The Ladybirds
Encyclopedia
The Ladybirds are a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 female vocal
Human voice
The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal folds for talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, etc. Its frequency ranges from about 60 to 7000 Hz. The human voice is specifically that part of human sound production in which the vocal folds are the primary...

 harmony
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...

 trio
Trio (music)
Trio is generally used in any of the following ways:* A group of three musicians playing the same or different musical instrument.* The performance of a piece of music by three people.* The contrasting section of a piece in ternary form...

, most famous for their appearances in The Benny Hill Show
The Benny Hill Show
The Benny Hill Show is a British comedy television show starring Benny Hill.There were various incarnations of the show between 1951 and 1991, and it aired in over 140 countries. The show is generally sketch-based with heavy use of slapstick, mime, parody and double-entendre...

. They participated in over 60 episodes between 1968 and 1991. In addition, they were long-standing backing singer
Backing vocalist
A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...

s to many established artists
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

, and perennial television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

  performers.

Career

The Ladybirds had their origins in an earlier vocal group, The Vernons Girls
The Vernons Girls
The Vernons Girls were an English musical ensemble of female vocalists. They were formed at the Vernons football pools company in the 1950s in Liverpool, settling down to a sixteen strong choir and recorded an album of standards.-Career:...

. The original troupe disbanded at the start of the 1960s, but a smaller unit carried on, headed by Maureen Kennedy. Most of the other members performed as duets
Duet (music)
A duet is a musical composition for two performers. In classical music, the term is most often used for a composition for two singers or pianists; with other instruments, the word duo is also often used. A piece performed by two pianists performing together on the same piano is referred to as...

 and singing trios. Amongst them were 'The Redmond Twins', 'The Breakaways', 'The Pearls
The Pearls
The Pearls were a 1970s girl vocal duo from Liverpool, England, featuring Lyn Cornell and Ann Simmons. They released a number of singles, the most successful being "Guilty", which reached #10 in the UK Singles Chart in June 1974.-Career:...

', 'The DeLaine Sisters', and the longest surviving and best known, The Ladybirds. Founding member Maggie Stredder and Jean Ryder, billed as The Two Tones, appeared at United States Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

 base
Military base
A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. In general, a military base provides accommodations for one or more units, but it may also be used as a...

s in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, before returning to the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 to join Max Bygraves
Max Bygraves
Max Bygraves OBE is an English comedian, singer, actor and variety performer. He appeared on his own television shows, sometimes performing comedy sketches between songs...

 on stage. In 1962, following an appearance on the Val Doonican
Val Doonican
Val Doonican is an Irish singer. From 1965 to 1986 he was a regular fixture on the BBC Television's schedule with The Val Doonican Show, which featured his own singing performances and a variety of guest artists...

 TV Special
, Marian Davies had replaced Ryder, plus Gloria George was added, and The Ladybirds was born.

After signing to Decca Records
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....

 in August 1965, Marc Bolan
Marc Bolan
Marc Bolan was an English singer-songwriter, guitarist and poet. He is best known as the founder, frontman, lead singer & guitarist for T. Rex, but also a successful solo artist...

 recorded his debut single. The Ladybirds sang backing vocals, while apart from Bolan's vocals, all other music was created by studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...

 session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...

s. "The Wizard" was released on 19 November 1965.

In 1966, The Ladybirds were recruited to provide vocal backing on BBC Television
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...

's Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...

programme. They continued in this role until 1978. They also appeared on a number of Twiggy
Twiggy
Lesley Lawson née Hornby known as Twiggy is an English model, actress, and singer. In the early-1960s she became a prominent British teenage model of swinging sixties London with others such as Penelope Tree....

’s television shows. The same year they sang as backing singers on the Mood Mosaic track "A Touch of Velvet - A Sting of Brass" - later to become Radio Caroline
Radio Caroline
Radio Caroline is an English radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopoly...

 disc jockey Dave Lee Travis
Dave Lee Travis
Dave Lee Travis , also known professionally as DLT and the Hairy Cornflake, is a British radio presenter, best known for his career on BBC Radio 1.-Early life:...

' (DLT) signature tune.

The Ladybirds sang backing vocals
Backing vocalist
A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...

 on Sandie Shaw
Sandie Shaw
Sandie Shaw is an English pop singer, who was one of the most successful British female singers of the 1960s. In 1967 she was the first UK act to win the Eurovision Song Contest...

's 1967 British number one
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....

 hit single
Hit single
A hit single is a recorded song or instrumental released as a single that has become very popular. Although it is sometimes used to describe any widely-played or big-selling song, the term "hit" is usually reserved for a single that has appeared in an official music chart through repeated radio...

 "Puppet on a String
Puppet on a String
"Puppet on a String" is the name of the Eurovision Song Contest-winning song in 1967 by British singer Sandie Shaw. It was her thirteenth UK single release....

", joining Sandie for the live performance in Vienna, Austria, when the song won the Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...

, as well as on records
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...

 by Rolf Harris
Rolf Harris
Rolf Harris, CBE, AM is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter, composer, painter and television personality.Born in Perth, Western Australia, Harris was a champion swimmer before studying art. He moved to England in 1952, where he started to appear on television programmes on which he drew the...

, Des O'Connor
Des O'Connor
Des O'Connor, CBE is an English comedian and singer. A former talkshow host, he was the presenter of the long-running Channel 4 gameshow Countdown for two years...

 and many other hits and misses.

In 1969, when Benny Hill
Benny Hill
Benny Hill was an English comedian and actor, notable for his long-running television programme The Benny Hill Show.-Early life:...

 joined Thames Television
Thames Television
Thames Television was a licensee of the British ITV television network, covering London and parts of the surrounding counties on weekdays from 30 July 1968 until 31 December 1992....

, he recruited them to The Benny Hill Show. The Ladybirds' first number was "Goin' Out Of My Head
Goin' Out Of My Head
"Goin' Out of My Head" is a song written by Teddy Randazzo and Bobby Weinstein, initially recorded by Little Anthony & the Imperials in 1964. Randazzo, a childhood friend of the group, wrote the song especially for them, having also supplied the group with their previous Top 20 Hit "I'm On The...

". In 1971 Hill did a spoof of Top of the Tops, but unusually The Ladybirds were not on that programme. Instead, one of the musical guests, Petticoat & Vine, appeared in the sketch. The Ladybirds' later Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 medley was unique in that each member sang independently, ie. Stredder ("Don't Bring Lulu"), George ("I Won't Dance
I Won't Dance
"I Won't Dance" is a song composed by Jerome Kern, with lyrics written by Oscar Hammerstein II and Otto Harbach, for the 1934 London musical Three Sisters. However, Three Sisters flopped and was quickly forgotten, so when the time came to film the Kern-Harbach musical Roberta, the song was...

") and Davies ("I Wanna Be Loved by You
I Wanna Be Loved by You
"I Wanna Be Loved by You" is a song written by Herbert Stothart and Harry Ruby, with lyrics by Bert Kalmar, for the 1928 musical "Good Boy". It was chosen as one of the Songs of the Century in a survey made by the RIAA in which 200 people responded...

"). After that point, George left the trio.

On the May 1973 album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 release, Rigor Mortis Sets In
Rigor Mortis Sets In
Rigor Mortis Sets In is the third solo album by John Entwistle, bassist for The Who. Co-produced with John Alcock, it consists of rock and roll classic covers, new versions of Entwistle songs and new tracks....

, by John Entwistle
John Entwistle
John Alec Entwistle was an English bass guitarist, songwriter, singer, horn player, and film and record producer who was best known as the bass player for the rock band The Who. His aggressive lead sound influenced many rock bass players...

, the Ladybirds were credited as the backing vocalists.

Up until 1973, the Ladybirds remained as a working trio of Gloria George, Maggie Stredder and Marian Davies. Penny Lister was then recruited for a short tenure. From the mid 1970s until 1986, the regular members became Stredder, Ann Simmons, who was another former Vernons Girl, and Laura Lee. Simmons later joined The Pearls
The Pearls
The Pearls were a 1970s girl vocal duo from Liverpool, England, featuring Lyn Cornell and Ann Simmons. They released a number of singles, the most successful being "Guilty", which reached #10 in the UK Singles Chart in June 1974.-Career:...

.

The Ladybirds also returned to Eurovision, backing Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John
Olivia Newton-John AO, OBE is a singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who has amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 solo albums. Eleven of her singles and 14 of her albums have been certified gold by the RIAA...

, singing on "Long Live Love
Long Live Love
Long Live Love is an album recorded by Olivia Newton-John, released in 1974 on EMI .-Singles:The song "I Honestly Love You" was her first number one single in the United States, released on the album If You Love Me, Let Me Know....

", in the 1974
Eurovision Song Contest 1974
The Eurovision Song Contest 1974 was the 19th Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in the seaside resort of Brighton on the south coast of the United Kingdom...

 contest staged in Brighton, United Kingdom. However Ann Simmons was misidentified as her predecessor Gloria George.

The Ladybirds appeared on many light entertainment shows on UK TV. The Les Dawson
Les Dawson
Leslie "Les" Dawson was a popular English comedian remembered for his deadpan style, curmudgeonly persona and jokes about his mother-in-law and wife.-Life and career:...

 Show
, The Two Ronnies
The Two Ronnies
The Two Ronnies is a British sketch show that aired on BBC1 from 1971 to 1987. It featured the double act of Ronnie Barker and Ronnie Corbett, the "Two Ronnies" of the title.-Origins:...

, Morecambe and Wise
Morecambe and Wise
Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise, usually referred to as Morecambe and Wise, or Eric and Ernie, were a British comic double act, working in variety, radio, film and most successfully in television. Their partnership lasted from 1941 until Morecambe's death in 1984...

, Tommy Cooper
Tommy Cooper
Thomas Frederick "Tommy" Cooper was a very popular British prop comedian and magician from Caerphilly, Wales.Cooper was a member of The Magic Circle, and respected by traditional magicians...

, Little and Large
Little and Large
Little and Large were a British comedy double act comprising straight man Syd Little and comic Eddie Large . They formed their partnership in 1962, appearing as singers in local pubs around the North-West of England...

, Glen Campbell
Glen Campbell
Glen Travis Campbell is an American country music singer, guitarist, television host and occasional actor. He is best known for a series of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as for hosting a variety show called The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS television.During his 50 years in show...

, Shirley Bassey
Shirley Bassey
Dame Shirley Bassey, DBE , is a Welsh singer. She found fame in the late 1950s and was "one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century"...

, Paul Daniels
Paul Daniels
Paul Daniels, born Newton Edward Daniels on 6 April 1938, is a British magician and television performer. He achieved international fame through his television series The Paul Daniels Magic Show, which ran on the BBC from 1979 to 1994.-Early life:...

, The Generation Game
The Generation Game
The Generation Game was a British gameshow produced by the BBC in which four teams of two competed to win prizes...

and Children in Need
Children in Need
Children in Need is an annual British charity appeal organised by the BBC. Since 1980 it has raised over £500 million. The highlight of the Children in Need appeal is an annual telethon, held in November. A teddy bear named "Pudsey Bear" fronts the campaign, while Terry Wogan is a long...

. However, by 1978, when they returned to The Benny Hill Show, purely as backing vocalists rather than actual performers, they also had stopped appearing on Top of the Pops. In 1977 The Ladybirds recorded
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...

 songs for a low budget covers
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

 album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

. Tracks featured included "Chanson D'Amour
Chanson D'Amour
"Chanson D'Amour" is a popular song written by Wayne Shanklin which was a Top Ten hit in 1958 for Art and Dotty Todd; a remake by the Manhattan Transfer was an international hit - #1 in the UK - in 1977....

", "Yes Sir, I Can Boogie
Yes Sir, I Can Boogie
"Yes Sir, I Can Boogie" is a 1977 hit single by the Spanish vocal duo Baccara.Written by Frank Dostal and Rolf Soja, and produced by Soja, this typical slice of disco was a major hit across Europe and became the duo's sole number one single in the UK, spending a single week at the top in October 1977...

" and "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina
Don't Cry for Me, Argentina
"Don't Cry for Me Argentina" is a song from the 1978 musical Evita with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. Sung by the title character Eva Perón, it was titled “It's Only Your Lover Returning” before Rice settled on the eventual name...

". The music compelled the all-female group to tackle songs made famous by male singers.

On occasion, Tracy Miller and Joan Baxter boosted the Ladybird ranks. In 1979 they all provided backing vocals work on Max Bygraves album, Discolongamax.

In 2005 they appeared one more time on Mark Wirtz
Mark Wirtz
Mark P. Wirtz is an Alsatian born pop music record producer, composer, singer, musician, author, and stand-up comedian. As a producer, Wirtz's most famous output is from the mid to late 1960s, when he worked at Abbey Road Studios with Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick, under contract to EMI...

’s Ear Theatre album Love is Eggshaped: The Soundtrack. The track entitled "Withdrawal" had vocals by The Ladybirds (by this time comprising Stredder, Kay Garner and Vicki Robinson).

The Vernon Girls reformed as a trio after being invited to appear on the Cliff Richard
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....

 30th Anniversary Concert at Wembley Arena
Wembley Arena
Wembley Arena is an indoor arena, at Wembley, in the London Borough of Brent. The building is opposite Wembley Stadium.-History:...

, playing over the two evenings to an audience of 140,000. In recent times, Stredder, Sheila Bruce, and Penny Lister, have reappeared billed as the Vernons Girls.

Stredder has more recently launched a successful career as an after dinner speaker, recalling her life in show business
Show business
Show business, sometimes shortened to show biz, is a vernacular term for all aspects of entertainment. The word applies to all aspects of the entertainment industry from the business side to the creative element ....

.

Personnel

  • Maggie Stredder (born Margaret Elisabeth Stredder, 9 January 1936, Birkenhead
    Birkenhead
    Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...

    ) - married
    Marriage
    Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

     writer
    Writer
    A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

     Roy Tuvey, 1 October 1966
  • Marian Davies (born 23 November 1940, Crynant
    Crynant
    Crynant is a village in the Dulais Valley, lying between the mountains of Mynydd Marchywel to the west, Hirfynydd to the east and Mynydd y Drum to the north. It lies 7¾ miles north-east from the town of Neath in Neath Port Talbot, Wales....

    , Wales
    Wales
    Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

     - died 24 January 2008, Surrey
    Surrey
    Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...

    ) - often misspelled Marion Davies
  • Gloria George
  • Penny Lister
  • Ann Simmons (born Ann O'Brien, 20 November 19xx)
  • Laura Lee (born Isabella McIntyre, 11 May 1937, Musselburgh
    Musselburgh
    Musselburgh is the largest settlement in East Lothian, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth, six miles east of Edinburgh city centre.-History:...

    , Scotland
    Scotland
    Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

     - died July 2007 at home in Musselburgh)
  • Tracy Miller
  • Barbara Moore
  • Joan Baxter
  • Kay Garner
  • Vicki Robinson
  • Sylvia King (real name Sylvia Rosen)

External links

  • The Ladybirds mini biography at the IMDb
    Internet Movie Database
    Internet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...

     website
    Website
    A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...

  • The Ladybirds Who's Who
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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