,” she said of those days. “There were no agents.”
She was born in the Gallowgate area of Glasgow to Arthur Thomson, a baker, and his wife, Jenny, who named their daughter Eliza. She “always sang but everyone in Glasgow sings”. Although not many people sing like Lizzie, who got her first paid gig at age 14 with Iain Campbell’s Midnighters.
After leaving Whitehill High School in Dennistoun, she worked in the accounting department of Rowats Pickles in Gallowgate, while also doing evening singing sessions in pubs and clubs. Then, at 17, she moved to London, then Hamburg and the Star Club, with Glasgow rockers Bobby Patrick and the Big Six.
Not comfortable there – “Glasgow was difficult but Hamburg was a different fear” – she returned to London and became the solo artist Barry St John. (“I loved dancer Barrie Chase and nabbed Ian St John the footballer’s St John.”) In the 1960s, she released a number of singles, including Everything I Touch Turns to Tears, and an album, According to St John (1968), on the Major Minor label, produced by Emperor Rosko, whose backing notes dubbed her “the pretty kitty of the gritty city”. But often, producers gave her material that didn’t suit her style, and in the early 70s, now a single parent with a daughter, Gaynor, she got into session work.
In 1978, on tour with Johnny Hallyday, she met Greg (Peter) MacGregor, a saxophonist, whom she married in 1989.
I met Barry during a Saturday morning piano lesson at Goldsmiths College, now Goldsmiths, University of London, in 1983. When we took the same bus home we realized we were living less than 100 meters from each other, and our families have become friends.
Seeing the changes in the music scene, Barry has now used his energy, intelligence and determination to work as a legal assistant for law firms in South East London. But she was still thrilled when a friend told her that Northern Soul fans had discovered her ’60s work and wanted to meet her. She retired in 2007 after suffering a minor stroke, followed by the removal of a kidney.
Before illness prevented him, Barry enjoyed traveling with Greg and spending time in their chalet in France.
She is survived by Greg, Gaynor, her grandson, Josh, her sister, Rita and her brother, Alan.
