Lynn Castle

A beguiling singer and songwriter who crossed paths with many great talents in the '60s without leaving behind a significant catalog of work, Lynn Castle would develop a cult following decades after her only single came and went with little notice. Lynn Castle was born in Brooklyn, New York on May 28, 1939. By the time she was four years old, Castle was learning to play the piano, and her talent impressed her teachers and peers at the Catholic boarding school she attended. Stung by her parents' divorce and her uncomfortable relationship with her new stepmother, as a teenager Castle began writing songs to make sense of her feelings. Castle was encouraged by her high-school boyfriend, Phil Spector, who was just beginning his career as a member of the vocal group the Teddy Bears. In 1958, Castle wrote a doo wop-styled tune called "Love's Prayer," which -- with the help of singer Rush Adams (Lynn's uncle) -- made its way to the A&R staff at Capitol Records, who placed the song with the vocal group the Spinners. While having her song recorded by a major-label act might have seemed like a big break for Castle, there was no immediate follow-up, and after leaving home and moving to California, she soon found herself in a relationship and became the mother of two children. Castle continued to write in her spare time, and she stayed in touch with Lee Hazlewood, whom she met in the '50s. He liked her songwriting well enough to give her a Martin guitar and encourage her to keep honing her craft. In the mid-'60s, Castle took up a career as a hair stylist, and she soon developed a specialty cutting men's hair, just as longer styles for men were coming into fashion in Hollywood. Castle's successful hair-cutting business put her in touch with many show biz notables who made their way to her Sunset Strip shop. Her regular clients included members of the Byrds, the Monkees, and Buffalo Springfield, as well as Del Shannon and Sonny Bono. (Castle even gave Sonny a haircut onscreen in the Sonny & Cher movie Good Times.) Two more of Castle's frequent customers, Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart (who were then enjoying success writing and producing material for the Monkees), heard her songs and were favorably impressed with one called "Teeny Tiny Gnome." Retitled "Kicking Stones," it was recorded by the Monkees in 1966, though the song would go unreleased until it appeared on a collection of rarities in 1987. Another of Castle's circle of friends and admirers was the noted producer and arranger Jack Nitzsche; one night in 1966, he brought her into a recording studio and cut acoustic demos of 23 of her songs, tunes infused with a playful psychedelia while also reflecting her personal difficulties in life and love. It would be a year later before Castle finally made her debut as a recording artist; produced by Lee Hazlewood and with backing by the band Last Friday's Fire, "The Lady Barber" b/w "Rose Colored Corner" was issued by Hazlewood's LHI label. Despite Castle's minor celebrity cited on the A-side and adequate promotion by LHI, the single failed to find an audience, and various personal trials prevented her from continuing her career as a performer, though she never stopped writing songs for her own satisfaction. As Hazlewood's work developed a cult following in new millennium, Castle's single was rediscovered by record collectors, and it was reissued by Light in the Attic Records in 2014. The first Lynn Castle album was released in 2017; Rose Colored Corner featured both sides of her LHI single, as well as ten songs from her Nitzsche-produced 1966 demo session.
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