Long Haired Lover from Liverpool

"Long Haired Lover from Liverpool"
Single by Little Jimmy Osmond
from the album Killer Joe
B-side	"Mother of Mine"
Released	March 25, 1972
Length	2:15
Writer(s)	Christopher Kingsley (credited as Christopher Dowden on the UK release)
Producer(s)	Mike Curb and Perry Botkin Jr
Certification	Gold (UK)
Little Jimmy Osmond singles chronology
"Chitchana Koibito" (1970) "Long Haired Lover from Liverpool" (1972) "Tweedle Dee" (1972)
Music video "Long Haired Lover from Liverpool" on YouTube

"Long Haired Lover from Liverpool" is a pop song by Little Jimmy Osmond. Written by Christopher Kingsley (somehow credited as Christopher Dowden on the UK release) and produced by Mike Curb and Perry Botkin Jr, "Long Haired Lover from Liverpool" was a UK number one single for Jimmy Osmond.^[1] Riding high on the popularity of The Osmonds, Jimmy (the youngest sibling) had a massive hit with the song, in the process becoming the youngest person to ever reach number one on the UK Singles Chart aged 9 years 8 months.^[2]

A UK number one for five weeks in December 1972,^[1] it was the Christmas number one that year, and has since sold over a million copies in the UK.^[3] It also reached #2 on the Australian Singles Chart (Kent Music Report) and #38 on the US, Billboard Hot 100.^[4] Kingsley's 1969 version was an unsuccessful single, played by then-popular MOR station KMPC, Los Angeles.

However, Kingsley's record distributed by MGM, where the Osmonds recorded, was where Jimmy's mother first heard "Long Haired Lover From Liverpool" and thought it would be a great song for the youngest member of the Osmond family. Mike Curb, president of MGM and producer of the Osmonds agreed and recorded Jimmy. The timing could not have been better, as Osmond-mania was sweeping the UK and the Osmond family was embarking on a major UK-European promotional tour. Politics at the UK record company almost stopped the record from being released as a single, but through the efforts of Virgin Ear Music (a Richard Kaye Publishing Company - worldwide copyright owner of "Long Haired Lover From Liverpool") and his UK sub-publishers the Little Jimmy Osmond record was released.

References

1. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. pp. 281–2. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
2. "Record-Breakers and Trivia". everyHit.com. Retrieved 2014-03-27.
3. Ami Sedghi (4 November 2012). "UK's million-selling singles: the full list". Guardian. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
4. Whitburn, Joel (2004). The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits: Eighth Edition. Record Research. p. 474.