#22: Stay Away From My Baby by Lynda Layne

City: Halifax, NS
Radio Station: CHNS
Peak Month: November 1963
Peak Position in Halifax ~ #6
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #80
YouTube: “Stay Away From My Baby”
Lyrics: N/A

Hazel McKirdy was born in 1949 in Kitchener, Ontario. McKirdy regularly on CBC TV’s “Music Hop” program in the mid-1960s, starting in 1964. She recorded as Lynda Layne, and in 1963 and her debut single was titled “Stay Away From My Baby”.

“Stay Away From My Baby” was co-written by Basil and Dyer Hurdon, the songwriting team who wrote most of the hits for Bobby Curtola. This included “Fortune Teller”, “Johnny Take Your Time”, “I Cry And Cry”, “Destination Love”, “Aladdin”, “Hitchhiker”, “Indian Giver”, “As Long As I’m Sure Of You”, “Little Girl Blue”, “Don’t You Sweetheart Me”, and “You Must Belong To Me”.

“Stay Away From My Baby” is a song about a girlfriend who is getting a little too familiar with the singer’s boyfriend. The girl who is going steady says “I’m telling you: stay away from my baby.” She has no intention of losing him to another girl who’s trying to make a move on him.

“Stay Away From My Baby” peaked at #6 in Halifax (NS), and charted in the Top 30 in Ottawa.

Her follow-up single releases in 1964, “Mark My Word”, and “Jimmy, Johnny, Or Joe” (both written by the Hurdon brothers), got little attention. In 1964 Layne won RPM’s “Most Promising Female Vocalist Award”. In 1965, Layne was “Runner up to Top Canadian Vocalist” at the RPM Awards. Late in 1965, she released a funk-soul-pop tune titled “I Don’t Want To Go”. Remaining in the soul-pop mode, in 1966 she released “Hang On To Me Now Baby”. In 1969, she released “Most Peculiar Girl”, and in 1971 a cover of the 1966 Chris Farlowe hit “Out Of Time”. And in 1971 she released another cover, “(Best Part Of) Breakin’ Up”, originally by the Ronettes.

After her initial connection with the Hurdon Brothers, a number of the songs she recorded were written variously by Nick St. Nicholas (“Hang On To Me Now”), and Dennis Edmonton (“I Would Bring Sunshine”). Both St. Nicholas and Edmonton were members of Jack London & the Sparrows. Nick St. Nicholas went on to become a founding member of Steppenwolf. Dennis Edmonton went on to be billed as Mars Bonfire. His brother Jerry Edmonton was a founding member of Steppenwolf.

Layne had one last release in 1979 with “Love Is Suppose To Be”. A thread on a Facebook page suggests that she went on to become a real estate agent in Toronto.

March 11, 2024
Ray McGinnis

References:
“Lynda Layne,” Discogs.com.
“Lynda Layne,” CitizenFreak.com

CHNS 920-AM Halifax (NS) | Top Ten | October 20, 1963