HELEN SHAPIRO-LOOK OVER YOUR SHOULDER-OZ45NORTHERN SOUL

	A$		38
	$		25

HELEN SHAPIRO - 7" 45  AUSTRALIAN  PRESSING  1964 MONO 

IN ORIGINAL COLUMBIA PAPER SLEEVE & PLASTIC LINER / SLEEVE

TRACK LISTING : 

LOOK OVER YOUR SHOULDER - RICHARDS / D. THOMAS / J. THOMAS

YOU WON'T COME HOME - HELEN SHAPIRO

(BOTH ARRANGED & CONDUCTED BY NORRIE PARAMOR)

LABEL  -  COLUMBIA (BLACK) - "MADE  AND DISTRIBUTED IN AUSTRALIA BY E.M.I. (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, SYDNEY, N.S.W."

CATALOGUE  #  DO-4474

RECORD  IS  IN  NEAR MINT CONDITION, HAVING BEEN PROTECTED INSIDE PAPER SLEEVE &  PLASTIC LINER/SLEEVE (INSIDE PAPER SLEEVE / BAG) SINCE NEW 

LABELS - FEW VERY MINOR SPINDLE MARKS

PAPER SLEEVE IS IN VERY GOOD CONDITION - VERY MINOR WEAR;  MINOR FOXING / CORNER CREASES

SUPERB  1960's  /  R&B  /  NORTHERN SOUL  /  AUSTRALIAN PRESSING  /  HELEN SHAPIRO  /  BEEHIVE   /  RICHARDS / THOMAS / THOMAS  /  NORRIE PARAMOR  /  COLUMBIA  /  45 SINGLE  /   COLLECTABLE  IN  EXTREMELY  NICE  SHAPE  AFTER 46 YEARS

HELEN SHAPIRO :

" Helen Kate Shapiro (born 28 September 1946) is an English singer and actress. She is best known for her 1960s UK chart toppers, "You Don't Know" and "Walkin' Back to Happiness". "

" She grew up in London's East End and was performing with a ukulele at age nine as part of a school group -- supposedly called Susie & the Hula Hoops, whose members included a young Mark Feld (aka Marc Bolan) -- that used to sing their own versions of Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly songs.

She subsequently sang with her brother Ron Shapiro's trad jazz turned skiffle outfit at local clubs before enrolling in classes at Maurice Burman's music school in London. Burman was so taken with Helen Shapiro's voice that he waived the tuition to keep her as a student. He later brought her to the attention of Norrie Paramor, then one of EMI's top pop producers (responsible for signing Cliff Richard & the Shadows). Shapiro's voice was so mature that Paramor refused to believe from the evidence on a tape that it belonged to a 14-year-old until she came to his office and belted out "St. Louis Blues." She cut her first single, "(Please) Don't Treat Me Like a Child," a few weeks later and broke onto the British charts in 1961. "

" In 1961, at the age of fourteen, she had two number one hits in the UK: "You Don't Know" and "Walkin' Back to Happiness"; and, indeed, her first four single releases all went into the top three of the UK Singles Chart.

Most of her recording sessions were at EMI's studios at Abbey Road in north west London. Her mature voice made her an overnight sensation, as well as the youngest female chart topper in the UK. At a mere 14 years and 316 days old when "You Don't Know" hit the top, she was nevertheless a year older than Frankie Lymon had been when "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" hit the UK number one slot in 1956.

Before she was sixteen years old, Shapiro had been voted Britain's 'Top Female Singer'. The Beatles' first national tour of Britain in the late winter/early spring of 1963 was as her supporting act. During the course of the tour, the Beatles had their first hit single and John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote the song "Misery" intended for her, but Shapiro did not record the composition. In 1995, during a This is Your Life instalment highlighting her life and career, Shapiro revealed, "It was actually turned down on my behalf before I ever heard it, actually. I never got to hear it or give an opinion. It's a shame, really."

By the time she was in her late teens, her career as a pop singer was on the wane. With the new wave of beat music and newer female singers such as Cilla Black, Sandie Shaw and Lulu - Shapiro appeared old-fashioned and emblematic of the bee-hived pre-Beatles era.

She branched out as a performer in stage musicals, a jazz singer, (jazz being her first love musically), and more recently a gospel singer. She played the role of Nancy in Lionel Bart's musical, Oliver! in London's West End and has appeared in British television soap operas; in particular Albion Market where she played one of the main characters up to the time it was taken off-air in August 1986.

Shapiro lip synched her then-current (1963) single, "Look Who It Is", with three of The Beatles - John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison - on the British television programme, Ready Steady Go!. "

This Helen Shapiro single has been described as "stunningly good". With  "Look Over Your Shoulder" vocally powerful. B-side, guitar-driven "You Won't Come Home," sounding like Chrissie Hynde would,  twenty years later. "

WHY NOT INVEST  IN  COLLECTABLES ?

POSTAGE : PADDED ENVELOPE + PROTECTIVE PACKING - HAPPY  TO  COMBINE  POSTAGE  FOR  MULTIPLE  PURCHASES

The singles / EP's we are now listing are all from 1 collection. Some have been played, by a fastidious collector, but because they have been stored in poly liners / inside their original sleeves, inside another outer bag/sleeve, for the last 40+ years, they are still in amazing condition for their vintage.