- Sharon O'Neill
Infobox musical artist
Name = Sharon O'Neill
Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Sharon Lea O'Neill
Alias =
Born = birth date and age|1952|11|23
Nelson,South Island ,New Zealand
Died =
Instrument =vocals ,guitar ,piano
Genre = Rock, Pop
Occupation =Singer ,Musician ,Songwriter
Years_active = 1970-present
Label = Sony, Polydor
Associated_acts =
URL = [http://www.sharononeill.com.au Official Site]Sharon O'Neill (born Sharon Lea O'Neill cite web | title= Australasian Performing Right Association | publisher= APRA |url= http://www.apra.com.au/cms/worksearch/worksearch.srvlt?action=workSearch | accessdate= 2007-07-27 ] on
23 November ,1952 inNelson, New Zealand ) is asinger-songwriter and pianist fromNew Zealand , best known for her 1983 hit single "Maxine".Biography
O'Neill began her career in the 1970s in her home country, then gained major success in
Australia with the hit "Words" and the subsequent singles "How Do You Talk to Boys?" (#16, 1980), "Maybe"(#18, 1981), "Losing You"(#8, 1983), and "Power" (#23, 1984).(Chart positions are forMelbourne only.)cite book | last = Guest | first = Thomas J. | title = Thirty Years Of Hits (1960–1990) | publisher = M. J. Moloney | date = 1991 | location = Collingwood, Melbourne, Australia| isbn = 0-646-04633-0 ]The early 1980s proved her most commercially successful period, composing and performing the soundtrack to the 1981 film "
Smash Palace ", and with the "Foreign Affairs" album in 1983 spawning her biggest hit "Maxine" (#17, 1983 Melbourne). A legal battle with her thenrecord company Sony caused a delay in her career. During the enforced hiatus, O'Neill wrote songs for ABC TV series "Sweet and Sour" (1984) including the title song performed byDeborah Conway (later recorded by O'Neill as "In Control") and "Glam to Wham".In 1987 Sharon returned with arguably her best album (if under-rated at the time) "Danced in the Fire" on Polygram which featured some biographical songs about the legal wrangles with Sony.
O'Neill's last album of new material, "Edge of Winter", was released in 1990. A mature work, two singles were taken from this album, "Satin Sheets" and "Poster Girl", both of which failed to find chart success.
She all but disappeared from the music scene until 2001 when she toured as a guest artist with New Zealand female act, When the Cat's Away. In 2005 she toured Australia as a support act for
Leo Sayer and for the first time a comprehensive collection of her greatest hits was released on CD. In 2006 and early 2007 O'Neill again toured Australia supporting Leo Sayer.In August / September 2007 Sharon toured as part of the '
Countdown Spectacular 2' shows Australia-wide [ cite web | title= The Countdown Spectacular | publisher= Frontier Touring Co. | url= http://www.frontiertouring.com.au/currenttours/The_Countdown_Spectacular_2 | accessdate= 2007-07-27 ] and toured Australia and New Zealand on The Let It Be Tour (The Beatles tribute show) in November / December 2007. [cite web | title= The Let It Be Tour entry on Sharon O'Neill | publisher= Xazz Media Group | url= http://www.theletitbetour.com/sharon-oneill.html | accessdate= 2007-09-23 ]Discography
ingles
*Luck's On Your Table
*Take The Sailor From The Sea
*Lately I'm Your Lady
*Words
*Asian Paradise
*How Do you Talk To Boys
*Maybe
*For All The Tea In China
*Waiting For You
*Losing You
*Maxine
*Danger
*Power
*Physical Favours
*Danced In The Fire
*We're Only Human
*Satin Sheets
*Poster Girl
*Water For The FlowersAlbums
*"This Heart This Song"
*"Sharon O'Neill"
*"Words"
*"Maybe"
*"Foreign Affairs"
*"So Far" ('best of' compilation)
*"Smash Palace " (soundtrack)
*"How Do You Do"
*"Danced In The Fire"
*"Edge of Winter"
*"Live In Paradise" (with When The Cats Away)
*"The Best Of Sharon O'Neill"References
External links
* [http://www.myspace.com/sharononeill Sharon O'Neill MySpace]
* [http://www.sharononeill.com.au The Official Sharon O'Neill Website]
* [http://www.geocities.com/sharononeillmusic/ The unofficial Sharon O'Neill website]
* [http://www.sharononeill.com The essential Sharon O'Neill fan site]
* [http://www.theletitbetour.com.html The Let It Be Tour]
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