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Today, The Beatles Bible tells us, “the singer Mary Hopkin’s appearance on television talent show Opportunity Knocks was broadcast.” To which my immediate reaction is, so what? But TBB continues:
Her performance led to a contract with The Beatles’ Apple Records, and the multi-million selling debut single Those Were The Days.
So this is, I guess, relevant. “Opportunity Knocks” seems to have been the “American Idol” of its day, a show where aspiring stars performed and the public voted on which ones they liked.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find footage of Hopkin’s appearance today. She was on the show again in July, but the YouTube video of that one has embedding turned off, so I all I can do is give you a link. The aforementioned “Those Were The Days” was easy to find, though. See what you think:
My seven-word review: pretty girl, nice voice, but yawn city. Signing her was Paul’s idea, of course — after she had been pointed out to him by the model Twiggy — and it is not impossible that he had an ulterior motive. He was incorrigible in those days.1
Hopkin had a few hit singles and released a McCartney-produced album, Postcard, before retiring from showbiz in 1971 to marry producer Tony Visconti. Yes, that Tony Visconti; thus did it come to pass that Hopkin sang some backing vocals on David Bowie’s Low. That’s her voice on “Sound and Vision.” Dig it: