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Sandie Shaw

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For the author, see Sandy Shaw.
Sandie Shaw

Sandie Shaw (born Sandra Ann Goodrich, 26 February 1947) is an English pop singer, who was one of the most successful British female singers of the 1960s. In 1967 she was the first UK act to win the Eurovision Song Contest. She has been described as "the barefoot pop princess of the 1960s".[1]

Life and career

Sandra Goodrich was born and brought up in Dagenham, London, England. On leaving school, she worked at the nearby Ford factory, and did some part-time modelling, before coming second as a singer in a local talent contest. As a prize, she appeared at a charity concert in London, where her potential was spotted by singer Adam Faith. He introduced her to his manager, Eve Taylor, who won her a contract with Pye Records in 1964 and gave her the stage name of "Sandie Shaw".[2][3]

Taylor teamed Shaw with songwriter Chris Andrews, who wrote her first single, "As Long as You're Happy Baby", which failed to make the charts.[3] However, for her second single Taylor gave her the Bacharach and David song "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me", which had been a #49 US pop hit for singer Lou Johnson.[4][5] Shaw's version rose quickly to #1 in the UK Singles Chart in the autumn of 1964,[1] and also charted in the United States at #52 on the Billboard Hot 100 early the following year.[4] "I’d Be Better Far Better Off Without You" was issued as the follow-up, but DJs preferred its B-side, "Girl Don't Come", also written by Andrews, and the sides were switched. "Girl Don't Come" reached #3 in the UK and became her biggest US hit, reaching #42.[6] It was followed by further hits in the UK including "I'll Stop at Nothing", "Long Live Love", her second UK #1 in 1965, and "Message Understood".[1][7] The singles were produced by Taylor, Andrews and Shaw herself (though she was never credited), with help from Pye Records arranger Ken Woodman.[citation needed]

Sandie Shaw was a regular on popular British TV programmes of the time such as Top of the Pops, Ready Steady Go! and Thank Your Lucky Stars. She was seen as epitomising the "swinging Sixties", and her trademark barefoot performances endeared her to the public at large.[2] She also recorded most of her hit singles in Italian, French, German and Spanish boosting her popularity in Europe. She was popular across South America, performed behind the Iron Curtain, and sang at concerts in pre-revolutionary Iran.[citation needed] Shaw also released several original albums in the 1960s: Sandie; Me; Love Me, Please Love Me; The Sandie Shaw Supplement and Reviewing the Situation. These albums generally consisted of Andrews-penned songs mixed with cover versions of songs made popular by other musicians.

By 1967, Shaw's record sales were declining and her manager decided on more of a cabaret appeal.[8] She was invited by the BBC to represent the UK in that year's Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna. She had reservations as she felt it would destroy her credibility, but performed five songs on The Rolf Harris Show, with the public voting that the one that should represent the country was the Bill Martin/Phil Coulter composition "Puppet on a String".[2] Although she disliked the song and thought it was unrepresentative of her material, the song won the contest by a near record margin of votes,[9] and made Shaw the first person to win the contest for the UK.[1] It gave her a third UK #1 single, a record for a female at the time.[5] "Puppet on a String" also became a worldwide hit (though not in the US) and the largest-selling single of the year in Germany, qualifying for a gold disc for one million plus sales in the UK and Europe.[3] However, her follow-up singles met with much less commercial success.

On 6 March 1968 Shaw married fashion designer Jeff Banks at the Greenwich Register Office in London.[10] Shaw would later have a daughter with Banks, named Gracie, in February 1971.[11] Fashion had become another of Shaw's trademarks, and in 1968 she began the Sandie Shaw fashion label, selling her own brand of clothing and shoes. In the same year she hosted her own TV show, The Sandie Shaw Supplement, and issued an LP of the same title. Her last UK Top 10 hit (her eighth in total) came in the form of 1969's "Monsieur Dupont," originally a German-language song.[1] At the end of 1969, the single "Heaven Knows I'm Missing Him Now" was released, which would become the inspiration for a hit by The Smiths 15 years later. Shaw also produced her own album, Reviewing the Situation, which contained versions of songs by more alternative artists such as Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones and made Shaw the first known artist to cover a Led Zeppelin song. Shaw ended 1969 by appearing on the BBC's highly rated review of the sixties music scene Pop Go The Sixties, performing There's Always Something There To Remind Me and the German version of Puppet On A String, Wiedehopf Im Mai, live on the show broadcast on BBC1, December 31 1969. Her marriage to Banks ended in 1970, and she was the subject of scandalous rumours in the British media.[8] Although she began writing songs, her contract with Pye expired in 1972. She retired from life as a pop singer and began working on other ventures, including co-writing a full-length rock musical, songwriting, acting in stage productions (she played Ophelia in Hamlet and Joan of Arc in Saint Joan) and writing and painting children's books. In 1977 she released two singles on the CBS label, and the following year began a lifelong commitment to Sōka Gakkai Buddhism.

In 1982, she married Nik Powell, co-founder of the Virgin Group and chairman of the European Film Academy, who introduced her to B.E.F.. She recorded a version of "Anyone Who Had a Heart" for their Music of Quality And Distinction album on the Virgin label,[6] which brought her back into the public eye. Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders invited Shaw to perform a duet rendition of "Girl Don't Come" at a Pretenders performance, and the two women began a long-term friendship. The following year Shaw wrote and recorded an album, Choose Life, to publicise the World Peace Exposition in London in March 1983. Later in the year, a new phase in her career began after she received a letter from "two incurable Sandie Shaw fans" - singer Morrissey and lead guitarist Johnny Marr of The Smiths - telling her that "The Sandie Shaw legend cannot be over yet — there is more to be done." Shaw's husband was a friend of Geoff Travis of Rough Trade Records, the label to which The Smiths were signed, and she agreed to record some of their songs.[6] In April 1984, her version of "Hand in Glove" (their first single) was released and peaked just inside the UK Top 30.[1] She recorded a new version of her first hit "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" for the film Letter to Brezhnev, and then released two covers of Lloyd Cole songs as singles on the Polydor label.[12] 1986 saw her embark on her first university tour in almost 20 years, followed in 1988 by the album Hello Angel, the name inspired by a postcard from Morrissey. Shaw embarked on two more successful university tours, and made appearances at Gay pride and Peace festivals.

The 1990s saw the release of many compilation albums of Shaw's material on various minor labels, as well as reissues of some of her original albums. Shaw's autobiography, The World at My Feet, was published in 1991, and the following year she began studying at Oxford and the University of London and qualified as a psychotherapist in 1994. During that time, she recorded new versions of some of her 1960s songs for the album Nothing Less Than Brilliant, released in 1994. It was also around this time that Shaw divorced Nik Powell and met her third husband, Tony Bedford.

Concentrating on her newfound career as a psychotherapist, Shaw opened The Arts Clinic in 1997 with her husband, to provide psychological healthcare and creative development to those in the entertainment and media industries.[6] The following year she was invited to join the Royal Society of Musicians as an Honorary Professor of Music.

Shaw also embarked on a successful legal battle to establish ownership of her entire recording catalogue, and began working with contemporary acts and producers, reworking much of her 1960s and 1980s material. In 2003, Shaw licensed her recording catalogue worldwide to EMI, continued to develop her Arts Clinic, and began executive coaching and mentoring. Meanwhile, EMI released compilations of her French and Italian recordings, and the following year released similar compilations in Spanish and German. Newly-remastered versions of Reviewing the Situation and Hello Angel also were issued with bonus tracks, and toward the end of the year a 4-CD box set entitled Nothing Comes Easy was released. Also in 2003, actress Ashley Williams portrayed Shaw on an episode of the American television series American Dreams, performing "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" on American Bandstand.

During this decade, she reneged on previous declarations of hatred for the Eurovision Song Contest and announced that she was proud of her Eurovision past on the BBC show Making Your Mind Up. She also briefly sat in for Brian Matthew on his long-running BBC Radio 2 Saturday morning show Sounds of the 60s in December 2006. On 26 February 2007, in honour of her 60th birthday, Shaw released a new version of "Puppet on a String" on her website. The re-tooled version, called "Puppet's Got A Brand New String," had a complete overhaul in sound and vocals under the supervision of her friend Howard Jones and mixer Andy Gray. The schlager style of the song was replaced with a calmer melody.

In August 2007, Shaw revealed that she had had 'corrective' surgery on her iconic feet, which she described as "ugly" - the surgery left her immobile until October 2007.[13]

In April 2010, Shaw appeared on the UK ITV show Loose Women and revealed that she was returning to recording and would be singing the theme song to the British movie Made in Dagenham, about the Ford Dagenham factory machinist strike of 1968 that paved the way for the equal pay act. She also took the opportunity to criticise the Eurovision Song Contest saying that it was bad when she did it, but has now got even worse.

In August 2010 she appeared at Vintage, an upmarket festival on the Goodwood estate in West Sussex as a special guest of Wayne Hemingway (Red or Dead) who organised the event. As well as hosting her own main stage set with numerous female guest singers, she also performed cameos on other stages including singing Downtown with composer Tony Hatch and an orchestra in the cabaret tent.

Discography

Singles

Catalogue numbers, dates of release, and A-side/B-side configurations all refer to initial UK releases only. Information may vary for releases in other territories.

Date of issue A-side B-side Label and catalogue number UK Singles Chart[1] Australia (Kent Report) Canada (RPM) US (Billboard)[14][15]
July 1964 "As Long as You're Happy Baby" "Ya-Ya--Da-Da" Pye Records
7N 15671 		- - - -
September 1964 "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" "Don't You Know" Pye Records
7N 15704 		1 16 3 52
December 1964 "Girl Don't Come" "I'd Be Far Better Off Without You" Pye Records
7N 15743 		3 48 8 42
February 1965 "I'll Stop At Nothing" "You Can't Blame Him" Pye Records
7N 15783 		4 - - 123
May 1965 "Long Live Love" "I've Heard About Him" Pye Records
7N 15841 		1 12 9 97
September 1965 "Message Understood" "Don't You Count On It" Pye Records
7N 15940 		6 66 21 -
November 1965 "How Can You Tell" "If Ever You Need Me" Pye Records
7N 15987 		21 - - 131
January 1966 "Tomorrow" "Hurting You" Pye Records
7N 17036 		9 24 - -
May 1966 "Nothing Comes Easy" "Stop Before You Start" Pye Records
7N 17086 		14 74 - -
August 1966 "Run" "Long Walk Home" Pye Records
7N 17163 		32 91 - -
November 1966 "Think Sometimes About Me" "Hide All Emotion" Pye Records
7N 17212 		32 - - -
January 1967 "I Don't Need Anything" "Keep in Touch" Pye Records
7N 17239 		50 - - -
March 1967 "Puppet on a String" "Tell The Boys" Pye Records
7N 17272 		1 2 - -
July 1967 "Tonight in Tokyo" "You've Been Seeing Her Again" Pye Records
7N 17346 		21 - - -
September 1967 "You've Not Changed" "Make Me Cry" Pye Records
7N 173778 		18 6 - -
January 1968 "Today" "London" Pye Records
7N 17441 		27 17 - -
April 1968 "Don't Run Away" "Stop" Pye Records
7N 17504 		- - - -
June 1968 "Show Me" "One More Life" Pye Records
7N 17564 		- 92 - -
August 1968 "Together" "Turn on the Sunshine" Pye Records
7N 17587 		- - - -
October 1968 "Make It Go"/"Those Were the Days" Double A-side See note, left Pye Records
7N 17611 		- 35 - -
February 1969 "Monsieur Dupont" "Voice in the Crowd" Pye Records
7N 17675 		6 18 - -
May 1969 "Think It All Over" "Send Me a Letter" Pye Records
7N 17726 		42 79 - -
September 1969 "Heaven Knows I'm Missing Him Now" "So Many Things To Do" Pye Records
7N 17821 		- - - -
January 1970 "By Tomorrow" "Maple Village" Pye Records
7N 17894 		- - - -
June 1970 "Wight Is Wight" "That's The Way He's Made" Pye Records
7N 17954 		- - - -
February 1971 "Rose Garden" "Maybe I'm Amazed" Pye Records
7N 45040 		- - - -
June 1971 "Show Your Face" "Dear Madame" Pye Records
7N 45073 		- - - -
February 1972 "Where Did They Go" "Look at Me" Pye Records
7N 45118 		- - - -
August 1972 "Father and Son" "Pity the Ship" Pye Records
7N 45164 		- - - -
June 1977 "One More Night" "Still So Young" CBS Records
CBS 5371 		- - - -
August 1977 "Just a Disillusion" "Your Mama Wouldn't Like It" CBS Records
CBS 5513 		- - - -
April 1982 "Anyone Who Had a Heart" "Anyone Who Had a Heart" (instrumental) Virgin Records
VS 484 		- 71 - -
April 1983 "Wish I Was" "Life is Like a Star" Palace Records - - - -
April 1984 "Hand in Glove" "I Don't Owe You Anything" Rough Trade Records
RT 130 		27 - - -
May 1986 "Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken?" "Steven (You Don't Eat Meat)" Polydor Records
POSP 793 		68 - - -
July 1986 "Frederick" "Go Johnny Go" Polydor Records
POSP 811 		- - - -
September 1988 "Please Help the Cause Against Loneliness" "I Will Remain" Rough Trade Records
RT 220 		- - - -
November 1988 "Nothing Less Than Brilliant" "Love Peace" Rough Trade Records
RT 230 		- - - -
November 1994 "Nothing Less Than Brilliant" (re-issue) "(There's) Always Something There To Remind Me" Virgin Records
VSC 1521 		66 - - -

[16]

UK EPs

  • (There's) Always Something There to Remind Me (1964)
  • Long Live Love (1965)
  • Talk About Love (1965)
  • Message Understood (1966)
  • Tomorrow (1966)
  • Nothing Comes Easy (1966)
  • Run With Sandie (1966)
  • Sandie Shaw In French (1967)
  • Sandie Shaw In Italian (1967)
  • Tell The Boys (1967)

[17] [16]

UK studio albums

[1] [18] [19] [16]

UK compilation albums

[1] [20] [16]

Note: It would be nearly impossible to list all the albums ever released containing Shaw's material (many major and minor labels have released compilations of her work since the 1960s), so only original albums and 'main' compilations are listed, along with the EMI releases which have been issued since Shaw licenced her catalogue to them.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 495. ISBN 1-904994-10-5. Cite error: The named reference "British Hit Singles & Albums" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c Biography at www.ReadySteadyGirls.eu, accessed 3 January 2010
  3. ^ a b c Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. p. 229. ISBN 0-214-20512-6.
  4. ^ a b Whitburn, Joel (2003). Top Pop Singles 1955-2002 (1st ed.). Wisconsin, USA: Record Research Inc. p. 365/634. ISBN 0-89820-155-1.
  5. ^ a b Rice, Jo (1982). The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits (1st ed.). Enfield, Middlesex: Guinness Superlatives Ltd. p. 85. ISBN 0-85112-250-7.
  6. ^ a b c d Roberts, David (1998). Guinness Rockopedia (1st ed.). London: Guinness Publishing Ltd. p. 387. ISBN 0-85112-072-5.
  7. ^ Rice, Jo (1982). The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits (1st ed.). Enfield, Middlesex: Guinness Superlatives Ltd. p. 92/93. ISBN 0-85112-250-7.
  8. ^ a b "Biography by Stephen Thomas Erlewine". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 15 April 2009.
  9. ^ O'Connor, John Kennedy. The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History, Page 208. Carlton Books, UK, 2007. ISBN 978-1-84442-994-3
  10. ^ Tobler, John (1992). NME Rock 'N' Roll Years (1st ed.). London: Reed International Books Ltd. p. 182. CN 5585.
  11. ^ Tobler, John (1992). NME Rock 'N' Roll Years (1st ed.). London: Reed International Books Ltd. p. 223. CN 5585.
  12. ^ Roberts, David (1998). Guinness Rockopedia (1st ed.). London: Guinness Publishing Ltd. p. 91. ISBN 0-85112-072-5.
  13. ^ Foot surgery for pop singer Shaw BBC News - 15 August 2007
  14. ^ "Allmusic ((( Sandie Shaw > Charts & Awards > Billboard Singles )))".
  15. ^ Whitburn, Joel Bubbling Under the Billboard Hot 100: 1959-2004, Record Research, Menomonee Falls, WI, 2005, ISBN 0898201624
  16. ^ a b c d Strong, Martin C. (2000). The Great Rock Discography (5th ed.). Edinburgh: Mojo Books. pp. 872/873. ISBN 1-84195-017-3.
  17. ^ "Allmusic ((( Sandie Shaw > Discography > Singles & EPs )))".
  18. ^ "Allmusic ((( Sandie Shaw > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums )))".
  19. ^ "Allmusic ((( Sandie Shaw > Discography > Main Albums )))".
  20. ^ "Allmusic ((( Sandie Shaw > Discography > Compilations )))".
Awards and achievements
Preceded by Winner of the Eurovision Song Contest
1967 		Succeeded by
Preceded by United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest
1967 		Succeeded by
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