Mary Hopkin (born 3 May 1950), credited on some recordings as Mary Visconti, is a Welsh folk singer best known for her 1968 UK number one single \"Those Were The Days\". She was one of the first musicians to sign to The Beatles' Apple label.
Early singing careerHopkin was born in Pontardawe, Wales into a Welsh-speaking family and her father worked as a housing officer. She took weekly singing lessons as a child and began her musical career as a folk singer with a local group called the Selby Set and Mary. She released an EP of Welsh language songs for a local record label called Cambrian, based in her home town, before signing to The Beatles' Apple Records. The model Twiggy saw her winning the British ITV television talent show, Opportunity Knocks and recommended her to Paul McCartney. She became one of the first artists to record on the Beatles' Apple record label.
Her debut single, \"Those Were the Days\", produced by Paul McCartney, was released in the UK on 30 August 1968 (catalogue number APPLE 2). Despite competition from a well-established star, Sandie Shaw, who released her version of the same song as a single that same year; Hopkin's version became a number one hit in the UK Singles Chart, and reached Number 2 in the US Billboard Hot 100. It sold over one and a half million copies in the United States alone, and was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A.. Global sales topped the eight million mark. On 2 October 1968 Hopkin appeared at St Paul's Cathedral, London for the 'Pop Experience' where she sang \"Morning Of My Life\", \"Turn Turn Turn\" and \"Plaisir D'amour\".
In December 1968 the NME music magazine reported that Hopkin was sympathetically considering a lead acting role in Stanley Baker's forthcoming film, The Rape of the Fair Country. That particular project did not materialise but Hopkin did sing the title songs to two of Baker's films, Where's Jack? and Kidnapped.
On 21 February 1969 her debut album, Postcard, also produced by McCartney, was released. It included covers of three songs from Donovan, who also played on the album, and one song each from George Martin and Harry Nilsson. It reached number three on the UK Albums Chart, although it proved to be her solitary success story in that particular chart. In the United States Postcard reached Number 28 on the Billboard albums chart.
The next single was \"Goodbye\" written by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon/McCartney), released on 28 March 1969 (APPLE 10); it reached Number 2 in the UK Singles Chart. It was kept off the top of the charts by the Beatles' single \"Get Back\". \"Goodbye\" has never been officially released by the Beatles, although a demo version can be found on some of the Beatles' bootlegs.
Hopkin's third single, \"Temma Harbour\", was released on 16 January 1970 (APPLE 22) and peaked at Number 6 in the UK Singles Chart in February. In March, she represented the United Kingdom in the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest singing \"Knock, Knock Who's There?\". Author and historian John Kennedy O'Connor notes in The Eurovision Song Contest. The Official History that she gave a very comfortable performance and sang in a crystal clear voice but despite being the pre-contest favourite, Hopkin came second to \"All Kinds of Everything\", performed by Irish singer Dana.
\"Knock, Knock Who's There?\" was released as a single on 23 March 1970 (APPLE 26) and became her second Number 2 UK hit.[ Her second album, Earth Song, Ocean Song, was released by Apple on 1 October 1971. The record was produced by her husband Tony Visconti and included cover versions of songs written by Cat Stevens, Gallagher and Lyle and Ralph McTell.
After marrying Visconti in 1971, Hopkin withdrew from the pop music scene to have a family. ~SOURCE: Wikipedia
