The Breakaways

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The Breakaways
Also known asThe Fordettes
Past membersVicki Brown
Margot Quantrell
Eleanor Russell
Betty Prescott
Barbara Moore

The Breakaways were an English female vocal trio, formed in 1962. Britain's premier session vocalists throughout the 1960s, The Breakaways also recorded a handful of little-known girl group singles.[1]

Career

The original members were Vicki Haseman (

Joe Brown), Margot Quantrell, Barbara Moore (who was also a member of another vocal trio, The Ladybirds), and Betty Prescott. The girls were originally members of the Liverpool vocal group The Vernons Girls. Prescott was replaced by Jean Ryder in 1963.[1]

They started out as the Fordettes, backing

Joe Brown who Vicki Haseman had been engaged to for a year.[2] Having broken away from Ford, they were then known as The Breakaways.[3]

Haseman was later replaced by the original member Betty Prescott. In addition to

The Jimi Hendrix Experience's version of "Hey Joe", and work on the 1968 album The Cheerful Insanity of Giles, Giles and Fripp
.

Having signed with the

hit, "Downtown" (not only the original English version, but also in French, Italian and German). There followed "I Know a Place", "Round Every Corner", and "A Sign of the Times", and on several of Clark's most successful French recordings, among them "Je me sens bien auprès de toi", "Mon bonheur danse" (a vocal version of The Shadows' "Foot Tapper
") and "Tu perds ton temps".

They worked with

Ahava Hi Shir Lishnayim performed by Ilanit. The song was performed in Hebrew and The Breakaways learnt their lyrics phonetically as none of them spoke the language. The song placed 11th of the 18 entries. They toured behind American stars such as Little Richard and Sam Cooke, and regularly appeared on Ready Steady Go!
.

The Breakaways first single for Pye Records was "That Boy of Mine" (1964), written by

Hit Maker! was uncredited.[1] They sang the uncredited vocals on "Someone to Talk To" from the 1965 movie, Darling. They continued to do session work. Their last single was the Mike Leander song "Sacred Love" (1968).[1]

Vicki Brown died of breast cancer on 16 June 1991, in Henley-on-Thames at the age of 50.[4]

Margot Quantrell died on 24 June 2016 at the age of 74.[5]

Betty Prescott died on 10 May 2023 at the age of 86 her funeral was at the West Herts Crematorium on 5 June 2023

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Jason Ankeny. "The Breakaways | Biography & History". AllMusic. Retrieved 27 October 2015.
  2. ISBN 978-0-19-988724-8
    . Retrieved 23 June 2017.
  3. ^ The Guardian, Monday 2 May 2016 – Emile Ford obituary
  4. ^ Doc Rock. "The Dead Rock Stars Club 1990 – 1991". Thedeadrockstarsclub.com. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  5. ^ "A voice in the background: remembering Margo Quantrell". Blog.oup.com. 21 July 2016. Retrieved 23 June 2017.

External links

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