there were 5 female artistes who dominated the charts in the 60's, clocking up a large run of hits and minor hits.. between them they captured the ever changing and varied mood of the swinging 60's.

 

cilla, pet, sandie, lulu, dusty.

 

PETULA CLARKE. charted from '54-'72 (plus '88 when 'downtown' was re-issued). she was possibly the 'squarest' of the acts, being more caberet then trendy chick.

 

remembered for....'downtown', 'this is my song',

 

best tracks...........' colour my world', 'i know a place', 'dont sleep in the subway'

 

 

LULU.. charted from '64 and is still likely to chart. this likeable 'girlish' singer packed a strong raw voice and was probably the archytypal 60's chick.

 

remembered for..... 'shout', 'boom bang a bang' <_<, and 're-light my fire' with take that

 

best tracks.............. 'me the peaceful heart', 'the boat that i row', 'to sir with love'

 

 

CILLA BLACK.. in the right place at the right time (the cavern) charted '63-'93. very distinctive voice, love it or hate it she was possibly the face if 60's women.

 

remembered for..... 'anyone who had a heart', 'alfie', 'step inside love'

 

best tracks......... 'its for you' (brilliant 60's feel), 'ive been wrong before', 'loves just a broken heart'

 

 

SANDIE SHAW.. charted '64-'94. gimmicky sandra goodrich was more 'pop' then cool, however her rather watery vocals were popular and indeed she was successful.

 

remembered for...... 'puppet on a string' , '(theres) always something there to remind me'

 

best tracks............. 'run', 'tonight in tokyo', 'girl dont come'.

 

DUSTY SPRINGFIELD.. has to be just about our best ever female vocalist, sounding black, she courted the emerging sounds from motown sounding blacker then many of her heros. charted (after going solo) '63-'95.

 

remembered for ... 'son of a preacher man', 'you dont have to say you love me', 'i only want to be with you'.

 

best tracks......... 'goin back', 'little by little' (very motown), 'some of your lovin', 'i just dont know what to do with myself'

 

 

5 female vocalists, 5 distinctive voices, 5 distinctive styles, over 100 years in the charts combined, no mass marketing, no being dropped if they failed to hit the top ten, they between them were the female sound of the 60's. pity todays artistes are stifled and moulded by the record companies...

Got to agree with most of what you say,although personally not a huge fan of any, tbh. But they all could certainly belt out a powerfull song.

They definately show up the weak vocals of most of today's female vocalists.

 

Didn't Sandie Shaw always go barefoot on stage?

Sandie Shaw was my fave... and Melanie, but a shame she was only remembered for her poppier hits.

Got to agree with most of what you say,although personally not a huge fan of any, tbh. But they all could certainly belt out a powerfull song.

They definately show up the weak vocals of most of today's female vocalists.

 

Didn't Sandie Shaw always go barefoot on stage?

 

 

indeed, it was her gimmick.... after all , with a name like that barefoot was rather appropriate.

What about Helen Shapiro? She was in a couple of 60s films and she toured on bills with the Beatles. She had a few hits, I think.

 

Alma Cogan? Glenda Collins? Patsy Ann Noble?- lesser stars but they did OK for a while.

What about Helen Shapiro? She was in a couple of 60s films and she toured on bills with the Beatles. She had a few hits, I think.

 

Alma Cogan? Glenda Collins? Patsy Ann Noble?- lesser stars but they did OK for a while.

 

 

you said it... lesser stars, i was highlighting the main stars of the 'swinging' mid 60's era..

please feel free to write up about 'lesser' artistes.. :)

It is amazing when you think, there was actually very few big female artist- and even fewer big female groups around in them days. Still very much a male dominated industry in them days. I dont think females really dominated the charts till the 80' & 90's and especially after the success of the Spice Girls.

I mean other than the ones you have mentioned, theres Helen Shapiro, Connie Francis, Brenda Lee, Shirley Bassey, Nancy Sinatra. Thats really all ofthe majorly successful ones.

Have to disagree with Petula Clark being the squarest. I think she had to shake off being a child star in this country, which meant going to France and being a big recording act there, whilst she fell out of favour with the idiotic Brits.

 

Dusty was the artist - of both sexes - whose voice still sounds contemporary today, and you can hear her on many TV adverts for Carling and Cadbury, etc.

 

She died far too early...

Have to disagree with Petula Clark being the squarest. I think she had to shake off being a child star in this country, which meant going to France and being a big recording act there, whilst she fell out of favour with the idiotic Brits.

 

Dusty was the artist - of both sexes - whose voice still sounds contemporary today, and you can hear her on many TV adverts for Carling and Cadbury, etc.

 

She died far too early...

 

 

i mean the 'squarest' out of the 5 i highlighted, i always considerd her abit too mature to fully embrace the swinging 60's culture, and her tracks werent really 'hip', however i do consider her a top recording artiste with a great voice and with many decent tracks... 'this is my song' though was possibly her worst imho, a rather wet ballad made for the 'over 30's' which in '67 meant the old fashioned and not the youth who were embracing a far different culture.... dont forget, in '67 people were very polarised and rather bigoted in their views.

 

dustys life was tragic, her fall from grace in the 70's was pitiful. such a great artiste with such talent giving pleasure to so many deserved a much better life then the miserable one she endured.

Other Females of the Sixties.

 

July Driscoll ('This wheels on fire')

Christine McVee (nee [perfect). (Chicken Shack, then joined fleetwood mac)

The Paper dolls.

Twinkle 'Terry'

 

 

 

 

best tracks......... 'its for you' (brilliant 60's feel), 'ive been wrong before', 'loves just a broken heart'

SANDIE SHAW.. charted '64-'94. gimmicky sandra goodrich was more 'pop' then cool, however her rather watery vocals were popular and indeed she was successful.

 

remembered for...... 'puppet on a string' , '(theres) always something there to remind me'

 

best tracks............. 'run', 'tonight in tokyo', 'girl dont come'.

 

 

or, if you like Morrissey, the song Please Help the Cause Against Loneliness! (however dont know much to when this record was released as it is slightly before my time, however i have heard it!)

i liked 'hand in glove'... but that was 80's not 60's :)

Dusty was the artist - of both sexes - whose voice still sounds contemporary today, and you can hear her on many TV adverts for Carling and Cadbury, etc.

 

She died far too early...

 

Dusty was brilliant. Did anyone else see The South Bank Show tonight all about Dusty's career? With all her success, she really was very insecure. She managed to conquer self-harming, drug abuse and alcoholism, only to die of breast cancer at the young age of 60 :cry:

 

Julie

 

Unfortunately I missed that programme. It's good that she has been featured there and that there is renewed interest in her. She deserves to be remembered.

...i missed it too... its a pity if she doesnt get the recognition she deserves, todays female artistes just dont compare.

Did anyone tape the Dusty Springfield programme .... I missed it due to being in work which I was gutted about

 

She was an awesome talent just for "i dont know what to do with myself" alone.

 

As the mushmeister says, all of the top five he mentioned werent hounded by the thought of being dropped for "only getting to number 3" The record industry kept faith with its artists and allowed them to develop instead of treating them like cash cows, to be disposed of on a whim

 

Anyone remember PP Arnold?

 

 

'first cut is the deepest' was class... dunno what else she did though (pp arnold)

She was mostly a backing singer, let out to do "First Cut" She had an amazing voice and was totally underrated. She could have had much more success but maybe she preferred being on the backing ....

 

Shame

 

 

bump.

 

lets see if theres any more mileage in this thread :)

DUSTY SPRINGFIELD.. has to be just about our best ever female vocalist, sounding black, she courted the emerging sounds from motown sounding blacker then many of her heros. charted (after going solo) '63-'95.

 

remembered for ... 'son of a preacher man', 'you dont have to say you love me', 'i only want to be with you'.

 

best tracks......... 'goin back', 'little by little' (very motown), 'some of your lovin', 'i just dont know what to do with myself'

This is probably why Dusty is my favourite of these five, I usually lean towards black female artists. Then again she is the only one I've heard more than one or two tracks from and those that I have heard are the 'remembered' tracks. The other four don't scream out "Listen to more from me" like Dusty did when I first heard her voice, it's just so lovely.

 

I think Cilla had some good songs but I prefer versions of them by other people 'Anyone Who Had A Heart' (prefer Dusty and Atomic Kitten's) and 'Something Tells Me...' (prefer Emma Bunton's)