Sandie Shaw MBE (born Sandra Ann Goodrich) is a retired English pop singer and is one of the most successful British female singers of the 1960s. On leaving school, she worked at the nearby Ford Dagenham factory, and did some part-time modelling before coming second as a singer in a local talent contest. As a prize, she appeared at a charity concert in London, where her potential was spotted by singer Adam Faith. He introduced her to his manager, Eve Taylor, who won her a contract with Pye Records in 1964 and gave her the stage name of ‘Sandie Shaw’.
Taylor teamed Shaw with songwriter Chris Andrews, who wrote her first single, “As Long as You’re Happy Baby”, which failed to make the charts. However, for her second single Taylor gave her the Bacharach and David song “(There’s) Always Something There to Remind Me”, Shaw’s version rose to No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart in the autumn of 1964, and also charted in the United States at No. 52 on the Billboard early the following year. “I’d Be Far Better Off Without You” was issued as the follow-up, but DJs preferred its B-side, “Girl Don’t Come”, also written by Andrews, and the sides were switched. “Girl Don’t Come” reached No. 3 in the UK and became her biggest US hit, reaching No. 42.
It was followed by further hits in the UK including “I’ll Stop at Nothing”, “Long Live Love”, her second UK No. 1 in 1965, and “Message Understood”. The singles were produced by Taylor, Andrews and Shaw herself (though she was never credited), with help from Pye Records arranger Ken Woodman. Shaw was a regular on popular British TV programmes of the time such as TOTP, and Ready Steady Go!. She was seen as epitomising the “swinging Sixties”, and her trademark of performing barefoot endeared her to the public at large. She also recorded most of her hit singles in Italian, French, German and Spanish boosting her popularity in Europe.
By 1967 Shaw’s record sales were declining and her manager decided she should move more towards cabaret. She was invited by the BBC to represent the UK in that year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna. She had reservations as she felt it would destroy her credibility, but performed five songs, with the public voting that the one that should represent the country was the Bill Martin/Phil Coulter composition “Puppet on a String”. Although she disliked the song and thought it was unrepresentative of her material, the song won the contest by a near-record margin of votes, and made Shaw the first person to win the contest for the UK. It gave her a third UK No. 1 single, a record for a female at the time. Globally, the single achieved sales in excess of 4 million, making it the biggest selling winning Eurovision track to date. Some estimates suggest this makes the track the biggest selling single by a British female artist of all time.
Although she began writing songs, her contract with Pye expired in 1972. She retired from life as a pop singer and began working on other ventures, including co-writing a full-length rock musical, songwriting, acting in stage productions (she played Ophelia in Hamlet and Joan of Arc in Saint Joan) and writing children’s books. In 1983 a new phase in her career began after she received a letter from “two incurable Sandie Shaw fans” – singer Morrissey and lead guitarist Johnny Marr of the Smiths – telling her that “The Sandie Shaw legend cannot be over yet – there is more to be done.” She agreed to record some of their songs. In April 1984, her version of “Hand in Glove” (The Smiths’ first single) was released and peaked just inside the UK Top 30. She recorded a new version of her first hit “(There’s) Always Something There to Remind Me” for the film ‘Letter to Brezhnev’, and then released two singles on the Polydor label.
Concentrating on a new career as a psychotherapist, Shaw opened the Arts Clinic in 1997 with her husband, to provide psychological healthcare and creative development to those in the creative industries. The clinic is now styled Barefoot Therapy: The Arts Clinic and continues to provide psychological support for those in the fields of entertainment, media and sports. In 1998 she was invited to join the Royal Society of Musicians as an Honorary Professor of Music.
