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Kathy Kirby's musical career presents an example of just how capricious the musical tastes of record buyers can be. Kathy's professional singing career began shortly after leaving school when largely through her own efforts she secured a place as a singer with the Ambrose orchestra. She went on to work with other British big bands of the 1950s but the link with Bert Ambrose was never lost. When Ambrose decided to quit orchestral work in favour of management, Kathy was one of the most important artists the former bandleader had on his books. At a time when teenage record buyers were turning to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, Kathy Kirby had a winning formula. She was undoubtedly a very good singer and was able to give a bright new sound to older songs. Her blonde, youthful but mature, good looks appealed little to teenagers, but their fathers all thought she was wonderful. This popularity was boosted by her television appearances in which her glossy lipstick produced such a shine that she was often referred to as 'Wet Lips'. The peak of her success came through an all music TV show called 'The Stars and Garter', an ITV production which tried to depict a night club atmosphere and in which Kathy was undoubtedly portrayed as the 'star'. The show was compered by comedian Ray Martine and included several other UK singing artists of the day like Vince Hill, and Tommy Bruce. |
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This EP (DFE8611), "BBC's Song For Europe" was Kathy's third on that format. Unfortunately, its release also marks the beginning of this splendid singer's decline as a recording star. |
| Sadly for Kathy her singles sales slumped towards the middle of the 1960s. She sang Britain's Eurovision song entry for 1965 and carried on with TV work, but her record sales never did recover. By the start of the 1970s the TV appearances of this under-rated singer had become few and far between and by the middle of the new decade her disappearance was totally complete. All manner of complicated reasons have been given for Kathy's fall from favour and her own story has been told in the Sunday newspapers. I think the main cause was simply that the infatuation of the nation's Dads for the glossy lipped singer was just all too short lived. Despite this, Kathy has returned to sing her wonderful hits at 1960s nostalgia concerts occasionally. Sadly, these now seem to be very rare events indeed. | |
