The legendary singer Mary Hopkin comes from Wales (UK). It was widely known in the second half of the XNUMXth century. The artist has participated in a number of international competitions and festivals, including the Eurovision Song Contest.
Mary Hopkin's early years
The girl was born on May 3, 1950 in the family of a housing inspector. Her love for music began in her childhood. At school, the girl took singing lessons. A little later, she joined the Selby Set and Mary, whose main focus was folk.
She was quickly noticed by publishers and offered to release solo releases. So the Cambrian label released the first EP disc, that is, a small format release (less than 10 tracks). After that, she participated in television programs. Among them was Opportunity Knocks - a talent show, where the famous Paul McCartney, the lead singer of the group, noticed the diva. The Beatles.
Led by Paul McCartney
The musician decided to produce the rising star and helped her record The Were the Days. The song was released at the end of August 1968 and took 1st position in the main British chart. The song also entered the Billboard Hot 100 and topped it.
Sales were breaking records. In total, more than 8 million copies have been sold worldwide. This marked a great result for the aspiring vocalist. This was followed by a number of popular releases and interesting proposals that were associated even with the cinema. In particular, she wrote three soundtracks for films released at the turn of the decade.
Thus, ideal conditions were created for the release of the debut album. Postcard came out in 1969. The main producer was still the leader of The Beatles. Despite the success of the singles, the novelty was not very popular. She hit the American and European charts, but did not take a leading position.
The situation was corrected by the composition Goodbye, which showed itself superbly in the tops. Then Hopkin was unhappy with the fact that she was positioned as a pop artist. This claim is addressed to her management and McCartney.
In early 1970, she released a song that he had not worked on. It was called Temma Harbor and was warmly received by the audience, having enlisted the support of all sorts of hit parades in England and Canada. In the US, the single was featured in the Billboard Top 100 list.
Mary Hopkin's performance at the Eurovision Song Contest
This event took place in 1970. The composition Knock, Knock Who's There? was chosen for performance, which, according to the comments of many critics, could confidently win. However, this did not happen - Dana won the leading place, and the hit of the artist's performance was released separately, but later.
Then the song Think About Your Children was released on a grand scale. This is the last song that hit the world tops. There were excellent chances to create a successful record in the same style. However, she did not want to be a pop singer and was already seriously thinking about getting back into her favorite genre, with which she began her creative activity while still at school.
Further development of Mary Hopkin
Having achieved very great recognition in the musical field, the singer decided to try herself on television and got her own TV show. Its essence was that she discussed with the guests the specifics of the sphere, the features of self-expression and other working aspects. There were six episodes in 1970.
After she married Visconti, there was a long break in professional activity. She did not show anything modern (even collections), but regularly appeared on the compilations that her husband created.
In 1976, she wanted to return to the stage, but in a different role. To do this, she abandoned the use of a pseudonym and published a collection that was much different from her previous work.
From now on, everything was created mainly on their own. The singer herself wrote poetry, recorded and realized them at her Mary Hopkin Music studio. She radically changed the sound and covered non-standard topics for herself.
In the 1980s, the song What's Love was released, recorded in collaboration with Sundance. In total, we prepared approximately 10 demos with the team. However, the most popular among them was What's Love, thanks to which the group went on a long tour. This tandem was very popular in Africa.
The couple divorced in 1981. During the 1980s, the artist continued her career and occasionally released cassettes. In the early 1990s, she was very selective about the projects in which she was offered to take part. For example, she recorded songs for some composers and authors. A striking example is the LP Back to Bach by Julian Colbeck, who invited her to sing as a guest.
Mary Hopkin at the beginning of the new century
In the mid-2000s, several new products were released that were warmly received by fans and "fans". She released a full CD Valentine (2007), which was timed to coincide with her birthday. These were records that had not been released before. According to Mary, they date from the period 1970-1980.
In 2013, the catalog Painting by Numbers was released on her label. Of course, there was no commercial "boom", since it was published and distributed mainly among "their own". The latest release is the album Another Road, which was presented in 2020.
In addition, the artist periodically shares rare material and chronicles from concerts, which is of particular value to connoisseurs of her voice. The reissues have updated mastering and accurately convey the atmosphere of live performances of the 1970s and 1980s.
