Anita Harris

Anita Harris
Born	Anita Madeleine Harris (1942-06-03) 3 June 1942 Midsomer Norton, Somerset, England, UK
Occupation(s)	Actress, singer
Years active	1960–present

Anita Harris (born Anita Madeleine Harris, 3 June 1942, Midsomer Norton, Somerset, England) is an English actress, singer and entertainer.

Harris sang with the Cliff Adams Singers, and had a number of chart hits in the 1960s. She appeared in the Carry On films Follow That Camel and Carry On Doctor.

Career

Harris's musical career began as a child, although her expectations were to become a dancer. Soon after leaving school she left Britain and trained as a choreographed skater in Las Vegas. She went for three months and stayed for six. One of the few women to sing with the Cliff Adams Singers, best known for BBC Radio's Sing Something Simple. She remained with Adams for three years.She says it was a great learning curve. Harris was still in her teens when she was spotted by John Barry's manager Tony Lewis and was offered a recording contract by EMI and cut her first recordings. This was with the John Barry Seven — a band who, at that time, were successful in the charts. This early single though, a double A-side of "I Haven't Got You", written by Lionel Bart and "Mr. One and Only", did not succeed.

By the late 1960s her career was at its peak. Her hit, "Just Loving You", was acquired through her friend Dusty Springfield, whose brother was songwriter [[Tom Springfield, who wrote the song. She says "I am always very grateful to Dusty Springfield, who introduced me to her brother Tom, who wrote the song. Dusty could have kept the song for herself, so it was a very generous thing to pass that one across." The recording was made at London's Olympic studios and the instrumental break was played by well known harmonica player Harry Pitch. It was released in June 1967 on the CBS label, and was her biggest selling single. It peaked at No.6 in the UK Singles Chart, No.1 in South Africa (in which it sold 200,000 copies in its first six months) and in Ireland the single reached No.18. In the United States, where it was released on Columbia Records, the record "bubbled under" the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at No.120. Cover versions of the songs "Anniversary Waltz" and "Dream a Little Dream of Me" followed. In 1968, her album Just Loving You hit the album charts at number 29. 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 films, posed for a nude set in Mayfair magazine, and had a popular presence on British television. She made an appearance at the San Remo Song Festival in Italy, working with Kenny Clayton, Petula Clark's musical arranger.

Harris also co-hosted The David Nixon Magic Show in the 1970s, and appeared on the Morecambe and Wise Show in 1971 and 1973. In 1981 Harris was in the line-up for the Royal Variety Performance, singing "Burlington Bertie". She was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1982 when she was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at London's Talk of the Town (nightclub).

She was still appearing as herself on programmes up to 2001, in particular Boom Boom: The Best of the Original Basil Brush Show, French & Saunders, and Bob Monkhouse: A BAFTA Tribute. 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.

On 5 July 2009, the Mail on Sunday newspaper published a lengthy interview with Harris, in which she claimed to be penniless and homeless. She estimated that she and her husband, the sometime TV director and artist Mike Margolis, were £15,000 in debt, although sources close to the couple say this may be a considerable underestimate. The Daily Telegraph reported that "the couple first suffered a financial setback in 1985 when they lost all their savings in the collapse of a Swiss-based bank".

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. Harris appeared in the Theatre Royal, Windsor's 2011 pantomime, Sleeping Beauty. Most recently she toured the UK in The Cemetery Club, a play written by Ivan Menchell.

Discography

Singles

• "I Don't Know Anymore" - 1965
• "Trains and Boats and Planes" - 1965
• "Just Loving You" - 1967 - UK No.6
• "The Playground" - 1967 - UK No.46
• "We're All Going On A Tuppeny Bus Ride" - 1968
• "Anniversary Waltz" - 1968 - UK No.21
• "Dream a Little Dream of Me" - 1968 - UK No.33

Albums

• Somebody's in My Orchard - 1966
• Just Loving You - 1968 - UK No.29
• Cuddly Toy - 1969
• Anita in Jumbleland - 1970
• Anita is Peter - 1974
• Love To Sing - 1976
• The Essential - 2003 - compilation album

See also

• UK Singles Chart records
• List of performances on Top of the Pops

External links

• Anita Harris biography
• Anita Harris at IMDb
• Anita Harris recalls her appearance on This Is Your Life
• Mail On Sunday interview 5 July 2009
• "ROLLING STONES" RECEIVE AWARD ON THE THAMES 1965 British Pathe footage of Anita Harris presenting an award to the Rolling Stones.