Sandie Shaw  

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Sandie Shaw (1947) was a British singer known for such songs as "Puppet on a String" (1967). With her hair, slender frame, model cheekbones and outfits, she has been described as the ultimate working-class 'it' girl.

Contents

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Life and career

Born and brought up in Dagenham, England, the Ford plant IBM operator dreamed of becoming a singer. At that time, many of the working-class population of Dagenham worked at Ford, and although Shaw had gained a place at art college, she turned it down and decided to work at the plant until her singing career took off. She soon began her recording career at the age of 17, after being discovered by popular singer Adam Faith.

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1960s

She was spotted by Faith after she appeared on the bill at a concert featuring himself and his group, The Roulettes, as well as The Hollies (she had gained a place in the concert having come second in a talent contest). After the show, she was taken backstage to meet The Hollies and The Roulettes, and ended up being taken to Faith's dressing room to do an impromptu rendition of "Everybody Loves a Lover." Faith was so impressed that he introduced her to his manager, Eve Taylor, a former Variety manager. Within a fortnight the youngster had a record deal with Pye Records and a new stage name. Taylor teamed songwriter Chris Andrews with Shaw, and he wrote her first single, "As Long As You're Happy Baby." However it was the second single that was to make her a household name after Taylor discovered "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" on a song-hunting trip to America. The song had been written by songwriting team Burt Bacharach and Hal David and had been a minor US hit for Lou Johnston. Shaw's version became a massive hit, spending three weeks at No. 1 in the UK singles chart in the autumn of 1964.

This was followed by a string of classic pop hit singles written by Chris Andrews including "Girl Don't Come," "I'll Stop at Nothing," "Long Live Love" (Shaw's second UK Number One), "Message Understood," "Tomorrow" and "Nothing Comes Easy," all of which made the Top 20. The star was also a regular on popular programmes such as Top Of The Pops, Ready Steady Go! and Thank Your Lucky Stars. Shaw also recorded most of her hit singles in Italian, French, German and Spanish boosting her popularity on the continent. She also was very popular across South America, had performed behind the Iron Curtain, and had sung at concerts in pre-revolutionary Iran. Problems with work permits, however, prevented Shaw from entering the music business in America, although she developed a substantial fan base there. Her trademark was to perform with bare feet because, in her own words, "I feel more relaxed, more able to get the mood of a song."

The singles were produced by Taylor, Andrews and herself (though she was never credited), with help from Pye Records arranger Ken Woodman. Although her singles primarily brought her success and popularity, Shaw also released several original albums in the 1960s: Sandie; Me; Love Me, Please Love Me; The Sandie Shaw Supplement and Reviewing the Situation. These albums generally consisted of Andrews-penned songs mixed with cover versions of songs made popular by other artists.

By 1967, Shaw's record sales were declining and her manager decided on more of a cabaret appeal. Against her will (as she felt it would destroy her credibility), Shaw was put forward to represent the UK in that year's Eurovision Song Contest. She performed five songs on The Rolf Harris Show and the public voted that the song that should represent the country was the Bill Martin/Phil Coulter composition "Puppet on a String" (a song she hated, but now says: "It is a song which has been the source of much grief, hilarity, circumspection and I have to admit, financial reward for many years."). The song won the contest easily (making Shaw the first person to win the contest for the UK) and gave her another smash hit and her third UK No. 1 single — a record for a female at the time). Puppet on a String also was a worldwide hit and the largest-selling single of the year in Germany. According to The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History, by John Kennedy O'Connor, it is the second biggest victor in the contest, beating the runner up (Ireland's If I Could Choose by Sean Dunphy) by a margin of over 53 percent. 1967 also saw Shaw marry fashion designer Jeff Banks, with whom she would later have a daughter, Gracie, in 1971. 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.

After Eurovision, Shaw continued to put out Chris Andrews-penned pop singles including the Top 20 "You've Not Changed" as well as songs by other artists, including Harry Nilsson ("Together") and Gene Raskin ("Those Were the Days"). However, the latter was outshone by a version sung by Opportunity Knocks winner Mary Hopkin. By this time, Shaw also was hosting her own TV show, The Sandie Shaw Supplement.

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Late 1960s

Shaw's last UK Top 10 hit (her eighth in total) came in the form of 1969's "Monsieur Dupont," originally a German-language song. At the end of 1969, the single "Heaven Knows I'm Missing Him Now" was released, which would become the inspiration for a hit by The Smiths 15 years later. In the same period, Shaw made her first attempt at producing an album. The result, Reviewing the Situation, was different from her previous albums, which had generally consisted of pop covers mixed with a few Chris Andrews songs. Reviewing the Situation contained covers of songs by more alternative artists such as Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones and made Shaw the first known artist to cover a Led Zeppelin song. Eve Taylor was not happy with the album, and Pye did little to promote it. In truth, Shaw felt that the whole 'pop' scene had become too much of a career and marketing affair. By this time, she was more interested in alternative artists (hence her covering their songs for this album), but her managers were determined for her to carry on the pop line — so the contrast between her own production of this album and the current single at the time (the aforementioned "Heaven Knows I'm Missing Him Now") was striking.

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1970s

In the early 1970s, Shaw began writing songs and continued to release singles by other writers as well as several cover versions including Lynn Anderson's "Rose Garden" written by Joe South and "Father And Son" by Cat Stevens, which was to be her last Pye single in 1972. Record sales had declined significantly since "Monsieur Dupont" and after her final Pye release she semi-retired from public life and began working on other ventures, including co-writing a full-length rock musical, songwriting, acting in stage productions (she played Ophelia in Hamlet and Joan of Arc in Saint Joan) and writing and painting children's books. In 1977 she released two singles on the CBS label, and the following year began a lifelong commitment to Soka Gakkai International Buddhism. Since then, she has taught and introduced hundreds of people to the faith.

Shaw generally regards the 1970s as a low point in her life. Following the breakdown of her marriage to Jeff Banks, she found herself penniless and, determined to not to go back into the limelight, took odd jobs such as waitressing to support herself and her daughter. She has also stated that she lost a lot of confidence in herself during this time.

Image:Sandiealbum.jpg
Sandie Shaw on the cover of the "Long Live Love" E.P.
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1980s

Having divorced Banks some years previously, Shaw married Nik Powell in 1982. Powell was co-founder of the Virgin Group and chairman of the European Film Academy. He introduced her to The B.E.F. and in 1982 she recorded a version of "Anyone Who Had a Heart" for their Music of Quality And Distinction album, released on the Virgin label. The Bacharach/David song had been recorded in the 1960s by several female singers including Dionne Warwick, Cilla Black, Dusty Springfield and Petula Clark, but Shaw felt it was the kind of song that should be recorded by a more mature, experienced woman and was particularly proud of her version. As a result of its popularity, Shaw's version of "Anyone Who Had a Heart" was released as a single and there was talk of releasing an album on the Virgin label. Although this never happened due to Shaw's becoming pregnant with her daughter Amie, it brought her back into the public eye and she discovered that many people were in fact still fans. These included Pretenders lead singer Chrissie Hynde who at the end of the year invited Shaw to perform on stage with her band. After singing a duet rendition of Shaw's 1964 hit "Girl Don't Come" at a Pretenders performance, the two women began a long-term friendship.

The following year Shaw wrote and recorded an album called Choose Life (her first since 1969's Reviewing the Situation), and issued 1,000 copies to publicise the World Peace Exposition in London in March 1983. However, the LP was in demand by fans and was released on the Palace label in May. "Wish I Was," taken from this album, was issued as a single. Shaw, however, was still officially in retirement so nothing was really done to promote the new releases. However, in August 1983, a new phase in her career begun after she received a letter signed "Two incurable Sandie Shaw fans" telling her that "The Sandie Shaw legend cannot be over yet — there is more to be done." The letter was in fact from lead singer Morrissey and lead guitarist Johnny Marr of The Smiths.

Shaw's husband was a friend of Geoff Travis of Rough Trade Records, the label to which The Smiths were signed, and several more letters were passed along to Shaw. She eventually agreed to meet Morrissey and ended up recording some of their songs. In April 1984, her version of "Hand in Glove" (their first single) was released on Rough Trade. The single sold well (20,000 copies in its first three days) and peaked just inside the UK Top 30. It was accompanied by a performance on Top Of The Pops involving Shaw lying on the floor kicking her feet in the air, backed by The Smiths (apart from Morrissey who was dancing in the wings) all with bare feet. She later commented, "I don't intend to age gracefully. I intend to do it quite disgracefully with a lot of kicking my legs in the air!" An album on the Rough Trade label was discussed, but put on hold when Shaw discovered she was pregnant with her son Jack.

The second phase of Shaw's recording career continued with a new version of her first hit "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" for the film Letter to Brezhnev and after a change in management in 1986, two singles on the Polydor label. Both were cover versions of songs by Lloyd Cole ("Are You Ready to Be Heartbroken") and Patti Smith ("Frederick"). The B-sides of these singles were songs written by Shaw about Morrissey and Johnny Marr. 1986 also saw her embark on her first university tour in almost 20 years. Again, an album was discussed, but Polydor did not feel that the singles had performed well enough for such a venture to take off.

Shaw finally released her album on the Rough Trade label in 1988. Hello Angel (the name was inspired by a postcard from Morrissey) is considered by many fans to be the first "true" Sandie Shaw album. She wrote a good deal of the material and was aided by writers and producers such as Stephen Street (who had produced a lot of material for The Smiths), Kevin Armstrong, Jim Reid and William Reid from The Jesus and Mary Chain as well as Chris Andrews who had written most of her 1960s hits. The album also featured a cover of "A Girl Called Johnny" by The Waterboys. Lyrically, the album brought new depth; among Shaw's compositions was "Comrade In Arms," a song about a personal friend who had died of AIDS. All the people involved with the album were personal friends or supporters, and it became one of the most acclaimed albums of the year. It also spawned the singles "Please Help the Cause Against Loneliness" (writers Morrissey/Street) and "Nothing Less Than Brilliant," (Shaw/Andrews) currently the last original Sandie Shaw single to date. Hello Angel also featured a new mix of Shaw's first Rough Trade single, "Hand in Glove." During this period, Shaw embarked on two more successful university tours, and made appearances at Gay Pride and Peace festivals.

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1990s

The 1990s saw the release of many compilations of Shaw's material on various minor labels, as well as reissues of some of her original albums. The RPM label released some of the original albums with bonus material and is the only label to issue the Choose Life album on the CD format.

Shaw's autobiography, The World at My Feet, was published in 1991, and the following year she began studying at Oxford and the University of London and qualified as a psychotherapist in 1994. During that time, she recorded new versions of some of her classic '60s songs for the album Nothing Less Than Brilliant, released in 1994. The album consisted of these new recordings plus some of the original recordings from the '60s and also a selection of Shaw's '80s hits. Issued on the Virgin label, Nothing Less Than Brilliant made a brief appearance on the UK chart, as did a reissue of the single of the same name. It was also around this time that Shaw divorced Nik Powell, though the two remained friends and shared custody of their two children. Shaw met her third husband, Tony Bedford, in 1996, having been introduced to him by her family G.P. (Bedford's uncle).

Concentrating on her newfound career as a psychotherapist, Shaw opened the arts clinic in 1997 with her third husband to provide psychological healthcare and creative development to those in the entertainment and media industries. The following year she was invited to join the Royal Society of Musicians as an Honorary Professor of Music.

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2000s

The new millennium saw Shaw not only set up her own official website, but also embark on a legal battle to establish ownership of her entire recording catalogue. She succeeded in 2002 and began working with contemporary acts and producers, reworking much of her 1960s and 1980s material.

In 2003, Shaw licensed her recording catalogue worldwide to EMI, 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 of Reviewing the Situation and Hello Angel also were issued with bonus tracks, and toward the end of the year a 4-CD box set entitled Nothing Comes Easy was released, containing all the 'A' and 'B' sides of all her UK singles, plus rare and unreleased tracks. All songs were digitally remastered, and some were heard in stereo for the first time. The set was accompanied by a booklet with a track-by-track commentary from Shaw.

Also in 2003, actress Ashley Williams portrayed Shaw on an episode of the American television series American Dreams, performing "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" on American Bandstand.

EMI continued to release Shaw's material and in 2005 issued The Very Best of Sandie Shaw — the first ever compilation to feature the original versions (digitally remastered) of all of her biggest hits from "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" to "Nothing Less Than Brilliant" on one CD. All of Shaw's original studio albums (with the exception of Choose Life) have since been released in digitally remastered format on CD with bonus tracks.

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 show Making Your Mind Up. She also briefly sat in for Brian Matthew on his long-running BBC Radio 2 Saturday morning show Sounds of the 60s.

On 26 February, 2007, in honour of her 60th birthday, Sandie released a new version of her most popular song "Puppet on a String" on her website. The retooled version, called "Puppet's Got A Brand New String," had a complete overhaul in sound and vocals under the supervision of close friend Howard Jones and mixer Andy Gray. The "schlager" style of the song was replaced with a calm and trance-like melody, and Sandie's new and mellow vocals brought new life to the song.

In August 2007, Shaw revealed that she had had corrective surgery on her iconic feet, which she described as "ugly" - the surgery left her immobile until October 2007.

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UK singles discography

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UK E.P. discography

  • (There's) Always Something There to Remind Me (1964)
  • Long Live Love (1965)
  • Talk About Love (1965)
  • Message Understood (1966)
  • Tomorrow (1966)
  • Nothing Comes Easy (1966)
  • Run With Sandie (1966)
  • Sandie Shaw In French (1967)
  • Sandie Shaw In Italian (1967)
  • Tell The Boys (1967)
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UK albums discography

Note: It would be nearly impossible to list all the albums ever released containing Shaw's material (many major and minor labels have released compilations of her work since the 60s), so only original albums and "main" compilations are listed, along with the EMI releases which have been issued since Shaw licenced her catalogue to them.

Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Sandie Shaw" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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