Anita Harris
| Anita Harris | |
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| Born | Anita Madeleine Harris 3 June 1942 Midsomer Norton, Somerset, England |
| Occupation | Actress, singer |
| Years active | 1960 - present |
| Website | |
| http://www.anitaharrisofficialsite.com/home.html | |
Anita Harris (born Anita Madeleine Harris, 3 June 1942, Midsomer Norton, Somerset, England[1]) is an English actress, singer and entertainer.
Best known in Britain as a singer and entertainer, Harris sang with the Cliff Adams Singers, and she then had a number of chart hits in the 1960s. She became known as a variety entertainer, and appeared in a number of the Carry On films, notably Follow That Camel and Carry On Doctor.[1]
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[edit] Career
Harris's musical career began as a child, although her expectations were to become a dancer. Soon after leaving school she left the UK to train as a choreographed skater in Las Vegas.[2] She became one of the few ladies to sing with the Cliff Adams Singers, choralists whose appearances on BBC Radio's Sing Something Simple were extended.[2] Harris was still in her teens when she cut her first recording - with the John Barry Seven — a band who, at that time, were at the most active part of their own pop chart career.[2] This early single, a double A-side of "I Haven't Got You" and "Mr. One And Only", did not succeed.[2]
The late 1960s saw her career at its peak. Her hit, "Just Loving You", was acquired through her friend Dusty Springfield, from her songwriting brother, Tom Springfield.[2] It was released in June 1967 on the CBS label, and was her biggest selling single. It peaked at #6 in the UK Singles Chart,[3] and sold 625,000 copies in the UK, and 200,000 in South Africa (where it reached #1) in its first six months:[4] in Ireland the single reached #18. In the United States, where it was released on Columbia Records, the record "bubbled under" the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at #120.[1] Cover versions of the songs "Anniversary Waltz" and "Dream a Little Dream of Me" followed.[2] In 1968, her album Just Loving You hit the album charts at number 29.[2][3] In 1966, she released "Somebody's In My Orchard", a jazz album showing the full range of her vocal and interpretive colour, but this direction in her career was not followed further.
She also made appearances in several British movies, posed for a nude set in Mayfair magazine,[5] and had a popular presence on UK television. She made an appearance at the San Remo Song Festival in Italy - something that perhaps one associates with more established stars like Petula Clark. In fact she had the same musical arranger as Clark - Kenny Clayton.[2]
Harris also co-hosted The David Nixon Magic Show in the 1970s, and appeared on the Morecambe and Wise Show in 1971 and 1973.[2] In 1981 Harris was in the line-up for the Royal Variety Performance, singing "Burlington Bertie". She was still appearing as herself on programmes up to 2001, notably Boom Boom: The Best of the Original Basil Brush Show, French & Saunders, and Bob Monkhouse: A BAFTA Tribute.[2] She also appeared in the cast of the touring play Seven Deadly Sins Four Deadly Sinners. In 2006 Harris appeared in Strangers on a Train at the Churchill Theatre in Bromley, co-starring Alex Ferns, Will Thorp, Colin Baker and Leah Bracknell for a one week run. In April 2009, Harris started at the New End Theatre playing Gertrude Lawrence in G and I.[5]
On Sunday 5 July 2009, The Mail On Sunday newspaper published a lengthy interview with Harris, in which she claims to be penniless and homeless. She estimates that she and her husband, the sometime TV director and artist Mike Margolis, are £15,000 in debt, although sources close to the couple say this may be a considerable under-estimate. The Daily Telegraph reports that "the couple first suffered a financial setback in 1985 when they lost all their savings in the collapse of a Swiss-based bank."[6]
Her recent stage appearances include the national tours of Stepping Out in 2010, and in 2011, Five Blue Haired Ladies Sitting On A Park Bench. She is currently appearing in the Theatre Royal Windsors 2011 Pantomime, Sleeping Beauty.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Singles
"I Don't Know Anymore" - 1965
- "Just Loving You" - 1967 - UK #6
- "The Playground" - 1967 - UK #46
"We're All Going On A Tuppeny Bus Ride" - 1968
- "Anniversary Waltz" - 1968 - UK #21
- "Dream a Little Dream of Me" - 1968 - UK #33
[edit] Albums
- Somebody's in My Orchard - 1966
- Just Loving You - 1968 - UK #29
- Cuddly Toy - 1969
- Anita in Jumbleland - 1970
- Anita is Peter - 1974
- Love To Sing - 1976
- The Essential - 2003 - compilation album[3]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c "Anita Harris IMDB bio". http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0364431/bio.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Biography by Sharon Mawer". Allmusic.com. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p187627/biography. Retrieved 18 March 2009.
- ^ a b c d Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 244. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- ^ Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. p. 222. ISBN 0-214-20512-6.
- ^ a b http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/femail/article-1197569/We-waiting-money-came-Anita-Harris-reveals-journey-stage-star-financial-ruin.html
- ^ Jamieson, Alastair (4 July 2009). "Singer and actress Anita Harris 'penniless and homeless' with £15,000 debts". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/5745133/Singer-and-actress-Anita-Harris-penniless-and-homeless-with-15000-debts.html. Retrieved 25 April 2010.
- ^ Allmusic.com
[edit] External links
- Anita Harris biography
- Anita Harris at the Internet Movie Database
- Mail On Sunday interview 5th July 2009
- "ROLLING STONES" RECEIVE AWARD ON THE THAMES 1965 British Pathe footage of Anita Harris presenting an award to the Rolling Stones.
