This sheet music was published in 1956 and you will notice that it says on the cover "Sung by Ruby Murray" not the usual words "Recorded by Ruby Murray on Columbia xxxxxx". A copy of the sheet music was kindly sent to me a few years ago by David Frankish, who some of you will remember was secretary to the Ruby Murray Fan Club until the mid-70s when it closed.
He confirmed to me that this song had never been released on record, and he told me an interesting story. Some time during the 80s, Ruby was playing a club in Huddersfield where David lives, and he asked her about this particular song. Ruby herself told David that she did not recall anything about it - she didn't remember singing it, and she did not think that EMI would have any tape of it in their archive. He showed her a copy of the sheet music and she was at a loss to explain anything about it. A complete mystery!
During 2004 when I was helping EMI compile the list of recordings for the boxed set "Anthology: The Golden Anniversary Collection", this song was added to the list and EMI were asked if they would carry out a search, in case they had a copy. The search revealed the two previously unreleased songs "Come Into My Heart" and "Jimmy Unknown", which we had heard from acetates supplied by Bernie, plus the two songs which nobody knew about "If I Were a Blackbird" and "The Isle of Innisfree". But nothing about "Lucky Star".
Then out of the blue, in my post one day arrived a CD from Brian Henson with "Lucky Star" on it! I was totally amazed, and phoned him immediately. It seems that a friend of his (who has asked to remain anonymous) is a sound engineer specialising in archive material, and within his collection was a copy of the song on an unreleased record, I suspect something like an acetate. I understand that it was recorded in 1956 from a BBC Radio broadcast that was aired during that year. It is only speculation at this stage, but we think it might have been a Cyril Stapleton Show Band Show on which Ruby appeared and sang this song.
The music publishers are therefore correct in saying "Sung by Ruby Murray" and they may have given permission for the recording of the initial performances to be made for internal purposes, and perhaps to promote the song in the hope that one day it might be recorded by Columbia and then subsequently released. Brian has told me that he believes he has somewhere a copy of the New Musical Express issued during 1956 that says that "Lucky Star" is in fact to be Ruby's next recording for that year, but of course it never happened.
So I have made a copy of the song and given it a bit of a clean up on my PC, and posted it in the Library for you all to listen to. Our anonymous friend points out that with suitable playback equipment a higher quality recording could undoubtedly be made, and what I have is a "roughcut listening copy". Nevertheless, the cleaned up version in the Library reveals that this is a really lovely song. I think Columbia missed another hit for Ruby by not recording it for release in 1956 or 57, and the reaction from the studio audience would seem to confirm this.
So my really grateful thanks go to all concerned (David, Brian and Brian's friend) for allowing us to discover yet another treasure from our favourite singer. I can't stop playing this new song - it is just as if I were back in 1956 (and 16 years old!) and have just been out and bought a new record! How appropriate that we can celebrate another Golden Anniversary this year - the discovery of a lost treasure 50 years after it was recorded.
