Sue and Sunny
Encyclopedia
Sue and Sunny were a vocal
duo
and session singers operating in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Although sisters, their full stage names were Sue Glover and Sunny Leslie. For three years they were members of British pop group The Brotherhood of Man.
, India
they made their recording
debut together in 1963 under the name The Myrtelles with their cover version
of Lesley Gore
's "Just Let Me Cry" on the small and little-known Oriole
record label
. The single
was not successful and the girls decided on a change of name, to The Stockingtops. In 1965 they sang backing vocals on Alex Harvey's single "Agent OO Soul/Go Away Baby" (Fontana - TF 610), produced by Chris Blackwell of Island Records.
In 1966, when Sunny (the younger of the pair) was still only 15, the two turned professional doing the cabaret circuit. After three years they decided that their audiences were too old for them, and went to Germany to play the airbase circuit, where, despite releasing two German singles, they still felt out of place and returned to London.
Whilst in London they were asked to do a session as backing singers
for Lesley Duncan
. The session went well and suddenly the duo found themselves in demand, recording with, amongst many others, Dusty Springfield
, Elton John
, Love Affair
, Lulu
, Mott the Hoople
, T. Rex, Tom Jones
, David Bowie
and Joe Cocker
. It was the Cocker sessions, and in particular "With a Little Help from My Friends
" that propelled the girls into the limelight. When "With A Little Help" reached number one in the UK Singles Chart
they found themselves accompanying Cocker on several television programmes including Top of the Pops
. They now found themselves working with artists as diverse as James Last
, Frank Zappa
, Giorgio Moroder
, and Brotherhood of Man
, with whom they charted
in 1970 with the hit single
, "United We Stand
". In March 1972, they just missed the UK top 30 with the single "Third Finger, Left Hand", released under the name The Pearls
, a group name that was more successful with the personnel of Lyn Cornell and Ann Simmons.
Sue and Sunny themselves are a little unsure of how many records
they have actually released. In an interview with Disc on sale on 20 April 1974, Sunny was quoted as saying "Sue and I found ourselves recording on our own and we had a couple of singles put out. But nothing really happened for us." In fact they appear to have recorded around a dozen singles, but to confuse things further they also recorded under the names Sue & Sunshine, The Stockingtops, and as part of The Nirvana Orchestra. They also recorded an album
for CBS
which was, confusingly, also released - with a different cover - on the CBS subsidiary, Reflection.
Sunny finally had a hit record with "Doctor's Orders
" in 1974, and in 1976 Sue, now known as 'Sue Glover' recorded a solo
album for DJM
, entitled Solo. On three occasions, Sue and Sunny have sung backing vocals at the Eurovision Song Contest
. In 1969, they accompanied Lulu
to victory in Madrid
, performing "Boom Bang-a-Bang
". They returned to support Joy Fleming
in Stockholm
, in 1975, joining Madeline Bell
to back up the German
entry "Ein Lied kann eine Brücke sein
", which placed seventeenth. In 1981 Sue resurfaced with an entry in the UK Song for Europe competition fronting the group 'Unity' with the song "For Only A Day", but failed to find favour with the voting juries, finishing in last place.
Sue and Sunny joined forces again to sing backing vocals for Vikki Watson's UK entry "Love Is..." in Gothenburg
at the 1985 Eurovision final. This song
was placed fourth.
In 1979, Sue Glover appeared in the debut TV play from Victoria Wood
, Talent
, playing the part of club singer 'Cathy Christmas'.
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...
duo
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 session singers operating in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Although sisters, their full stage names were Sue Glover and Sunny Leslie. For three years they were members of British pop group The Brotherhood of Man.
Career
Born Yvonne ('Sue') and Heather ('Sunny') Wheatman in MadrasChennai
Chennai , formerly known as Madras or Madarasapatinam , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the sixth most populous city in India...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
they made their recording
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...
debut together in 1963 under the name The Myrtelles with their cover version
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...
of Lesley Gore
Lesley Gore
Lesley Gore is an American singer. She is perhaps best known for her 1963 pop hit "It's My Party", which she recorded at the age of 16. Following the hit, she became one of the most recognized teen pop singers of the 1960s.- Biography :Gore was born in New York City, New York. She was raised in...
's "Just Let Me Cry" on the small and little-known Oriole
Oriole Records (UK)
Oriole Records was the first British record label founded in 1925 by the London-based Levy Company, which owned a gramophone record subsidiary called Levaphone Records.-History:...
record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
. The single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
was not successful and the girls decided on a change of name, to The Stockingtops. In 1965 they sang backing vocals on Alex Harvey's single "Agent OO Soul/Go Away Baby" (Fontana - TF 610), produced by Chris Blackwell of Island Records.
In 1966, when Sunny (the younger of the pair) was still only 15, the two turned professional doing the cabaret circuit. After three years they decided that their audiences were too old for them, and went to Germany to play the airbase circuit, where, despite releasing two German singles, they still felt out of place and returned to London.
Whilst in London they were asked to do a session as backing singers
Backing vocalist
A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
for Lesley Duncan
Lesley Duncan
Lesley Duncan was an English singer-songwriter, best known for her work during the 1970s. She received a lot of airplay on British radio stations such as BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2, but never achieved great commercial success.Duncan was born in Stockton-on-Tees...
. The session went well and suddenly the duo found themselves in demand, recording with, amongst many others, Dusty Springfield
Dusty Springfield
Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'BrienSources use both Isabel and Isobel as the spelling of her second name. OBE , known professionally as Dusty Springfield and dubbed The White Queen of Soul, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s...
, Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
, Love Affair
Love Affair (band)
Love Affair were a London based pop, soul, R&B group formed in 1966. They had several UK Singles Chart Top 10 hits, including the number one success "Everlasting Love".-Personnel:The band primarily featured the following —...
, Lulu
Lulu (singer)
Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, OBE , best known by her stage name Lulu, is a Scottish singer, actress, and television personality who has been successful in the entertainment business from the 1960s through to the present day...
, Mott the Hoople
Mott the Hoople
Mott the Hoople were a British rock band with strong R&B roots, popular in the glam rock era of the early to mid 1970s. They are popularly known for the song "All the Young Dudes", written for them by David Bowie and appearing on their 1972 album of the same name.-The early years:Mott The Hoople...
, T. Rex, Tom Jones
Tom Jones (singer)
Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records...
, David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
and Joe Cocker
Joe Cocker
John Robert "Joe" Cocker, OBE is an English rock and blues musician, composer and actor, who came to popularity in the 1960s, and is most known for his gritty voice, his idiosyncratic arm movements while performing, and his cover versions of popular songs, particularly those of The Beatles...
. It was the Cocker sessions, and in particular "With a Little Help from My Friends
With a Little Help from My Friends
-Joe Cocker version:Joe Cocker's version was a radical re-arrangement of the original, in a slower, 6/8 meter, using different chords in the middle eight, and a lengthy instrumental introduction...
" that propelled the girls into the limelight. When "With A Little Help" reached number one in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
they found themselves accompanying Cocker on several television programmes including 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...
. They now found themselves working with artists as diverse as James Last
James Last
James Last is a German composer and big band leader. His "happy music" made his numerous albums best-sellers in Germany and the United Kingdom. His composition, "Happy Heart", became an international success in interpretations by Andy Williams and Petula Clark...
, Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
, Giorgio Moroder
Giorgio Moroder
Hansjörg "Giorgio" Moroder is an Italian record producer, songwriter and performer based in Los Angeles. When in Munich in the 1970s, he started his own record label called Oasis Records, which several years later became a subdivision of Casablanca Records...
, and Brotherhood of Man
Brotherhood of Man
Brotherhood of Man are a British pop group who achieved success in the 1970s, most notably by winning the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest with "Save Your Kisses for Me"....
, with whom they charted
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....
in 1970 with the 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...
, "United We Stand
United We Stand (song)
"United We Stand" is a popular song by Tony Hiller and Peter Simmons. It was first recorded in 1970 by The Brotherhood of Man , becoming the band's first hit, peaking at #13 in the U.S., #9 in Canada, and #10 in the U.K. It is considered a worldwide standard and has been recorded by over 100...
". In March 1972, they just missed the UK top 30 with the single "Third Finger, Left Hand", released under the name 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:...
, a group name that was more successful with the personnel of Lyn Cornell and Ann Simmons.
Sue and Sunny themselves are a little unsure of how many 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...
they have actually released. In an interview with Disc on sale on 20 April 1974, Sunny was quoted as saying "Sue and I found ourselves recording on our own and we had a couple of singles put out. But nothing really happened for us." In fact they appear to have recorded around a dozen singles, but to confuse things further they also recorded under the names Sue & Sunshine, The Stockingtops, and as part of The Nirvana Orchestra. They also recorded an 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...
for CBS
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
which was, confusingly, also released - with a different cover - on the CBS subsidiary, Reflection.
Sunny finally had a hit record with "Doctor's Orders
Doctor's Orders (song)
"Doctor's Orders" is a song written by Roger Cook, Roger Greenaway and Geoff Stephens which in 1974 was a hit in the UK for Sunny of Sue and Sunny; in the US the song was a hit for Carol Douglas.-Sunny version:...
" in 1974, and in 1976 Sue, now known as 'Sue Glover' recorded a solo
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
album for DJM
DJM
DJM is a range of DJ mixers made by Pioneer Electronics.Mixers in the DJM series include the DJM-300,DJM-400, DJM-500, DJM-600, DJM-700, DJM-707, DJM-800, DJM-900 nexus, DJM-909, DJM-1000 and the DJM-2000...
, entitled Solo. On three occasions, Sue and Sunny have sung backing vocals at 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...
. In 1969, they accompanied Lulu
Lulu (singer)
Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, OBE , best known by her stage name Lulu, is a Scottish singer, actress, and television personality who has been successful in the entertainment business from the 1960s through to the present day...
to victory in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, performing "Boom Bang-a-Bang
Boom Bang-a-Bang
"Boom Bang-a-Bang" was the United Kingdom entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 1969It was sung by Lulu, and was co-written by Alan Moorhouse and Peter Warne aka Michael Julien, the latter of who also wrote "Kiss Me, Honey Honey, Kiss Me" for Shirley Bassey....
". They returned to support Joy Fleming
Joy Fleming
Joy Fleming is a German singer who is probably best-known for her performance in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1975...
in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
, in 1975, joining Madeline Bell
Madeline Bell
Madeline Bell is an American soul singer, who became famous as a performer in the United Kingdom during the 1960s, having arrived from the US in the gospel show Black Nativity in 1962, with vocal group The Bradford Singers.-Career:She worked as a session singer, most notably backing for Dusty...
to back up the German
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...
entry "Ein Lied kann eine Brücke sein
Ein Lied Kann Eine Brücke Sein
"Ein Lied kann eine Brücke sein" was the German entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1975, performed primarily in German by Joy Fleming. The song was composed by Rainer Pietsch, who would go on to co-write several of French disco queen Amanda Lear's hits in the late 70s and early 80s, and the...
", which placed seventeenth. In 1981 Sue resurfaced with an entry in the UK Song for Europe competition fronting the group 'Unity' with the song "For Only A Day", but failed to find favour with the voting juries, finishing in last place.
Sue and Sunny joined forces again to sing backing vocals for Vikki Watson's UK entry "Love Is..." in Gothenburg
Gothenburg
Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
at the 1985 Eurovision final. This song
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
was placed fourth.
In 1979, Sue Glover appeared in the debut TV play from Victoria Wood
Victoria Wood
Victoria Wood CBE is a British comedienne, actress, singer-songwriter, screenwriter and director. Wood has written and starred in sketches, plays, films and sitcoms, and her live stand-up comedy act is interspersed with her own compositions, which she accompanies on piano...
, Talent
Talent (1978 play)
Talent is a play written by Victoria Wood, first performed in 1978. It centres around two friends, one of whom is about to enter a talent contest in a run down nightclub. Commissioned for the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield, it received much acclaim and transferred to a London run in 1979. That same...
, playing the part of club singer 'Cathy Christmas'.