Twinkle was sadly underrated; it was a great shame when she quit the business after only a couple of years as she had a fine voice. Sadly she passed far too soon.
Twinkle i had the pleasure of meeting at a family function, Every inch a lady ,and a beautiful person, her Husband, Graham my relative, a top model, although never as gorgeous as me, hahaha, is still scrapping on like a soldier, lot,s of love to Graham and his Mum Great Aunt Gladys,xxx
Twinkle through her elder sister (a journalist for teen magazines) Lynn began to meet pop musicians. One of them, Dec Cluskey, of the Irish vocal group the Bachelors, recommended Twinkle to his manager. This resulted in her making a recording of her composition Terry, on which she was accompanied by session musicians including guitarist Jimmy Page, the future Led Zeppelin star. Her second husband was the actor who played the man in black on the Cadbury milk tray adverts. She passed away at the age of 66.
There are better examples of Twinkle, elsewhere on RU-vid. It's all very well to idly play retrospective judge and jury from the safety of a keyboard. For those who are interested, however, Twinkle, far from being untalented, as one correspondent suggests below, was unique, in that she actually wrote much of her own material -- and from a very early age. This was in an era, where women singers simply didn't do that sort of thing. If you ever get a chance to listen to some of her own songs, most of which were written in her teens and early twenties, you may be surprised at just how good she was -- and original. Artistes are not always responsible for the things which people post up on RU-vid, years, or sometimes decades later. Johnny Fame is a tricky customer as we say. Twinkle, for whom fame came rather early, had a bit of a rough time of it, including losing the love of her life during the mid 1970s . Morrissey's a big fan, and so, for what it's worth, am I. Interested listeners may want to check out her Best Of or her Michael Hannah Lost Years album.
I agree with your thoughts entirely -so, can you tell me what Twinkle is doing these days? And just a thought, I have to say that the lady singing with her seemed to more or less take the lead role and have a stronger voice, what was going on there?
Yes, I know. I wrote a tribute piece about her in the East Anglian Daily Times. I was really sad about it. I thought she was great. She personified her era in many ways. Wrote her own stuff. And so pretty, too.
Twinkle never ages; she simply endures - like Marianne Faithful or Mary Weiss. There is something very special about a woman who can grow up without growing old.
Twinkle used to date Dec McCuskey from the Bachelors , it was hushed up cos she was only 15 at the time, he put her in touch with Peter Soloman from Decca records that's how she got to record "Terry", I recall the pirate radio stations Caroline and Radio London used to play it all the time..
TO ANN TWO SHOES: Ann I don't actually know, because, much as I adore this woman's work, I stop short of actually stalking her. I understand she had a breakdown of sorts, about Michael Hannah, the model whom she loved so much, and who having left her, died in a plane crash in France in '75, I think it was. She married another model / actor and so far as I know had children. She's surfaced sporadically on various records during the 70s and 80s. At some point, during the early 90s, she was in a band briefly with Fiona Wallace doing some kind of 60s holiday camp package. She also appeared on an edition of Never Mind the Buzzcocks, which is elsewhere on RU-vid. She looked well and happy I think she that she was/ is in essence, a rather good songwriter, possibly unsuited to the various toxicities of greater fame -- as a number of us who've had music biz experience will understand. Wherever she is I hope she's well and happy. .
To Orange Fuzz That was the Beer Elves. But it's nice that you know the song or indeed any of them. My late mum liked that one, too.. Poor Twinkle though. That one's really got to me, I'm afraid. I genuinely loved Twinkle's songs. Perfectly imperfect. All my favourite women are leaving the party lately.. I did actually write a song about her a couple of years ago.. It was on an album called The Late District. .
It is actually real hair not a wig...I should know, I am the drummer in this footage and was a member of The Four Pennies for 10 years. A lot people at our shows asked me if it was a wig, Mike just likes having his hair in this style. He was the only member of the band who wasn't losing his hair.
The only original member was Mike Wilshaw on bass guitar who introduced Twinkle, the other members being Lionel Morton vocalist and rhythm guitar, Fritz Fryer lead guitar and Alan Buck drums
Great comment about Frankie Howard's hair-piece, made me laugh out loud! I always wondered where it went, glad it found a good home and is still working. Love the 4 Pennies, not sure about this bit, was Twinkle singing at all? What happened to Lionel Morton?
if she had McCartney to write her songs back in her day she would not be a one hit wonder She had the great 60's look before there was a 60's look. Sometimes things are never meant to be.
Yes.......well. I remember all of them in the day, but this performance is just a little sad, very much a amateur pub performance. I'd rather have remembered them when they were stars. Anyone want to listen to a good tune? check out "Miss Bad Daddy" a b side, maybe on "juliet" by the Four Pennies.
And whats wrong with that? Are you so used to "studio enhancements" and never played "live" that you think bands actually sound in real life like they do on CDs etc. I've been to see top bands play & they sounded worse than this. With studios today with 128 track recording & multi-phasing, over dubbing & so on, you can make a 5 thumbed Baboon banging away on an out of tune guitar sound better than the winners of UKs Got Talent.
Richard Rayner Well, I quite agree with most of your comments, and being in my late 60s, I too have seen many bands live. In my opinion, only the very skilled can sound like they did on the vinyl, i.e. Roy Orbison, whom I saw many times. I also worked evenings in Bristol's Colston Hall, where I saw and heard many more. So, no, I don't expect them to sound like they did in their studio recordings. Oh, and please don't patronise me by making the assumptions that you did in your reply. I do agree with your comment about the baboon though LOL.
Sorry,(about sounding patronising) but having played live many times myself I'm only too aware of unrealistic expectations of some of the audience. I know some cheat & lip sinc & the furore when bands played live on Top of the Pops - not only from some bands, but also some of the audience because they didn't sound right. I put this performance down to not having any monitors. (She can't hear herself) and dear old Lynn could be off key even in the Good Ol' Days
'supports' Twinkle?!, she sings for Twinkle!. That grovelling penny is an example of the sycophantic slop poured onto the undeserving, in this case Twinkle, no talent in the 60s has not cultivated any since, who did she know ...or yes?.
There is a desperation in some parts of the UK where gigs descend to the lowest common denominator. Name bands/artists will do anything to get punters through the door no matter what. In this case you have Lionel Morton (ex-Playschool presenter) lead singer of the Four Pennies a band hardly anyone remembers introducing a backing singer who does the main vocal on a cover with Twinkle doing backing vocals! It does beggar belief but that's money for you. It pulls the strings and humiliates many of us musicians in public. Apart from the awful rugrat on his bonse, I have to say that Twinkle was a customer who came through my delicatessen when I worked at the supermarket. We had cheap meat pieces at 20p a £. That's what she ordered, wreaking of Tweed perfume and she always called me darling. There was a sadness to her life. I am only writing this now because on the radio this morning, a certain, Fay Ripley was being interviewed.
For a start that's not Lionel Morton singing it's the Pennies Bass Player Mike Wilshaw and I know Mike from my schooldays and besides being a nice bloke that's not a wig he's wearing it's the way he's had it cut,and back in the day they were a great live group who deserved more success
Unfortunately, she had no stage presence, behaving like a schoolgirl doing karaoke, which wasn't helped by an appalling rambling introduction by the bloke with the deceased fox cub on his head.
@John Lightfoot Fair do's ---- he called me an arse first. And I sing like Tiny Tim so a music vid is not an option. (I couldn't stand the Beatles either).