Valerie Mountain

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Valerie Mountain (* 1942 in Bristol or Weston-super-Mare , Somerset ) is a British former rock - pop singer who was particularly successful as a musical singer in the first half of the 1960s . Her only hit was the song Some People from the film of the same name in 1962 .

Career

Mountain grew up in Weston-super-Mare. As early as 1960 she performed with the Cliff Adams Singers , but initially worked alongside the Bristol Port Authority . She also worked and sang in the original line-up of the pop musical A Man Dies . This passion play about the life of Jesus Christ was written by Ernest Marvin, a pastor from Bristol, and Ewan Hopper, actor at the local Old Vic Theater. Mountain collaborated on the music and lyrics, and sang the musical's 16 songs, arranged in the style of contemporary rock 'n' roll ; the music was played by the Bristol band Ricky Forde & the Strangers . A performance in 1961 was televised and a single was released with the songs Gentle Christ and Go It Alone .

In Bristol, Clive Donner shot the musical film Some People in 1962 , the plot of which was based on the activities of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award , a program for the training of British youth. In addition to Kenneth More , Angela Douglas played a major role and sang several songs in the film. Her singing voice was adopted for the finished product by Valerie Mountain. Two tracks, Yes You Did , written by Ron Grainer and Les Vandyke , and Vandyke's theme song, were released as single on the Pye label; An EP followed a few weeks later , which also contained the song Too Late and two instrumental tracks by the Bristol band The Eagles , which Mountain had accompanied on the recordings. The EP entered the charts of the New Musical Express (NME) on August 29, 1962 and reached number 22 on the hit list during its three weeks. To enter the chart, the NME conducted an interview with Mountain, in which it said that, despite this Success, I don't want a full-time career in the music business, but wouldn't mind making a few more records.

Meanwhile, the pop musical A Man Dies had found great resonance in the UK and was performed in London's Royal Albert Hall in 1964 ; ABC TV aired it in the same year as a four-part miniseries and a long-playing record with the entire songs was released. Valerie Mountain was once again involved in these projects as a singer and actress. With that, however, her career had already come to an end; she did not get another record deal. Mountain married that same year and retired into private life. According to her biography at Allmusic , she lived in the USA in the 2010s .

Mountain's powerful singing voice resembled that of her younger contemporary, Helen Shapiro . In an interview with the Bristol Evening Post in early 1964, when asked about her style of singing, she refused to commit herself: "I just sing pretty deep, like a colored singer."

Discography

Singles and EPs

  • Gentle Christ / Go It Alone (EMI-Columbia, 1961)
  • Some People / Yes You Did (Pye, 1962)
  • Some People EP (Valerie Mountain and The Eagles / Pye, 1962)

Albums

  • A Man Dies (Valerie Mountain, Ricky Forde and The Strangers / EMI-Columbia, 1964)

Web links

Notes and evidence

  1. ↑ according to IMDb entry
  2. ↑ according to Allmusic entry
  3. ↑ A Man Dies at Allmusic (English)
  4. ↑ Music Department: Valerie Mountain… singing voice: Angela Douglas (uncredited) , IMDb, Some People: full cast and crew
  5. ↑ Copying of the NME charts from August 29, 1962, viewed on September 13, 2014
  6. ↑ No excitement for Valerie , copy of the article from the NME from August 31, 1962, viewed on September 13, 2014
  7. ↑ "I just sing rather low, like a colored [sic] singer," she explained to writer John Coe in the Bristol Evening Post, in an interview in early 1964 [.] , Quoted from Bruce Eder, Allmusic entry on Valerie Mountain
personal data
SURNAME Mountain, Valerie
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British pop singer
DATE OF BIRTH 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Bristol or Weston-super-Mare , Somerset