THE postman must have been weighed down delivering dozens of fan mail letters to 13 Wolvercote Green, Oxford.

Elizabeth Couling, who lived there, would scoop them up off the doormat and try to answer them all on behalf of her son Paul, better known as singer Mal Ryder.

Most of the letters came from Italy, where Mal had become a major star after leaving his home town of Oxford in the mid-1960s.

By the early 1970s, he was earning at least £1,000 a night for concerts and up to £30,000 appearing in films.

Italian journalists labelled him “the beautiful boy with the romantic voice”.

We were reminded of the pop and film star’s fame by regular Memory Lane contributor David Brown, who has one of his special recordings.

Oxford Mail:

He writes: “Record collectors and music fans of local singer Mal Ryder (Paul Bradley Couling) and the Spirits will assume their first recording was Cry Baby, and on the B side, Take Over, recorded on the Decca label in 1963.

“Although not a commercial release, they did, in fact, record a single prior to this, using the Oxford-based Isis recording studio which, with reference to my 1958 Kelly’s directory, was at 15 Broad Street.

“Only six copies were produced and I have the only one that has surfaced since then. I bought the record among others at a bric-a-brac sale held at Elsfield several years ago.

“The A side is titled Heaven’s Door sung by Mal Ryder with The Spirits and the B side is an instrumental called Night Chimes by The Spirits.

“The record is individually signed by all members of the group, including the late Tony Merry. The other signatures are Larry Redd (Larry Reddington), Vode Chequer (Robert Wakeley) and Hans Hathaway (Johnny Hathaway), who wrote both songs. Mal Ryder signed the A side.”

Oxford Mail:

One of the most notable films Mal Ryder appeared in was Love Formula Two, released in 1970, in which he starred with Giacomo Agostini, one of the world’s leading motorcycle racers.

Mal (or Paul) worked as a Southern Electricity apprentice electrician earning £2 12s 6d a week before joining the music business. But it was not until he moved to Italy that he hit the big time.

The Oxford Mail reported in 1969: “With his group, The Spirits, he is a nonentity in England, but the Latins regard him as Italy’s answer to Engelbert Humperdinck.

“He keeps having to change his telephone number, dares not go out without dark glasses and receives 700 letters from his fans every day. He has become the heart-throb of Italian mothers and their daughters.”

He was quoted as saying: “The girls love me, but their boyfriends hate me. I can guarantee on a one-nighter to lose a shirt, all the buttons on my jacket or half my hair. As for the boys, I don’t leave my car where it can be spotted. I’ve collected a few scratches and had some tyres slashed.”

Any memories of Mal Ryder and his backing groups to share with readers? Write and let me know