Nancy Nova | |
---|---|
Birth name | Carol Ann Holness |
Genres | Disco, new wave |
Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter |
Instrument(s) | Vocals |
Labels | FX Records |
Website | http://nancynova.com |
Carol Ann Holness, better known by her stage name Nancy Nova, is a singer and songwriter from London, who was largely active from 1978 to 1983. She is the daughter of former Blockbusters host Bob Holness and sister of Ros Holness, who was a member of 1980s new-wave group Toto Coelo.
Nova attended Bristol Old Vic Theatre School for three years from the age of 18. [1] She initially found success as a songwriter for Jesse Green, writing the single "Flip". She was a featured artist on the Italian television programme Non Stop [2] for six weeks and her single, "Akiri Non Stop", was used as the theme music for the show. Her 1981 single, "The Force", received radio airplay and was a hit in the dance charts.[ which? ] She was a founder member of Toto Coelo, but left before they achieved popularity due to her signing a worldwide recording contract with EMI. [1]
She has also written songs and sang backing vocals for Lena Zavaroni and Cleo Laine. Though quiet for most of the 1980s and 1990s, in 2004 Nova released through her FX records label a compilation album of her 1980s songs on CD, entitled The Force. A year later, an album of new material in a jazz style was released, entitled Nancy Sings Jazz. Her latest album, Blowout (2007), was only available through iTunes. In 2010 FX records released Super Nova, a compilation of new versions of 8 older songs (from the 1980s, with and extra remix of The Force) and 5 newer songs (1 from Nancy Sings Jazz and 4 from Blowout, same versions as on these albums).[ citation needed ]
She was noted in the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles & Albums for being in the charts the same week as her sister (4 September 1982). [3]
Andre Williams, better known as Shy FX, is a British DJ and producer from London. He specialises in drum and bass and jungle music.
Veronica "Randy" Crawford is an American jazz and R&B singer. She has been more successful in Europe than in the United States, where she has not entered the Billboard Hot 100 as a solo artist. However, she has appeared on the Hot 100 singles chart twice. The first time was in 1979 as a guest vocalist on The Crusaders' top-40 hit "Street Life". She also dueted with Rick Springfield on the song "Taxi Dancing", which hit number 59 as the B-side of Springfield's hit "Bop Til You Drop". She has had five top-20 hits in the UK, including her 1980 number-two hit, "One Day I'll Fly Away", as well as six UK top-10 albums. Despite her American nationality, she won Best British Female Solo Artist in recognition of her popularity in the UK at the 1982 Brit Awards. In the late 2000s, she received her first two Grammy Award nominations.
"Strange Little Girl" is a song by the Stranglers, originally written in 1974 and re-recorded and released in the UK in 1982 as their last single while signed to Liberty Records. By the time of release, the band had already decided to leave the label for Epic Records, and this last single was part of the severance deal, along with the compilation album, The Collection 1977–1982.
Gordon William Mills was a successful London-based music industry manager and songwriter. He was born in Madras, British India and grew up in Trealaw in the Rhondda Valley, South Wales. During the 1960s and 1970s, he managed the careers of three highly successful musical artists - Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdinck and Gilbert O'Sullivan. Mills was also a songwriter, penning hits for Cliff Richard, Johnny Kidd & the Pirates, Freddie and the Dreamers, the Applejacks, Paul Jones, Peter and Gordon and Tom Jones, most notably co-writing Jones's signature song "It's Not Unusual" with Les Reed.
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Mari Macmillan Ramsay Wilson is a British pop and jazz singer. She is best known for her 1982 UK top-10 hit single "Just What I Always Wanted" and her 1960s image complete with beehive hairstyle.
Toto Coelo was a 1980s British new wave group, founded by producer Barry Blue. The original members were singers Anita Mahadevan, Lacey Bond, Lindsey Danvers, Ros Holness and Sheen Doran.
Verdelle Smith is an American pop singer who was a one-hit wonder with the song "Tar and Cement" in 1966, an adaptation of the Italian massive hit "Il ragazzo della via Gluck" from Adriano Celentano. She currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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The following is a comprehensive discography of the Stranglers, an English rock band.
Paul Michael Curtis is an English singer, songwriter, record producer from London, who holds the record for the highest number of songs to make the finals of the A Song for Europe contest, the BBC's annual competition to choose the UK's entry to the Eurovision Song Contest, competing with 22 separate songs from 1975 to 1992.
"My Son, My Son" is a traditional popular music song written by Gordon Melville Rees, Bob Howard and Eddie Calvert in 1954. A recording of the song by Vera Lynn reached number one in the UK Singles Chart in November that year. It was Lynn's only UK number one hit on the official chart, a feat she achieved long after the period she became most associated with as the Forces' Sweetheart in World War II. However, there was no official singles sales chart in the UK at that time, so her recordings of songs which she has subsequently become more familiar with, such as her 1939 signature song, "We'll Meet Again", did not feature on any contemporary charts.
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