Anna-Marie Elena - Andy Paul

The singer/songwriter Andy Paul immigrated from Cyprus to the UK in the early Sixties. He was influenced by artists like Elvis, Cliff Richard, Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck. He won a talent contest imitating his childhood idol Elvis and got a recording contract on the strength of this. 

In 1984 he was asked to represent Cyprus with the song 'Anna-Marie Elena', a song he wrote himself. The song ended up in 15th place in a field of 19 contestants. The recordings on this single were produced by Pete Waterman, while the English version of this song was translated by Matt Aitken. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6399
Found: Discogs, received 16 June 2021
Cost: 5 euro
Tracks: 'Anna-Marie Elena (English version)' / 'Anna-Marie Elena (Greek version)'

Female intuition / Body and soul - Mai Tai

Another re-release single by Mai Tai, also released by SMG last year, this time on purple vinyl. 

'Female intuition' reached number 9 in the Dutch Top 40 and number 54 in the UK in early 1986, whereas 'Body and soul' reached number 9 in the UK in the summer of 1985 and number 31 in the Dutch Top 40 near the end of 1984. 

Mai Tai fell apart in the 1980's but they had several reunions. They are actually performing live this December - Covid permitting - but the days of them having chart hits will probably never return.

My collection: 7" single no. 6397
Found: 33|45 Records, Den Haag, 12 June 2021
Cost: 10 euro
Tracks: 'Female intuition' / 'Body and soul'

History / Am I losing you forever - Mai Tai

Although this single features two tracks that I already own on 7" single, I still couldn't resist buying this. It is actually a recent re-release and pressed on orange vinyl. Nice bonus on this single: 'Am I losing you forever' appears in the full length version, instead of the single edit. 

The SMG label (Suburban Music Group, apparently) specializes in releasing 7" singles of old hits, and so far they have released singles by Petula Clark, Gerard Joling and Hardwell - not very interesting for me despite the fact that those singles were also pressed on various colours of vinyl.

But as you know, I usually only buy singles with songs I like, and so this one did make the cut. Both 'History' and 'Am I losing you forever' were released in 1985 and reached number 22 and 27 in the Dutch Top 40 respectively. In the UK, 'History' reached number 8, while 'Am I losing you forever' only got to number 78.

My collection: 7" single no. 6396
Found: 33|45 Records, Den Haag, 12 June 2021
Cost: 10 euro
Tracks: 'History' / 'Am I losing you forever'

Oui, oui, oui, oui - Sacha Distel

The sleeve of this single proclaims that 'Oui, oui, oui, oui' is a song from the Eurovision Song Contest 1959, and that is correct - however, on the Eurovision stage this song was performed by Jean Philippe, not Sacha Distel. However, Distel recorded this song, presumably to profit from the Contest's popularity at the time. After all, the song ended up in a respectful third place at the time.

There's another remarkable thing about this EP: although 'Oui, oui, oui, oui' is listed as the first song, it is actually on the B-side of this EP. There are more cover versions on the EP: 'Dis! O Dis!' is a cover version of 'Everybody loves a lover', a hit for Doris Day in 1958, and 'Oh! Quelle Nuit' is a version of 'Lonesome me', which was released by Don Gibson, also in 1958. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6395
Found: 33|45 Records, Den Haag, 12 June 2021
Cost: 1 euro
Tracks: 'Dis! O Dis!', 'Quand Tu Es Partie...' / 'Oui, oui, oui, oui', 'Oh! Quelle nuit'

Colours of love - Vicky Leandros

Back in 1967, Vicky Leandros competed in the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time. She was just seventeen years old at the time, but had already released her first album, 'Songs Und Folklore' in October 1966. Although she lived in Germany since she was eight (having been born on the Greek island Corfu) she was asked to represent Luxembourgh with the song 'L'amour est bleu'. 

It's not easy to find a copy of that song on a single for a reasonable price, however I did recently buy a copy of the English version of that song. 'Colours of love' was released in the UK only (as far as I know) in a record company sleeve only. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6394
Found: Discogs.com, received 10 June 2021
Cost: 3 euro
Tracks: 'Colours of love' / 'Who can tell'

I cried - The Wilde Three

Nothing, but nothing makes me happier than getting my hands on an ultra rare single. And this is certainly a good example. A year ago, I was happy to finally find Since you've gone, the first single by the Wilde Three. Their second release was to be their last: 'I cried' was released on 10 September 1965, five months after their first single. 

Four months after that, Justin Hayward released his debut solo single, the self-penned 'London is behind me'. He joined the Moody Blues and the rest became history. Meanwhile, Marty carved out a career as a songwriter - and a pretty successful one at that - and of course made a pop star of his daughter in the 1980's. The Wilde Three was a shortlived project, and only released four songs, but they are an essential piece of music history - and I am very glad to finally have these two discs.

My collection: 7" single no. 6393
Found: Discogs.com, received 10 June 2021
Cost: enough
Tracks: 'I cried' / 'Well who's that'

Printemps (Avril Carillonne) - Jean-Paul Mauric

When a song starts with 'Bing et bong et bing et bong' you know you're in for something interesting. This is how Jean-Paul Mauric started his song 'Printemps (Avril Carillonne)' in 1961 at the Eurovision Song Contest. Mauric was born on 17 June 1933 and started his career in music in 1957 after winning a talent contest. He released a series of EP's and was chosen to represent France in 1961. 

The lyric of 'Bing et bong et bing et bong...' is often cited as setting a precedent which would become very prolific in later Eurovisions. He ended up in fourth place in a field of 16 competitors. Although he released less records in the 1960's he still performed live a lot, until he was taken ill in December 1970.
On 5 January 1971 he died from complications of cardiomyopathic disease, aged just 37. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6392
Found: Ebay
Cost: 4 euro
Tracks: Printemps (Avril Carillonne), Tendresse / C'est Joli La Mer, Les filles du midi