LIFT OFF WITH AYSHEA: Music and Me

Saturday 18 July 2015

Music and Me

I have always loved music. From as early as I can remember I have enjoyed listening and performing, and my parents encouraged me! In the late sixties I was singing with Jimmy Cliff as he toured Britain, and was lucky enough to get my first single released - a little ditty called 'Eeny Meenie' -which was the start of a whirlwind career in music.

My songs, however, have been unavailable now for so long, Some of them can be heard in fairly poor quality on YouTube, and there is a second hand market for the two LPs and many single releases ... but I always wanted to see some of my favourite songs collected together.

Well now they have been, and the result is a CD called The Best of Ayshea which is now available exclusively from me! If you look up on this page, you'll see a little tab called AYSHEA'S STORE. If you click that, then you'll find my store, wherein you can buy signed and dedicated copies of the CD, and a photograph from UFO!

I chose the songs on the CD because they are some of the favourites that I have recorded over the years. There are Country ballads, pop songs, even a song written by Roy Wood which sounds like I am singing with his band, Wizzard! As a bonus, I decided to include a track which I sung on my pop show, Lift Off With Ayshea, in 1974. This has never been released before, so I hope you like it.

If you love music as much as I do, then I hope you will have a look.

Love

Ayshea xox

About Ayshea

Ayshea Brough made her film debut as an uncredited extra in the film Tom Thumb (1958, George Pal). At the age of sixteen, she signed her first recording contract with Philips Fontana and her first single 'Eeny Meeny' was released in 1965. As a singer she made many appearances and could be seen on numerous television promotional shows such as Thank Your Lucky Stars and Discotheque.

In 1969, Granada TV cast her to present and star in her own pop show, initially called Lift Off, but renamed to Lift Off With Ayshea with series 4 in 1972. The series began on 5 November 1969, and ran for five years and 144 episodes until 17 December 1974. It had a significant influence on the pop music industry, debuting acts that often went on to huge success, most notably David Bowie, and also featuring all the biggest acts of the time, including Wizzard, The Bay City Rollers, The Sweet, Black Sabbath, Slade and 10cc.

Ayshea’s television appearances included celebrity shows such as The Golden Shot and Celebrity Squares. As an actress, she appeared in an episode of Jason King in 1971 and also enjoyed a recurring role on Gerry Anderson’s UFO series (1969 – 1971). She also made brief appearances in the films Gotcha (1985) (where she is playing a club singer) and Demolition Man (1993).

After starring in pantomimes and summer shows all over the UK, Ayshea then built up a large following for her live cabaret performances which she took worldwide. She represented the UK in the World Popular Music Competition in Tokyo, sponsored by Yamaha in 1975 with a song written by Elton John, ‘The Flowers Will Never Die’. She recorded and released two LPs, and made 14 single releases of her work. A new compilation CD of her work, The Best of Ayshea, is now available.

She has been married three times, most recently to CBS President Michael I Levy, and spent many years living in Hollywood, where she became close friends with Bruce Jenner and Kris Kardashian, and ran an interior design service. She has recently returned to the UK in order to be closer to her family.

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Saturday 18 July 2015

Music and Me