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The Vernons Girls were an English musical ensemble of female vocalists. They were formed at the Vernons football pools company [1] in the 1950s in Liverpool, settling down to a sixteen strong choir [1] and recording an album of standards.
The group was originally known as "The Voices of Vernons", and under that name appeared on Eamonn Andrews' BBC television series in 1957, seen by at least one critic as being a response to rival pools company Littlewoods' already-established vocal group the "Littlewood Songsters". [2]
As a 16-piece vocal group, the renamed Vernons Girls appeared on the ITV show Oh Boy! [1] with the house band between 1958 and 1959, and made a series of relatively successful singles for the label Parlophone between 1958 and 1961. [1] Their 1958 LP released on Parlophone was arranged and conducted by Peter Knight, with sleeve notes by Eamonn Andrews. This record is significantly different from their later pop hits, featuring such fifties standards as "We'll Gather Lilacs", "Lonely Ballerina", and the "Cuckoo in the Clock".
Led by Maureen Kennedy, from 1961 the group reduced their membership to five and then three members, [3] and by 1962 had signed to Decca Records where they recorded covers of American hits. Their cover of Clyde McPhatter's "Lover Please" and "You Know What I Mean" were both hits; the latter was also originally the B-side of "Lover Please". In the US, the group charted with the first Beatles tribute album there, We Love The Beatles. The Carefrees had previously charted with a Beatles tribute called "We Love You Beatles" in the UK in 1964.
As session singers for Decca, the Vernons Girls were the female backing voices on many hit singles during the 1960s – one of the first being Billy Fury's "Maybe Tomorrow". The trio of Jean Owen (aka Samantha Jones), Frances Lea, and Maureen Kennedy also appeared on film in the 1964 TV special Around The Beatles with the Beatles plus Long John Baldry, P. J. Proby and Millie Small, in the Billy Fury film Play It Cool, and in Just For Fun; ex-member Vicky Haseman also appeared in this, with her group, the Breakaways.
When Jean Owen left the group, she was replaced by Jane Sutton on lead vocals. The group's new lineup continued to make new recordings and television appearances.
However, by 1964, their chart successes had halted and they disbanded.
Some of the girls continued in show business ventures:
Lyn Cornell married session drummer Andy White [3] (notable for replacing Ringo Starr on an early take of "Love Me Do"), and became a successful solo performer; having a chart hit with the title song to the film "Never on Sunday" in 1960 – and later becoming one of the Pearls.
Vicky Haseman formed the Breakaways, and married Joe Brown. Their daughter Sam Brown is a well-known singer in her own right.
Joyce Baker married Marty Wilde; they formed a trio with Justin Hayward called the Wilde Three, and were the parents of singers Ricky Wilde, Roxanne Wilde and Kim Wilde.
Jean Owen had solo success under the name Samantha Jones.
Other members of the group banded together in various combinations as duets and singing trios; these include the Redmond Twins, the Pearls, the Two Tones and the DeLaine Sisters. The DeLaine Sisters had a minor hit in the United Kingdom with the Goffin & King song "It Might As Well Rain Until September".
In 1966, six of the Vernons Girls reunited for a performance of the song "Short Shorts" on The ABC of ABC: A Souvenir With Music, a programme broadcast on 30 April that year marking the tenth anniversary of Oh Boy! producers ABC Weekend TV. [4]
The group also appeared on the second episode of The Lily Savage Show , alongside Savage (Paul O'Grady in drag), singing one of their hits. [5]
The longest surviving and best known of the groups, the Ladybirds, was formed by Maggie Stredder with Marian Davies and Gloria George. The Ladybirds are best known for their long association with The Benny Hill Show , and for performing the backing vocals on BBC television's Top of the Pops . They performed the backing vocals on the Jimi Hendrix Experience's first single, "Hey Joe". [6]
More recently, Stredder and Sheila Bruce, together with ex-Ladybird Penny Lister, performed on tour with their friends as part of the 'Solid Gold Rock 'n' Roll Show'. In 1989, the Vernons Girls reformed to take part in a tribute to Oh Boy! at Cliff Richard's From a Distance: The Event concert at Wembley Stadium.
Parlophone Records Limited is a record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1923 as the Parlophone Company Limited, which developed a reputation in the 1920s as a jazz record label. On 5 October 1926, the Columbia Graphophone Company acquired Parlophone's business, name, logo, and release library, and merged with the Gramophone Company on 31 March 1931 to become Electric & Musical Industries Limited (EMI). George Martin joined Parlophone in 1950 as assistant to Oscar Preuss, the label manager, taking over as manager in 1955. Martin produced and released a mix of recordings, including by comedian Peter Sellers, pianist Mrs Mills, and teen idol Adam Faith.
The Moody Blues were an English rock band formed in Birmingham in May 1964. The band initially consisted of Graeme Edge (drums), Denny Laine (guitar/vocals), Mike Pinder (keyboards/vocals), Ray Thomas (multi-instrumentalist/vocals), and Clint Warwick (bass/vocals). Originally part of the British beat and R&B scene of the early–mid 1960s, the band came to prominence with the UK No. 1 and US Top 10 single "Go Now" in late 1964/early 1965. Laine and Warwick both left the band in 1966, with Edge, Pinder and Thomas recruiting new members Justin Hayward (guitar/vocals) and John Lodge (bass/vocals). They embraced the psychedelic rock movement of the late 1960s, with their second album, 1967's Days of Future Passed, being a fusion of rock with classical music that established the band as pioneers in the development of art rock and progressive rock. It has been described as a "landmark" and "one of the first successful concept albums".
Joseph Roger Brown, MBE is an English musician. As a rock and roll singer and guitarist, he has performed for more than six decades. He was a stage and television performer in the late 1950s and has primarily been a recording star since the early 1960s. He has made six films, presented specialist radio series for BBC Radio 2, appeared on the West End stage alongside Dame Anna Neagle and has written an autobiography. In recent years he has again concentrated on recording and performing music, playing two tours of around 100 shows every year and releasing an album almost every year.
Ronald Wycherley, better known by his stage name Billy Fury, was an English musician. An early star of rock and roll, he equalled the Beatles' record of 24 hits in the 1960s and spent 332 weeks on the UK chart. His hit singles include "Wondrous Place", "Halfway to Paradise" and "Jealousy". Fury also maintained a film career, notably playing rock performers in Play It Cool in 1962 and That'll Be the Day in 1973.
Jack Good was a British television producer, musical theatre producer, record producer, musician and painter of icons. As a television producer, he was responsible for the early popular music shows Six-Five Special, Oh Boy!, Boy Meets Girls and Wham!!, the first UK teenage music programmes. Good managed some of the UK's first rock and roll stars, including Tommy Steele, Marty Wilde, Billy Fury, Jess Conrad and Cliff Richard.
The Carefrees were a British group formed in 1964, most known for their song "We Love You Beatles". Although often referred to as a girl group, the Carefrees can be considered a pop band, as the group consisted of Lynn Cornell, Barbara Kay and Betty Prescott (vocals), along with Don Ridell, Johnny Evans and John Stevens (drums).
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.
Oh Boy! was the first teenage all-music show on British TV, airing in 1958 and 1959. It was produced by Jack Good for ITV.
Jean Owen, known as Samantha Jones is a former English singer whose career spanned the mid-1960s through the early 1980s. She won three international pop music contests and charted records in the Benelux countries. Her recordings later experienced a revival on the Northern soul scene.
Lilian Patricia Lita Roza was an English singer best known for her 1953 recording "(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?", which reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart. She was the first British woman to have a No. 1 hit in the UK chart.
Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers were a 1960s British rhythm and blues, soul and beat group who had two top 10 hits with "One Way Love" and "Got to Get You into My Life".
The Casuals were a British pop group from Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England. They are best known for their 1968 No. 2 UK hit song, "Jesamine".
Vince Eager is an English pop musician. He was widely promoted by impresario Larry Parnes, but later quarrelled with him over his commercialising of Eddie Cochran's tragic early death. Eager has since appeared in cabaret and on the West End stage.
Vicki Brown was an English pop, rock and contemporary classical singer. She was a member of both The Vernons Girls and The Breakaways and was the first wife of fellow singer and musician Joe Brown and mother of the singer Sam Brown.
The Pearls were an English 1970s girl vocal duo from Liverpool, England, featuring Lyn Cornell and Ann Simmons. They released a total of 12 singles, the most successful being "Guilty", which reached No. 10 in the UK Singles Chart in June 1974. Various Pearls singles were released around the world with different catalogue numbers and sometimes different labels. They had releases throughout Europe and in the Far East, USA, Canada, South Africa, Japan, New Zealand and Australia.
The Ladybirds were a British female vocal harmony trio, most famous for their appearances on The Benny Hill Show. They participated in over 60 episodes between 1968 and 1991. In addition, they were long-standing backing singers to many established artists, and perennial television performers.
Cuddly Dudley, born Dudley Heslop, was a Jamaican-born British rock & roll singer who came to fame on the Oh Boy! TV series, and is noted for being "Britain's first black rock & roller".
Michael James Cox is a British-born former pop singer and actor. As Michael Cox, he had a top-ten hit on the UK singles chart in 1960 with "Angela Jones", produced by Joe Meek. He later worked as an actor, and in TV in New Zealand, using both his full name and the name Michael James.
Around the Beatles was a 1964 television special featuring the Beatles, produced by Jack Good for ITV/Rediffusion London. It was taped in Wembley Park Studios in London on 28 April 1964, and broadcast internationally, with its initial airing on 6 May 1964, and in the US on the ABC network on 15 November. The show featured other performers as well, with the Beatles providing backing vocals for some of them. The music had been pre-recorded at London's IBC Studios on 19 April 1964, and the Beatles mimed during the show.
Lyn Cornell, sometimes billed as Lynn Cornell is an English pop and jazz singer. She is best known for her membership of The Vernons Girls, The Carefrees and The Pearls, having had at least one chart hit with each group, and as a solo artist with a Top 30 UK hit to her name.
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