Helen Shapiro is said to be the British Brenda Lee but I think both singers are completely unique...
Although too poor to own a record player, Shapiro's parents encouraged music in their home (Helen had to borrow a neighbor's record player to hear her first single). Shapiro played banjolele as a child and sang with her brother Ron occasionally in his youth club jazz group. She had a deep timbre to her voice, unusual in a girl not yet in her teens... school friends gave her the nickname "Foghorn". LOL Helen sounds like Cher or Stevie Nicks... Sounds familiar as people mistake my low voice as a guy on the phone too.
At the age of ten, Shapiro was a singer with "Susie and the Hula Hoops," a school band which included Marc Bolan (!!) (then using his real name of Mark Feld) as guitarist...
In 1961, at the age of fourteen, she had a UK #3 hit with her first single, "Don't Treat Me Like A Child" and two number one hits in the UK "You Don't Know". "Walkin' Back to Happiness" did not top the UK chart until 19 October 1961, by which time Shapiro had reached 15, 26 September.
She had a #2 in 1962 with "Tell Me What He Said", achieving her first four single releases in 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.
Helen's 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. Helen on Wiki
Thanks Heather my doyenne of 60s coolness... XXOOK
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