Profile of Helen Shapiro on Famous Like Me

Helen Shapiro (born September 28, 1946) is a British singer.

Helen Shapiro was born in the East End district of Bethnal Green, London, the granddaughter of Polish Jewish immigrants. Her parents were too poor to own a record player but they encouraged music in their home (she had to borrow a neighbour's player to hear her first single). Helen played a banjo as a child and sang with her brother occasionally in his high school jazz group. She had a deep timbre to her voice, unusual in a girl not yet into her teens. School friends gave her the nickname, "Foghorn". In 1961, at the age of only fourteen, she had two #1 hits in the UK: "You Don't Know" and "Walking Back to Happiness" and, indeed, her first four single releases went to the top of the charts. Her mature voice made her an overnight sensation. When the Beatles had their first national tour, it was as her support act! The Beatles even wrote "Misery" for her and, inexplicably, EMI decided not to record her singing it.

By the time she was in her late teens, however, her career as a pop singer was on the wane. Undaunted, she re-invented herself as a performer in stage musicals, a jazz singer, and more recently a gospel singer. She played the role of Nancy in Lionel Bart's musical, "Oliver!" and has appeared too in British television soap operas. In August, 1987, she converted to Christianity and has issued four gospel albums since then, as well as appearing in a number of gospel concerts. Her autobiography, published in 1993, was entitled Walking Back to Happiness.

She was mentioned in British science fiction comedy television series Red Dwarf.

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