The GI diet

Oh dear. The weekend is over. Again...

After a fun birthday party for the brother-in-law on Saturday and a rather more leisurely sunny Sunday, it's time once again to hurl ourselves up against that relentless wall they call "work". Hey ho.

To cheer us up on this Tacky Music Monday, how about a bit of swing (of sorts)? Here's today's birthday girl, the UK's fave 60s-girl-singer-all-grown-up, Miss "Walking Back to Happiness" herself Helen Shapiro - in the company of two of the cutest campest faux "military policemen" I've ever seen - and her take on Johnny Mercer's GI Jive!

Helen Shapiro - GI Jive

Chuck all your junk
Back in the trunk
Fall on your bunk
Clunk

- Now, there's a thought.

Have a good week, daaahlings!

Helen Kate Shapiro (born 28th September 1946)

Teen Queen

Happy 65th birthday today to one of the strongest voices in 60s pop, Miss Helen Shapiro.

Nowadays very much seen as a product of her age, her music never aged well; nor did it make much of an impact Stateside. Thus, unlike more versatile contemporaries such as Dusty Springfield and Sandie Shaw, her commercial chart success was very short-lived and hardly lasted out of her teens.

Her most famous (and biggest) hit was of course Walking Back to Happiness. However, in my opinion this lesser-known single is much more appropriately camp...

Helen Shapiro - Queen For Tonight

Facts about Helen Shapiro:

• She sang in her school band "Susie and the Hula Hoops," which featureded Marc Bolan (then using his real name of Mark Feld) as guitarist.
• On her countrywide tour in 1963, The Beatles were her support act.
• She was one of the stars of the short-lived soap Albion Market in the 1980s.
• Born into a Jewish family in Clapton, London, she has unfortunately nowadays turned to one of those weird cults beloved of Manhattan Cable "Jews for Jesus".

Helen Shapiro biography