BackGround

Eden Kane was born Richard Graham Sarstedt in New Delhi, India in 1940.  During 1943, Eden's parents, Coral & Albert, moved their family to Kurseong near Darjeeling, in the foothills of Mount Everest to administer a large tea plantation.  Along with his two younger brothers, Peter & Clive, one younger sister, Lorraine and two half sisters, Pam & June, spent four years in this picturesque setting, with it's jungle covered hillsides contrasting the snow capped Himalayan mountains in the distance.  When the children were old enough, they were sent to various boarding schools (such as Sherwood College) in the mountain regions.  The family moved to Calcutta in 1947; however, due to the precarious political climate resulting from India getting it's independence, their parents considered it too dangerous for the children to be living in the city permanently.  

In March of 1954, the family moved to England.  Albert left India a few months earlier to arrange things, but tragically died prior to the rest of the family's arrival.  Coral, established a residence in the Norbury area South of London and his family settled into their new home.

At the age of twelve, Eden attended Heath Clark Grammar School where his academic talents allowed him to seriously consider a career in architecture.  He also excelled on the sports field playing cricket, field hockey and was also a high jump champion.  Eden was also a member of the 67th Croydon Scout Troop.  After school he would deliver milk and newspapers to make extra money.  After Eden left school, he worked in London as a trainee architect.

Eden realized early on that he had a great love for music, since the Sarstedt's had long been a musical family.  When Eden first picked up a guitar that a friend had brought to school, he was hooked, especially when he saw Bill Haley live on stage in Croydon.  Eden's mother and grandmother had formerly been trained in classical music, while his father also played a variety of musical instruments, especially the banjo. 

Little did Eden know, he was involved in the start of something he could relate to....Rock and Roll music.  He formed a skiffle group which included his younger brothers Peter and Clive.  They called themselves "The Fabulous 5" and played in coffee bars and youth clubs around South London.  The stage was set for Eden and his brothers to enthusiastically launch themselves onto the music scene.  In 1960, Eden entered a talent contest, staged at the Classic Cinema on Kings Road in Chelsea.  In the audience was a Record Producer, Phillip Waddilove, who recognized Eden's potential and immediately called his business partner, Michael Barclay. They then became Eden's managers.  Eden won the contest and things were looking up!  The prize for the contest was a contract to promote Cadbury's Drinking Chocolate.  With this win, his first recording was sponsored by Cadbury's Chocolate and the song was called "Hot Chocolate Crazy." An advertising jingle used on Radio Luxembourg, which Richard (Eden) wrote.  With it, went the title "Chocolate Time Troubadour."

His management got him to sign a deal with Decca Records. The first move was a change of stage name for Richard.  "Eden", came about because of its biblical reference (the garden of), and "Kane" because of Citizen Kane which was Michael Barclay's favorite film.  Then came the development of his stage act and image....the immaculate white suit came first!!

Success was instantaneous!  The first Eden Kane single for Decca "Well I Ask You" quickly climbed to the number 1 slot on the charts in 1961.  A string of hits closely followed and they made it to the Top-10, such as "Get Lost". "Forget me Not", "I Don't Know Why", and "Boys' Cry.” Over a relatively short period of time, Eden Kane records were featured on the charts for no less the 74 weeks.  Eden's brother's, Peter and Clive became involved in the band.  Peter was the road manager at first and then the bass player. Clive (aka Robin) was to join in on guitar.  Along with his chart success came concert tour offers from promoters, such as Larry Parnes and Arthur Howe.  They saw Eden performing along side Cliff Richard, Billy Fury, Joe Brown, Helen Shapiro, Marty Wilde, John Leyton and Dusty Springfield just to name a few.  Eden also toured the British Isles with his band the ”Downbeats” Roger Retting, Ben Steed, Roger St Clair and Buggs Waddell.  Peter and Clive also played on many of the gigs.  His tour manager was Malcolm Cook.

In time, something was about to happen that would change everything in the music business....the arrival of the "Beatles."  With the advent of the self contained groups, mainly from Liverpool, the solo singers were suddenly at risk...but in 1964, Eden recorded a song on his new label Fontana called "Boy's Cry", which was immediately a big hit. It coincided with the "Group" explosion.  Eden did a few television gigs with the Beatles, The Rolling Stones and the Animals.  "Boy's Cry" afforded him a great opportunity in Australia, where Eden's songs were already very popular.  He did a few tours in Australia and New Zealand with some of the greats, Roy Orbison, Del Shannon, The Searchers, Peter & Gordon and PJ Proby.  During his stay in Australia, the Vietnam War was raging.  Eden and a group of musicians went over to entertain the Australian Troops.  Such was his success down under, he soon found himself hosting his own weekly TV series.

In 1964, during Eden's first trip to Australia, with a stop over in Los Angeles, California, he met an American music journalist by the name of Charlene Groman.  Charlene and Eden corresponded over the years, and in 1969 after leaving Australia, on his way to South Africa, Eden made another stop in Los Angeles where he and Charlene got reacquainted, fell in love and were married that year.  Eden's family are all very musical but then again Charlene's side of the family has a flair for show business as well.  Not only did she work in the entertainment industry for a magazine called "Record World", her sister is "Hart to Hart" star Stefanie Powers.  This made for quite an interesting merger.

While in the US, Eden received an offer for a recording contract.  It was at that time he decided to make Los Angeles his permanent home, but still maintained close connections with his family in England.  In 1971, Charlene and Eden were proud parents of a baby girl named, Ami.  Two years later, they had a second child, a boy they named, Robbie.  It was quite a change for Eden, and although he loved his family life, he soon got the itch to return to the stage.

In 1972, the three Sarstedt brothers reunited for their album "World's Apart Together", under the management of their sister Lorraine (and Australian entrepreneur, David Joseph).  On June 20th, 1973, the brothers made their first joint appearance as a group at Croydon's Fairfield Halls.  Eden, Peter and Robin went on to win a joint BASCA Award for composing and songwriting.

Eden has also joined many "oldies" tours in the UK with Marty Wilde, John Leyton, Brian Hyland, The Vernons Girls and others, notably as part of the "Solid Gold Rock and Roll" tours.  He was also a contract actor on the" Star Trek" series "The Next Generation" and "Star Trek Voyager." He also was featured in other television series such as "Columbo" under his real name, Richard Sarstedt.  

He continues to live in Los Angeles with his wife of 50+ years, Charlene and their family.