Singer Lynsey De Paul Dies Aged 64

Singer and songwriter Lynsey De Paul has died at the age of 64, following a suspected brain haemorrhage.

De Paul, who represented the UK in the 1977 Eurovision Song Contest with the song Rock Bottom, had five top 20 UK chart hits, including 1972’s Sugar Me.

She became the first woman to win an Ivor Novello award for songwriting.

“Although she was small in stature, she was very big in positive personality,” said her agent Michael Joyce. “She was always so positive about everything.”

De Paul, who broke into the music scene in 1971, followed up her Sugar Me hit with Getting a Drag, reaching number 18 in the charts.

Her 1973 hit Won’t Somebody Dance With Me won her her first Ivor Novello award.

A second Ivor Novello Award followed a year later for No Honestly, which was also the theme tune to the ITV comedy of the same name starring Pauline Collins and John Alderton.

She also wrote the theme to Esther Rantzen’s BBC One series Hearts Of Gold.

Paying tribute, Rantzen, who also fronted the show, called her “a renaissance woman”.

“She could do everything – she could sing, she could compose, she was an immensely talented artist,” she said.

“She became a huge star but she was also a loyal and generous friend. It’s an absolutely tragic loss.”

De Paul never married but was romantically linked to a string of well-known men including Sean Connery, Dudley Moore and Ringo Starr.

An interview with the Mail in 2007 revealed she had five offers of marriage, including one from James Coburn and another from Chas Chandler, bassist with The Animals.