Sandie Shaw | |
|---|---|
 Shaw in 1967 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Sandra Ann Goodrich |
| Born | (1947-02-26)26 February 1947 (age 78) Dagenham, Essex, England |
| Genres | Pop |
| Occupation | Singer |
| Years active | 1964–2013 |
| Labels | |
| Website | sandieshaw |
Sandra Ann GoodrichMBE (born 26 February 1947), known by her stage nameSandie Shaw, is a retired English pop singer. One of the most successful British female singers of the 1960s, she had threeUK 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 theEurovision Song Contest. She returned to the UK Top 40, for the first time in 15 years, with her 1984 cover ofthe Smiths song "Hand in Glove". Shaw retired from the music industry in 2013.[1]
Sandra Ann Goodrich was born and brought up inDagenham, then inEssex, England.[2] She attended Robert Clack Technical School in Becontree Heath, Dagenham.[citation needed] On leaving school, she worked at the nearbyFord 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 singerAdam Faith. He introduced her to his manager,Eve Taylor, who won her a contract withPye Records in 1964 and gave her the stage name of "Sandie Shaw".[citation needed]
Taylor teamed Shaw with songwriterChris 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 theBacharach andDavid song "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me", which had been a No. 49 US pop hit for singerLou Johnson.[4][5]: 85 Shaw's version rose to No. 1 in theUK Singles Chart in the autumn of 1964,[6] and also charted in the United States at No. 52 on theBillboard 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 andGordon Mills's "It's Not Unusual," was originally written for Shaw but never recorded after the singer on the demo, a then-unknownTom 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 asTop of the Pops,Ready Steady Go! andThank 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) andReviewing the Situation (1969). These albums generally consisted of Andrews-penned songs mixed withcover 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.[12] She was invited by the BBC to represent the UK in that year'sEurovision Song Contest in Vienna. She had reservations as she felt it would destroy her credibility, but performed five songs onTheRolf Harris Show, with the public voting that the one that should represent the country was theBill Martin/Phil Coulter composition "Puppet on a String". Although she disliked the song and thought it was unrepresentative of her material, the song won the contest by a near-record margin of votes,[13] and made Shaw the first person to win the contest for the UK.[6] It gave her a third UK No. 1 single, a record for a female at the time.[5]: 85
"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 agold disc for one million plus sales in the UK and Europe.[3] Globally, the single achieved sales in excess of 4 million, making it the biggest selling winning Eurovision track to date.[14] Some estimates suggest this makes the track the biggest selling single by a British female artist of all time.[15] Her Eurovision success almost did not happen; the BBC wanted to drop her because she had been the "other woman" in a divorce case.[16]
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 inMrs. 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 artistManuela with German lyrics.[6]
At the end of 1969, the single "Heaven Knows I'm Missing Him Now" was released, which would become the inspiration for ahit bythe Smiths 15 years later. Shaw also produced her own album,Reviewing the Situation, which contained versions of songs by artists such asBob Dylan andthe Rolling Stones and made Shaw the first known artist to cover aLed Zeppelin song. Shaw ended 1969 by appearing on theBBC's highly rated review of the '60s music scenePop Go The Sixties, performing "There's Always Something There To Remind Me" and the German version of "Puppet on a String", "Wiedehopf Im Mai", live on the show broadcast onBBC1, 31 December 1969.[citation needed]
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 playedOphelia inHamlet andJoan of Arc inSaint Joan) and writing children's books. In 1972 she further demonstrated her versatility as an artist appearing on BBC Television's long-running music hall programme,The Good Old Days. In 1973, Shaw was one of eight artists each given their own TV special in the BBC1 seriesMusic My Way, where her guests includedBlue Mink.[18] By her own choice, Shaw left the music business and took work in a central London restaurant as a waitress,[17]: 103 but in 1977, she released two singles on theCBS label and the following year began a lifelong commitment toSōka GakkaiBuddhism.
Her second husband,Nik Powell, introduced her toBEF. She recorded a version of "Anyone Who Had a Heart" for theirMusic of Quality And Distinction album on theVirgin label,[7]: 387 which brought her back into the public eye.Chrissie Hynde ofthe Pretenders invited Shaw to perform aduet rendition of "Girl Don't Come" at a Pretenders performance, and the two women began a long-term friendship. The following year Shaw wrote and recorded an album,Choose Life, to publicise the World Peace Exposition in London in March 1983. Later in the year, a new phase in her career began after she received a letter from "two incurable Sandie Shaw fans" – singerMorrissey and lead guitaristJohnny Marr of the Smiths – telling her that "The Sandie Shaw legend cannot be over yet – there is more to be done." Shaw's husband was a friend ofGeoff Travis ofRough Trade Records, the label to which the Smiths were signed, and she agreed to record some of their songs.[7]: 387
In April 1984, her version of "Hand in Glove" (the Smiths' first single) was released and peaked just inside the UK Top 30.[6] She recorded a new version of her first hit "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" for the filmLetter to Brezhnev and then released two singles on thePolydor label.[7]: 91 1986 saw her embark on her first university tour in almost 20 years with a band made up largely of members of theJoBoxers,[17]: 73 followed in 1988 by the albumHello Angel, the name inspired by a postcard from Morrissey. Shaw embarked on two more successful university tours and made appearances atGay pride and Peacefestivals.[citation needed]
Sandie Shaw appeared at theSanremo Music Festival 1990, singing "Deep Joy", the English version toMilva's song "Sono Felice". The 1990s saw the release of manycompilation albums of Shaw's material on various minor labels, as well as reissues of some of her original albums. Shaw's autobiography,The World at My Feet, was published in 1991, and the following year she began studying atOxford and theUniversity of London and qualified as a psychotherapist in 1994. During that time, she recorded new versions of some of her 1960s songs for the albumNothing Less Than Brilliant, released in 1994. It was also around this time that Shaw divorced Powell and met her third husband, Tony Bedford. Concentrating on a new career as apsychotherapist, Shaw opened the Arts Clinic in 1997 with her husband, to provide psychological healthcare and creative development to those in the creative industries.[7]: 387 The clinic is now styledBarefoot Therapy: The Arts Clinic and continues to provide psychological support for those in the fields of entertainment, media and sports.[19] In 1998 she was invited to join theRoyal Society of Musicians as an Honorary Professor of Music.
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 toEMI, 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 ofReviewing the Situation andHello Angel also were issued with bonus tracks, and toward the end of the year a 4-CDbox set entitledNothing Comes Easy was released. Also in 2003, actressAshley Williams portrayed Shaw on an episode of the American television seriesAmerican Dreams, performing "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" onAmerican 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 showMaking Your Mind Up. She also briefly sat in forBrian Matthew on his long-runningBBC Radio 2 Saturday morning showSounds of the 60s in December 2006. On 26 February 2007, in honour of her 60th birthday, Shaw released a new version of "Puppet on a String" on her website. The re-tooled version, called "Puppet's Got a Brand New String," had a complete overhaul in sound and vocals under the supervision of her friendHoward Jones and mixer Andy Gray. Theschlager style of the song was replaced with a calmer melody.[citation needed]
In April 2010, Shaw appeared on the UKITV television programmeLoose Women and revealed that she was returning to recording and would be singing thetheme song to the British film,Made in Dagenham. She also took the opportunity to criticise the Eurovision Song Contest, saying that it was bad when she did it, but had now got even worse.[20]
In August 2010, she appeared at Vintage, an upmarket festival on theGoodwood estate inWest Sussex, as a special guest ofWayne 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 composerTony Hatch and an orchestra in the cabaret tent.[21][22]
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On Boxing Day 2010, she appeared onBBC Radio 4'sDesert Island Discs. Her choices included "Remember (Walking in the Sand)" bythe Shangri-Las, "Barefootin'" byGeorgie Fame and "Here Comes the Sun bythe Beatles.[23]
She wasJools Holland's special guest on his 2011 Tour.[24] On New Year's Eve in 2011 Shaw performed onBBC Two'sHootenanny backed byJools Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra.[25]
In August 2012 she was a guest, alongside singersPetula Clark,Helen Shapiro andJackie Trent, and producer and managerVicki Wickham, on the BBC Radio 4 programmeThe Reunion.[26]
Shaw was appointedMember of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the2017 Birthday Honours for services to music.[27]
On 6 March 1968, Shaw married fashion designerJeff Banks at theGreenwichRegister Office in London.[28]: 182 Their daughter Gracie was born in February 1971.[28]: 223 The marriage to Banks ended in 1978. In 1982, she marriedNik Powell, co-founder of theVirgin Group and chairman of theEuropean Film Academy. They had two children together before divorcing in 1995. She then married her third husband, the psychologist Tony Bedford.[29]
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 of that year.[10]
In April 2012, Shaw joined anAmnesty International campaign to end human rights abuses inAzerbaijan, host country of the2012 Eurovision Song Contest, after the journalistKhadija 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 theScottish independence referendum that was to take place in September that year, Shaw was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter toThe 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 thecampaign for Britain to leave the European Union, calling it "retrogressive" and warned of the risk of dividing Europe.[32]
| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1967 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1967 | Succeeded by |
