- The Vernons Girls
The Vernons Girls were an English musical ensemble of female
vocalist s. They were formed at thefootball pools company in 1950sLiverpool , as a sixteen strongchoir and cut analbum of standards.Career
In 1958 and 1959 they appeared on the
ITV show, Oh Boy!, with thehouse band , and made a series of singles for labels like Decca andParlophone , in a more condensed group with between three and five members. These were mainly covers of American hits which would sell less than the originals.As session singers for Decca they appeared on dozens of hits into the 1960s, and even had a couple of their own with what can be seen as the first ever raw Scouse accents in the top 30Fact|date=June 2007: 'You know what I mean'—a line remembered by
John Lennon as the song "I Saw Her Standing There " was created, and which replaced the original line byPaul McCartney .Fact|date=June 2007In the
United States the group charted with the first Beatles tribute over there, "We Love The Beatles". As the Carefrees they also charted with We love you Beatles and made an album only available in the StatesBefore long there were solo singers like Lyn Cornell (married to session drummer Andy White, notable for replacingRingo Starr on an early take of "Love Me Do ") and splinter acts like The Breakaways, one of whom, Vicky Haseman, married Joe Brown. Another former Vernons Girl, Maggie Stredder, went on to form another session group with Gloria George,The Ladybirds , who are today most famous for their long association with "The Benny Hill Show ".For some reason the Ladybirds were known as the Sharades when they cut a single for Joe Meek in 1965.Its usually reckoned the Vernons Girls were the female backing voices on literally hundreds of hit singles during the 60s one of the first being Billy Fury's Maybe tomorrowThe Vernons Girls appear on
film as a trio on "Around the Beatles" with The Beatles,Long John Baldry ,P. J. Proby and Millie.Three of them were in the
Billy Fury movie, "Play It Cool ", while Lyn Cornell and the Breakaways were in "Just For Fun". In the later 1990s they appeared inCliff Richard 's "Oh Boy" fromWembley this being an amended version with new editions to a few of the originals.Afterwards
The original full troupe soon disbanded, but a smaller unit carried on headed up by Maureen Kennedy. Most of the girls seem to have continued, at least for a while, in
show business ventures. Lynn Cornell became a successful soloist and managed a chart hit with "Never On Sunday" - she later became one of The Pearls. Vicky Haseman married Brown and brought up singing daughter Sam Brown. Joyce Baker married Marty Wilde - they formed a trio withJustin Hayward called the 'Wilde Three'. The others seem to have banded together as duets and singing trios; these include the 'Redmond Twins', 'The Breakaways', 'The Pearls', the 'Two Tones'; the 'DeLaine Sisters', and the longest surviving and best known,The Ladybirds . For the past ten years Maggie Stredder, Sheila Bruce, together with ex-Ladybird Penny Lister, have brought new life to the Vernons Girls and now regularly recapture some of the old magic on tour with their friends as part of the Solid Gold Rock 'n' Roll Show.The Vernons Girls are really the world's longest running girl group and still exist today in one permutation or another.Fact|date=June 2007
Main personnel
*Maggie Stredder (born Margaret Elizabeth Stredder,
9 January 1936 ,Birkenhead ) - later in The Ladybirds - marriedwriter Roy Tuvey.
*Vicky Brown (born Victoria Mary Haseman,23 August 1940 ,Liverpool - died 2004) - later in The Breakaways - marriedJoe Brown .
*Joyce Smith (born Joyce Baker, 1941) - marriedMarty Wilde
*Lynn Cornell - later in The Pearls - marriedAndy White .
*Maureen Kennedy - married comedian Mike Hope and died in a motorway accident in the early 1970s
*Jean Owens
*Francis LeaLegacy
Some older British listeners retain a fondness for the group, however, and the best of their records remain listenable and enjoyable almost 50 years later.
ee also
*
List of artists under the Decca Records label External links
* [http://www.fortunecity.com/greenfield/wolf/31/id37.htm Whatever became of the Vernons Girls website]
* [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:d9fqxqrhld0e~T1 The Vernons Girls biography at theAllmusic website ]
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