Maureen Evans

Maureen Evans
Maureen Evans in 1964
Background information
Born (1940-03-23) March 23, 1940
Cardiff, Wales
Years active Mid-1950s–late 1960s

Maureen Evans (born 23 March 1940, Cardiff, Wales)[1] is a Welsh pop singer who achieved fame briefly in the 1960s.

Career

Evans career began as a singer with Waldini's Gypsy Band in the mid-1950s, mainly doing summer seasons at UK holiday resorts such as Llandudno.[2]

She released her first singles in 1958 on the Embassy Records label.[1]

Her version of Connie Francis’ Stupid Cupid is believed to have outsold the original selling around one million copies.

She entered the UK Singles Chart in 1960 at No. 26 with the song "The Big Hurt", but her biggest hit was 1962's "Like I Do", which peaked at No. 3 in the UK in late-January 1963 and achieved silver certification for selling in excess of 250,000 copies in the United Kingdom.[3]

In 1963, Evans competed in the British trials for the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Pick the Petals", but came in third; Ronnie Carroll represented the UK that year in the competition. She continued releasing singles through the 1960s, as well as one EP (1963's Melancholy Me, on Oriole Records) and an album, Like I Do, also on Oriole (1963).

Evans had a total of four UK Top 40 hits and sold approximately one million records in the UK.

Evans owned the Maureen Evans Theatre School in West Grove, Cardiff, which taught children aged 6 to 18 years old, how to sing, dance and act, from 1998 to 2010 (when the school shut down).[4]

In 2013, Stage Door Records released Maureen Evans - The Singles Collection, as a digital download on Amazon, iTunes, and Spotify.

Like I Do: The Sixties Recordings was released on November 25th 2016 by RPM Records. This is the first time that Evans' work has been treated to a proper CD release. The album contains 31 tracks which includes Maureen's best known hits and rare B sides, from her time with both Oriole Records and the U.K. branch of Columbia Records (now a unit of Sony Music Entertainment), which purchased Oriole in 1964. Evans wrote the sleeve notes that accompany the CD. The album is available through Amazon and cherryred.co.uk.

Singles

Embassy Records
Oriole Records
CBS Records
  • 1965 "All The Angels Sing" / "Speak Sugar Speak"
  • 1965 "Never Let Him Go" / "Poco Sole"
  • 1967 "Somewhere There's Love" / "It Takes A Little Time"
  • 1968 "I Almost Called Your Name" / "Searching For Home"[3]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Archived copy". Archived from the original on February 15, 2006. Retrieved April 24, 2008.
  2. ↑ "The Great Waldini - Times Past - Three Towns Forum - Talk about Llandudno, Colwyn Bay & Conwy". Three Towns Forum. Retrieved 2016-04-10.
  3. 1 2 Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 189. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  4. ↑ "Maureen's latest hit". Wales Online. Retrieved 2016-04-10.
  5. ↑ "rateyourmusic.com". rateyourmusic.com. Retrieved February 19, 2018.
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