Lynsey de Paul

Lynsey de Paul (born Lyndsey Monckton Rubin; 11 June 1948[1] – 1 October 2014)[2] was an English singer-songwriter and producer. She had chart hits in the UK and Europe in the 1970s, starting with the UK top 10 single “Sugar Me”, becoming the first British female artist to achieve a number one with a self-written song (in 1972 in Belgium, Spain and The Netherlands and in 1973 in Malaysia). She represented the UK in the 1977 Eurovision Song Contest, scoring another chart-topping hit in Switzerland and had a successful career as a two-time Ivor Novello Award-winning composer, record producer, actress and television celebrity.[2]

Lyndsey Monckton Rubin was born to Meta (née de Groot) and Herbert Rubin, a property developer.[3] They were a Jewish family with a Dutch, Austrian and German background,[4] and had one other child, John (b.1944). De Paul later claimed that she and her brother suffered physical abuse at the hands of their father.[5] She attended South Hampstead High School followed by Hornsey College of Art, now part of Middlesex University. In one incident as a student aged 19, de Paul was concussed for two days following a fight with her violent father, prompting her to leave her comfortable family home for a two roomed flat above an Indian restaurant near her College.[6][7]