Rubettes Question: Alan Williams or Paul De Vinci?

[Wirral Writer]

Can somebody please answer a question for me that has always puzzled me about The Rubettes, and it is this: I know Paul Da Vinci did sing the falsetto on their first hit, Sugar Baby Love, but at which point did Alan Williams then take over as lead singer of the group? And what about when The Rubettes performed live - I mean, did Alan Williams actually sing Da Vinci's falsetto parts?

[DanTanna_Investigations]

Re: Rubettes Question: Alan Williams or Paul De Vinci?

Can somebody please answer a question for me that has always puzzled me about The Rubettes, and it is this: I know Paul Da Vinci did sing the falsetto on their first hit, Sugar Baby Love, but at which point did Alan Williams then take over as lead singer of the group? And what about when The Rubettes performed live - I mean, did Alan Williams actually sing Da Vinci's falsetto parts?

I've got a recording of a documentary on Glam Rock in which Alan Williams said Da Vinci was never in the Rubettes. 'The Rubettes' never existed when SBL was recorded, it was a demo recorded by session musicians and singers (inc Da Vinci) of a song meant for Showaddywaddy (hence the 'bop showaddywaddy' in the background)

But when they turned it down, composer and record company boss Wayne Bickerton still had confidence in the song, so remixed the track with the original Da Vinci vocal and released it with this random 50s sounding group name. When it looked like becoming a hit, it was a case of 'blimey, we need the original guys together to promote it on tv shows', they genuinely were making it up on the hoof. Da Vinci was signed as a solo artist to another company, and unavailable, so Williams was drafted in along with the original session band, and they then 'became' the Rubettes for promotional purposes.

I assume Williams did sing falsetto, as there's falsetto on subsequent tracks that didn't feature Da Vinci, like 'Tonight'.

Hope that helps.

[DanTanna_Investigations]

Re: Rubettes Question: Alan Williams or Paul De Vinci?

and they then 'became' the Rubettes for promotional purposes.

Meant to add, for all subsequent releases, Williams said they recorded as a proper group and became great friends, even though none of them had even met when SBL was first recorded!