Sandie Shaw
Sandie Shaw | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Birth name | Sandra Ann Goodrich |
Born | Dagenham, Essex, England | 26 February 1947
Genres | Pop |
Occupation(s) | Singer |
Years active | 1964–2013 |
Labels | |
Website | sandieshaw |
Sandie Shaw MBE (born Sandra Ann Goodrich; 26 February 1947) is a retired English pop singer. One of the most successful British female singers of the 1960s, she had three UK number one singles with "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" (1964), "Long Live Love" (1965) and "Puppet on a String" (1967). With the latter, she became the first British entry to win the Eurovision Song Contest. She returned to the UK Top 40, for the first time in 15 years, with her 1984 cover of the Smiths song "Hand in Glove". Shaw retired from the music industry in 2013.[1]
Biography
Early life and career
Sandra Ann Goodrich was born and brought up in Dagenham, then in Essex, England.[2] She attended Robert Clack Technical School in Becontree Heath, Dagenham.[citation needed] On leaving school, she worked at the nearby Ford Dagenham 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'.[citation needed]
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 No. 49 US pop hit for singer Lou Johnson.[4][5]: 85 Shaw's version rose to No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart in the autumn of 1964,[6] and also charted in the United States at No. 52 on the Billboard Hot 100 early the following year.[4]
"I'd Be 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 No. 3 in the UK and became her biggest US hit, reaching No. 42.[7]: 387 It was followed by further hits in the UK including "I'll Stop at Nothing", "Long Live Love", her second UK No. 1 in 1965, and "Message Understood".[6][5]: 92–93 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] Another potential follow-up, Les Reed and Gordon Mills's "It's Not Unusual," was originally written for Shaw but never recorded after the singer on the demo, a then-unknown Tom Jones, impressed Shaw so much with his powerful interpretation of the song that she encouraged Jones to release the song himself; it became Jones's breakout hit.[8][5]: 85
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 of performing barefoot endeared her to the public at large.[9][10] She also recorded most of her hit singles in Italian, French, German and Spanish boosting her popularity in Europe.[11] Shaw also released several original albums in the 1960s: Sandie (1965); Me (1965); Puppet on a String (1967); Love Me, Please Love Me (1967); The Sandie Shaw Supplement (1968) and Reviewing the Situation (1969). 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 she should move more towards cabaret.
"Puppet on a String" also became an international hit (though not in the US) and the largest-selling single of the year in Germany, qualifying for a
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 and jewellery. In the same year she hosted her own TV show, The Sandie Shaw Supplement, and issued an LP of the same title. Shaw was to have made her film debut in Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter, but she walked out of the production before filming began.[17]: 63 Her last UK Top 10 hit (her eighth in total) came in the form of 1969's "Monsieur Dupont," originally sung by German artist Manuela with German lyrics.[6]
At the end of 1969, the single "
1970 to present
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
Her second husband,
In April 1984, her version of "
Sandie Shaw appeared at the
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
In April 2010, Shaw appeared on the UK
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.[21][22]
On Boxing Day 2010, she appeared on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. Her choices included "Remember (Walking in the Sand)" by the Shangri-Las, "Barefootin'" by Georgie Fame and "Here Comes the Sun by the Beatles.[23]
She was
In August 2012 she was a guest, alongside singers Petula Clark, Helen Shapiro and Jackie Trent, and producer and manager Vicki Wickham, on the BBC Radio 4 programme The Reunion.[26]
Shaw was appointed
Personal life
On 6 March 1968, Shaw married fashion designer
In August 2007, Shaw revealed that she had had corrective surgery on her feet, which she described as "ugly"; the surgery meant she was unable to walk until October 2007.[10]
Political views
In April 2012, Shaw joined an Amnesty International campaign to end human rights abuses in Azerbaijan, host country of the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest, after the journalist Khadija Ismayilova was blackmailed and sex taped. Shaw stated: "That anyone would stoop so low in an attempt to silence an independent journalist is sickening. The people behind this appalling blackmail and smear campaign must be brought to justice. And the persecution of independent journalists in Azerbaijan must stop."[30]
In August 2014, in the lead-up to the Scottish independence referendum that was to take place in September that year, Shaw was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian expressing their hope that Scotland would vote to remain part of the United Kingdom.[31]
In April 2016 she spoke out in opposition to the campaign for Britain to leave the European Union, calling it "retrogressive" and warned of the risk of dividing Europe.[32]
Discography
- Sandie (1965)
- Me (1965)
- Love Me, Please Love Me (1967)
- The Sandie Shaw Supplement (1968)
- Reviewing the Situation (1969)
- Choose Life(1983)
- Hello Angel (1988)
See also
- List of artists who reached number one on the UK Singles Chart
- List of Peel sessions
- List of artists who reached number one in Ireland
- List of performers on Top of the Pops
References
- ^ Lachno, James (10 April 2013). "Sandie Shaw has retired from music". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022.
- ^ "Sandie Shaw (MBE) - Dagenham's Eurovision Superstar". East End Women's Museum. 13 May 2022.
- ^ ISBN 0-214-20512-6.
- ^ ISBN 0-89820-155-1.
- ^ ISBN 0-85112-250-7.
- ^ ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- ^ ISBN 0-85112-072-5.
- ISSN 0024-3019.
- ^ "Barefoot Principles". sandieshaw.com. 2009. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
- ^ a b "Foot surgery for pop singer Shaw". BBC News. 15 August 2007. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
- ^ "Sandie Shaw's French recordings". Ready steady girls!. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
- ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Biography Sandie Shaw". allmusic.com. Retrieved 8 June 2022.
- ISBN 978-1-84442-994-3.
- ISBN 978-1780976389.
- ISBN 978-1857411409
- ^ Nikkhah, Roya (25 December 2010). "Sandie Shaw's love scandal that almost cost Britain its first Eurovision victory". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022.
- ^ ISBN 000215921X.
- ^ "Music My Way - BBC One London - 8 August 1973 - BBC Genome". Genome.ch.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
- ^ "Sandie Shaw: Barefoot". Sandieshaw.com. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
- ^ "Sandie Shaw". Loose Women. April 2010. ITV. Archived from the original on 20 December 2021.
- ^ "Sandie Shaw » Goodwood!". www.sandieshaw.com. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
- ^ Kirsty, Young (26 December 2010). "Sandie Shaw". Desert Island Discs. BBC. Radio 4.
- ^ "Jools Holland - Official Web Site - Tour Dates". joolsholland.com. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
- ^ "BBC Two - Jools' Annual Hootenanny, Jools' 19th Annual Hootenanny - 2011". BBC. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
- ^ Sue, MacGregor (19 August 2012). "60s Girl Singers". The Reunion. BBC. Radio 4.
- ^ "No. 61962". The London Gazette (Supplement). 17 June 2017. p. B22.
- ^ a b Tobler, John (1992). NME Rock 'N' Roll Years (1st ed.). London: Reed International Books Ltd. CN 5585.
- ^ Needham, Lucy (21 November 2020). "Sandie Shaw forgives husband for 'losing her fortune and leaving her in caravan'". mirror. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
- ^ "Eurovision: Sandie Shaw calls on Azerbaijan to stop pulling the strings of the nation's media" (Press release). Amnesty International UK. 2 April 2012.
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
- ^ "Terry Wogan 'totally spoiled' Eurovision, says contest producer". The Guardian. 16 April 2016. Retrieved 30 April 2021.