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Sue and Sunny were a Britishvocalduo ofsession singers operating in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Although sisters, their stage names were Sue Glover and Sunny Leslie. For three years (1969–1972), they were members of British pop groupBrotherhood of Man.
Born Yvonne Wheatman ('Sue') in 1949 and Heather Wheatman ('Sunny') in 1951 inMadras, India,[1] they made theirrecording debut together in 1963 under the name The Myrtelles, with theircover version ofLesley Gore's "Just Let Me Cry" on the independentOriolerecord label.[1] Thesingle was not commercially successful.[1] The girls then released two singles under the name of Sue and Sunshine before settling on the name Sue and Sunny.[1] Whilst recording with songwriter and producerKenny Lynch the girls changed their name to The Stockingtops at his request, but decided it was not for them and reverted to Sue and Sunny.[citation needed] In 1965, they sang backing vocals onAlex Harvey's single, "Agent OO Soul" / "Go Away Baby" (Fontana – TF 610), produced byChris Blackwell ofIsland Records.
In 1966, when Sunny (the younger of the pair) was still only 15, the two turned professional doing the cabaret circuit. After three years they decided that their audiences were too old for them, and went to Germany to play the airbase circuit, where, despite releasing two German singles, they still felt out of place and returned to London.
Whilst in London they were asked to do a session asbacking singers forLesley Duncan. The session went well and suddenly the duo found themselves in demand, recording with, amongst many others,The Ace Kefford Stand,Dusty Springfield,Python Lee Jackson,Elton John,Cerrone,Love Affair,Lulu,Mott the Hoople,Peter Wyngarde,T. Rex,Tom Jones,David Bowie, andJoe Cocker. It was the Cocker sessions, and in particular "With a Little Help from My Friends", where Sunny sang withMadeline Bell andRosetta Hightower, that propelled the girls into the limelight.[1] When "With A Little Help" reachednumber one in theUK Singles Chart they found themselves accompanying Cocker on severaltelevision programmes includingTop of the Pops. They now worked with artists as diverse asJames Last,Frank Zappa,Giorgio Moroder, andBrotherhood of Man, with whom theycharted in 1970 with thehit single, "United We Stand".[1] In March 1972, they just missed the UK top 30 with the single "Third Finger, Left Hand", released under the nameThe Pearls, a group name that was more successful with the personnel ofLyn Cornell and Ann Simmons.
Sue and Sunny themselves are a little unsure of how manyrecords they have actually released. In an interview withDisc[2] on sale on 20 April 1974, Sunny was quoted as saying "Sue and I found ourselves recording on our own and we had a couple of singles put out. But nothing really happened for us". They appear to have recorded around a dozen singles, but to confuse things further they also recorded under the names Sue & Sunshine, The Stockingtops, and as part ofThe Nirvana Orchestra. They also recorded analbum forCBS which was, confusingly, also released – with a different cover – on the CBS subsidiary, Reflection.
Sunny finally had a hit record with "Doctor's Orders" in 1974,[3] and in 1976 Sue, now known as 'Sue Glover' recorded asolo album forDJM, entitledSolo.[1] On three occasions, Sue and Sunny have sung backing vocals at theEurovision Song Contest. In 1969, they accompaniedLulu to victory inMadrid, performing "Boom Bang-a-Bang". They returned to supportJoy Fleming inStockholm, in 1975, joiningMadeline Bell to back up theGerman entry "Ein Lied kann eine Brücke sein", which placed seventeenth. In 1981, Sue resurfaced with an entry in the UKSong for Europe competition fronting the group 'Unity' with the song "For Only A Day", but failed to find favour with the voting juries, finishing in last place.
Sue and Sunny joined forces again to sing backing vocals forVikki Watson's UK entry "Love Is..." inGothenburg at the 1985 Eurovision final. This song was placed fourth.
The sisters also toured regularly with popular German orchestra leader, James Last, during much of the 1970s.[1] They also were part of the Birds of Paris, a group of backing singers that worked mainly with disco producerAlec R. Costandinos and included Madeline Bell,Joanne Stone, Kay Garner,Vicki Brown andKatie Kissoon. Sue, Sunny and Bell contributed backing vocals for three albums byDonna Summer during the later part of the decade.
In 1979, Sue Glover appeared in the debut TV play fromVictoria Wood,Talent, playing the part of club singer 'Cathy Christmas'.
OnDavid Mitton andRobert D. Cardona'sTugs, Sue Glover sang the rendition of the show's theme song in the final episode "Bigg Freeze". In an interview fromSodor Island Fansite (SiF), aThomas the Tank Engine fan site, Mike O'Donnell, the composer, said that there were talks to providing the theme song on record. However, the show never took off because ofTVS going bankrupt.
