Julie Grant
Our pick of the pops
British singer Julie Grant recorded some great songs and scored a few small hits but never quite became the star she should have been.
She was born Vivien Foreman on 12 July 1946 in the northern English coastal town of Blackpool. She was a keen performer even as a child – and made her British stage debut as one of the Siamese children in the original production of the King and I in London’s West End.
After winning a talent contest at Brighton’s Butlin’s holiday camp in 1960 (beating none other than Helen Shapiro, who within a year was riding high in the UK charts), Vivien began singing semi-professionally in working men’s clubs in Leeds, where she now lived.
Her father shared an accountant with established star Frankie Vaughan. The accountant, Julian Grant, arranged an audition for her with a manager in London and gave her a stage moniker – a variation of his own name. She quickly earned a contract with Pye Records.
Her first single, Somebody tell him, was released in April 1962 but didn’t sell. A similar fate met subsequent singles So many ways and When you’re smiling.
Her next single, a cover of the Drifters’ American hit Up on the roof, made the UK top 40 in January 1963 and charted in Denmark and Sweden.
The follow up, the bouncy Count on me, made the top 30, as Julie hit the headlines over her friendship with the Beatles and rumoured romance with George Harrison. (The B-side, Then, only then, has gone on to become a favourite amongst fans.)
Her next single, That’s how heartaches are made, a cover of a song by American singer Baby Washington, was a sophisticated departure but confused fans, and failed to chart. A return to poppier fare with subsequent releases Don’t let me down and Hello love couldn’t recapture her previous success, despite a national tour with the Everly Brothers.
Giving up
1965
Every day I have to cry
1964
Stop
1965
Then, only then
1963
Watch what you do with my baby
1964
Follow the links to hear other singers’ versions of Julie Grant songs
Every day I have to cry
Anita Lindblom: Dafür will ich keine Rosen
Dusty Springfield: Tanto so che poi mi passa
Stop
Pussy Cat: Stop!
Watch what you do with my baby
Peggy March: Ich hab' ein Herz zu verschenken
Even the storming Every day I have to cry, released in the summer of 1964, didn’t change her run of bad luck, though it was a hit in Israel.
The subtler Come to me – Julie’s favourite of her recordings – saw her back in the UK top 40 and in the Dutch charts in the autumn of the same year.
By the time of her next release, a version of US girl group the Cinderellas’ Baby baby (I still love you), record label Pye had huge girl stars in the form of Sandie Shaw and Petula Clark. As a result, it no longer felt a need to promote her, and the single died.
Cover cuts
Baby baby (I still love you)
1965
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Similarly, subsequent singles Giving up (a more dramatic – and, arguably, better – version of the Gladys Knight and the Pips original) and Lonely without you weren’t given the attention they deserved.
For her final single for Pye, in September 1965, Stop, a Moody Blues cover, was picked. It proved prophetic, and after it failed to chart and Julie’s contract was not renewed.
Shortly afterwards, she joined Spanish group the Zaras as lead singer and began touring mainland Europe and the US. She ended up living in the States and has continued her career within the music industry, now running her own talent agency.
Julie Grant
Come to me: The Pye anthology
Julie Grant online
