UNDER THE RADAR

Artists, bands, and labels meriting more attention

- Words: David Pearson

Back in 2016 a Vinyl Fetish piece in Record Collector described Laurie Styvers as “a lost artiste”.

Her two solo albums had long been deleted and never given CD release. Biographical info about her was scant.

That situation changed with the recent release by High Moon Records of Gemini Girl, a 2CD set containing those two Chrysalis albums plus 13 bonus tracks. Though it was too late for Laurie, who died at 47 in 1998.

Laurette Stivers was born in Texas in 1951. Dad was in the oil business, and his work often brought him to London. So it was that the late 60s found teenage Laurette attending the American school there. She was already writing songs and around 1968 she answered a newspaper ad placed by two young guys who were starting a group and were seeking a female vocalist. She joined up with John McBurnie and Keith Trowsdale as one third of Justine.

Justine made one single for Dot (Leave Me Be/Clown) which went nowhere. But the band went on to make an eponymous album (UNLS 111, 1970), having added two further female singers, Bethlyn Bates and Valerie Cope. Produced by their manager Hugh Murphy, all songs were written by the boys, though Stivers shared composing credits on See Saw, and her vocal is particularly in evidence on the opening song, Flying.

Noted US music journalist Richie Unterberger, describes the album as a blend of “the poppiest side of American folk-rock...” with “songs that have a more specifically British gentle reserved acoustic quality”.