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Eamonn Andrews, CBE (19 December 1922 -- 5 November 1987), was an Irish radio and television presenter, based from 1950 in the United Kingdom. From 1960 to 1964 he chaired the Radio ireann Authority (now the RT Authority), responsible for the introduction of State television to Ireland.
Better known as a TV presenter, including two long stints presenting 'This is Your Life' (1955-1964 and 1969 to 1987).
\"The Voices of Vernon\" were formed at the Vernons football pools company in the 1950s in Liverpool as a 70-strong choir. In keeping with the image of the company, they were very genteel young ladies, singing standards and songs from the musicals. Although considerably smaller than Littlewoods, Vernons, with is headquarters in Aintree, employed 8,000 women, many coupon checkers, so the competition for places was keen. Both pools companies prided themselves on being decent employers and were keen to play a part in their communities. The Vernons Choir was a way of doing this. In 1958, a decision was made to trim it down to 16 professional members, who should concentrate on rock and roll, the music of the age. So the Vernons Girls were hired by Jack Good, the pop mogul, for his new ITV show, Oh Boy!, thus becoming part of Britain's rock and roll history (appearing in all 38 episodes).
With the success from Oh Boy the group released a series of records on Parlophone between 1958-1961. Their 1958 LP released on Parlophone was arranged and conducted by Peter Knight, with sleeve notes by Eamonn Andrews. This record is significantly different from their later pop hits, featuring such fifties standards as \"We'll Gather Lilacs\", \"Lonely Ballerina\", and the \"Cuckoo In the Clock\".
The girls were paid about 10 a week each, a very good wage at the time, but life was tough. They were chaperoned around the clock and stayed at the Colonnade Hotel, near the Maida Vale underground station, London, so they would be ready for the daily rehearsals. The pools company paid for their accommodation, travel, food and other expenses.
Gradually the large group disbanded or drifted into seperate groups. New groups formed out of former members of The Voices of Vernon include; The Vernon Girls, the Breakaways, the Ladybirds, the Two Tones, the Pearls, De Laine Sisters, and a number of solo artists.
Led by Maureen Kennedy, from 1961 the group reduced their membership to three members with jean Owen and Frances Lee staying on to become The Vernon Girls, and by 1962 had signed to Decca Records where they recorded covers of American hits, scoring hits in the early 1960s with Lover Please and its flipside, You Know What I Mean, the Loco-Motion, Do the Bird and Funny All Over. In the U.S. the group charted with the first Beatles tribute album there, We Love The Beatles. As The Carefrees, they also charted with \"We Love You Beatles\", and made an album only available in the United States.
As session singers for Decca, the Vernons Girls were the female backing voices on many hit singles during the 1960s - one of the first being Billy Fury's \"Maybe Tomorrow\". The trio of Jean Owen, Frances Lea, and Maureen Kennedy also appeared on film in the 1964 TV special Around The Beatles with The Beatles plus Long John Baldry, P. J. Proby and Millie Small, in the Billy Fury film, Play It Cool, and in Just For Fun; ex-member Vicky Haseman also appeared in this, with her group, The Breakaways.
However, by 1964, The Vernon Girls' chart successes had halted and they disbanded. Some of the girls continued in show business ventures:
Lyn Cornell married session drummer Andy White, (notable for replacing Ringo Starr on an early take of \"Love Me Do\"), and became a successful solo performer; having a chart hit with the title song to the film \"Never On Sunday\" in 1960 - and later becoming one of The Pearls. Vicky Haseman formed The Breakaways, and married Joe Brown. Their daughter Sam Brown is a well-known singer in her own right. Baker married Marty Wilde - they formed a trio with Justin Hayward called the 'Wilde Three', and were the parents of singer Kim Wilde. Jean Owen had solo success under the name Samantha Jones.
Other members of the group banded together in various combinations as duets and singing trios; these include the 'Redmond Twins', 'The Pearls', the 'Two Tones' and the 'DeLaine Sisters'. The 'DeLaine Sisters' had a minor hit in Great Britain with the Goffin & King song \"It Might As Well Rain Until September\".
The longest surviving and best known of the groups, The Ladybirds, was formed by Maggie Stredder with Gloria George. The Ladybirds are best known for their long association with The Benny Hill Show, and for performing the backing vocals on BBC television's Top of the Pops. They performed the backing vocals on Jimi Hendrix Experience first single, \"Hey Joe\".
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