Dee Shipman (born Deanna Pauline Shenderey, September 1942 - 11 June 2020) was a songwriter who worked with

Charles Aznavour Charles Aznavour ( , ; born Shahnour Vaghinag Aznavourian, hy, Շահնուր Վաղինակ Ազնավուրեան, ; 22 May 1924 – 1 October 2018) was a French-Armenian singer, lyricist, actor and diplomat. Aznavour was known for his dist ...

and

Petula Clark Petula Sally Olwen Clark, CBE (born 15 November 1932) is an English singer, actress, and composer. She has one of the longest serving careers of a British singer, spanning more than seven decades. Clark's professional career began during the ...

. Together with Clark, she wrote the 1990 West End musical '' Someone Like You''.

Career

Early acting and singing

Shipman began her professional career as an actress and singer, both in the theatre, and on TV, where she appeared in series such as ''

The Avengers Avenger, Avengers, The Avenger, or The Avengers may refer to: Arts and entertainment In the Marvel Comics universe * Avengers (comics), a team of superheroes ** Avengers (Marvel Cinematic Universe), a central team of protagonist superheroes o ...

'' (Propellant 23) and ''

Emergency - Ward 10 ''Emergency Ward 10'' is a British medical soap opera series shown on ITV between 1957 and 1967. Like ''The Grove Family'', a series shown by the BBC between 1954 and 1957, ''Emergency Ward 10'' is considered to be one of British television's fi ...

''. She then went on to a successful career in radio, including co-presenting a weekly series for the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

''Teen Scene'', and having two series of her own for

Radio Luxembourg Radio Luxembourg was a multilingual commercial broadcaster in Luxembourg. It is known in most non-English languages as RTL (for Radio Television Luxembourg). The English-language service of Radio Luxembourg began in 1933 as one of the earlies ...

, ''Ready Steady Radio'' and ''Kids Like Us''. During this period, Shipman was signed to

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...

, and released a cover of

Mel Tormé Melvin Howard Tormé (September 13, 1925 – June 5, 1999), nicknamed "The Velvet Fog", was an American musician, singer, composer, arranger, drummer, actor, and author. He composed the music for "The Christmas Song" ("Chestnuts Roasting on an Op ...

’s hit "Comin' Home Baby" under the name Deanna Shenderey. She also wrote for the magazine ''Pop Weekly'', in which she had her own weekly column. As a singer, Shipman recorded a twelve track LP, produced by

Norman Newell Norman Newell (25 January 1919 – 1 December 2004) was an English record producer, who was mainly active in the 1950s and 1960s. He was also the songwriter, co-writer of many notable songs. As an A&R manager for EMI, he worked with musicians su ...

. The album featured such evergreen standards as "

What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life? "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?" is a song with lyrics written by Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman and original music written by Michel Legrand for the 1969 film ''The Happy Ending''. The song was nominated for an Academy Award for Best ...

", "

The Way You Look Tonight "The Way You Look To-night" is a song from the film ''Swing Time'' that was performed by Fred Astaire and composed by Jerome Kern with lyrics written by Dorothy Fields. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1936. Fields remarked, " ...

" and "One Hand, One Heart". The album was released in July 2008 by Stage Door Records. Titled ''She Isn't Me'', the reissue concludes with a new recording from Shipman and

Roger Webb Roger Webb (7 April 1934 – 19 December 2002) was a British songwriter and jazz pianist best known for leading Roger Webb's Trio (1963-1965) for television series and club performances, and Roger Webb's Orchestra. The Roger Webb Trio appear ...

's musical ''Emma''. Shipman made several films, which included starring as Mrs. Burke in the 1972 motion picture ''

Burke And Hare The Burke and Hare murders were a series of sixteen killings committed over a period of about ten months in 1828 in Edinburgh, Scotland. They were undertaken by William Burke and William Hare, who sold the corpses to Robert Knox for dissection ...

'' opposite

Harry Andrews Harry Stewart Fleetwood Andrews, CBE (10 November 1911 – 6 March 1989) was an English actor known for his film portrayals of tough military officers. His performance as Regimental Sergeant Major Wilson in '' The Hill'' (1965) alongside Sean ...

and

Derren Nesbitt Derren Nesbitt (born Derren Michael Horwitz; 19 June 1935) is a British actor. Nesbitt's film career began in the late 1950s, and he also appeared in many television series in the late 1960s into the 1970s. He is known for his role as Major von ...

, and which she described as "Glamorous no! Culture no! But fun? YES!"

Songwriting

Shipman first started writing lyrics when she began her song-writing collaboration with composer Roger Webb. Their output included writing "Sad Song Lady" for

Blossom Dearie Margrethe Blossom Dearie (April 28, 1924 – February 7, 2009) was an American jazz singer and pianist. She had a recognizably light and girlish voice.

Profile at AllMusic Profile or profiles may refer to: Art, entertainment and media Music * ''Profile'' (Jan Akkerman album), 1973 * ''Profile'' (Githead album), 2005 * ''Profile'' (Pat Donohue album), 2005 * ''Profile'' (Duke Pearson album), 1959 * '' ''Profi ...

Dearie performed regular engagements in London and New York City over ...

, "The Rainbow Bridge" for Danny Williams and "Making It By Myself" for the

Kenneth Tynan Kenneth Peacock Tynan (2 April 1927 – 26 July 1980) was an English theatre critic and writer. Making his initial impact as a critic at ''The Observer'', he praised Osborne's ''Look Back in Anger'' (1956), and encouraged the emerging wave of ...

and Clifford Williams musical ''Carte Blanche'' at the Phoenix Theatre in London. The show was not well reviewed, but the song got good notices. Shipman and Webb also composed music and lyrics for three musical concepts: ''A Kid For Two Farthings'' (based on the 1955 film of the

Wolf Mankowitz Cyril Wolf Mankowitz (7 November 1924 – 20 May 1998) was an English writer, playwright and screenwriter. He is particularly known for three novels— ''Make Me an Offer'' (1952), '' A Kid for Two Farthings'' (1953) and ''My Old Man's a Dustma ...

modern classic story); ''The Last Touring Love Show''; and ''Emma'' (based on the life of

Emma Hamilton Dame Emma Hamilton (born Amy Lyon; 26 April 176515 January 1815), generally known as Lady Hamilton, was an English maid, model, dancer and actress. She began her career in London's demi-monde, becoming the mistress of a series of wealthy men ...

). Shipman went on to write songs with

Marc Wilkinson Marc Wilkinson (27 July 1929 – 8 January 2022) was an Australian-British composer and conductor best known for his film scores, including ''The Blood on Satan's Claw'', and incidental music for the theatre, most notably for Peter Shaffer's '' ...

(for the nude review ''Carte Blanche'', 1976), Werner Becker, George Garvarentz, Albert Van Dam, Ralph Lewin and Herbert Chappell.

Collaborations with Charles Aznavour and Petula Clark

In 1976, Shipman began an important partnership with

, which continued into their latter years. Their songwriting together produced the Aznavour favourite "Pretty Shitty Days", as well as "A Very Private Christmas" and "You Make Me Hungry For Your Loving" amongst many others. It was Aznavour who introduced Shipman to

; Shipman and Clark wrote their first song together in 1978, and remained friends and partners. The Clark – Shipman partnership produced the original stage musical ''Someone Like You'', which toured the United Kingdom and transferred to the West End in 1990. Shipman and Clark also wrote over 50 songs together for Clark's commercial albums and singles plus their second, uncompleted musical ''Zola'', based on the life of

Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, also , ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of ...

. Two songs from the score can be heard on the CD ''In Her Own Write'', released by Sepia Records in 2007. In 1989, while continuing to write all Aznavour's English lyrics, and also working on two musicals with Clark, Shipman wrote the script and co-produced the TV

docudrama Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television and film, which features dramatized re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of documentary and drama and "a fact-based representation of real event". Docudramas typic ...

''Petain'', charting the life of

Philippe Pétain Henri Philippe Benoni Omer Pétain (24 April 1856 – 23 July 1951), commonly known as Philippe Pétain (, ) or Marshal Pétain (french: Maréchal Pétain), was a French general who attained the position of Marshal of France at the end of World ...

. The film featured Harry Andrews as Petain, in his last film role. (Portions of the film's score, composed by Clark, can be heard on ''In Her Own Write''.) Aznavour and Shipman together also devised and wrote the songs for a musical workshop of

Molly Bloom's Soliloquy Molly Bloom is a fictional character in the 1922 novel ''Ulysses'' by James Joyce. The wife of main character Leopold Bloom, she roughly corresponds to Penelope in the ''Odyssey''. The major difference between Molly and Penelope is that while Pe ...

from

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

’s ''

Ulysses Ulysses is one form of the Roman name for Odysseus, a hero in ancient Greek literature. Ulysses may also refer to: People * Ulysses (given name), including a list of people with this name Places in the United States * Ulysses, Kansas * Ulysse ...

'', which was performed at the

Edinburgh International Festival The Edinburgh International Festival is an annual arts festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, spread over the final three weeks in August. Notable figures from the international world of music (especially classical music) and the performing arts are i ...

Eartha Kitt Eartha Kitt (born Eartha Mae Keith; January 17, 1927 – December 25, 2008) was an American singer and actress known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 recordings of "C'est si bon" and the Christmas novelty song "Santa Ba ...

. Aznavour's musical ''Lautrec'', with English lyrics by Shipman, premiered at the

Theatre Royal, Plymouth Theatre Royal, Plymouth, is a theatre venue in Plymouth, Devon. It consists of a 1,300-seat main auditorium, The Lyric, which regularly hosts large-scale musicals, opera and ballet; a 200-seat studio, The Drum; and a 50-seat studio, The Lab. ...

in March 2000 before transferring to the

Shaftesbury Theatre The Shaftesbury Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Shaftesbury Avenue, in the London Borough of Camden. Opened in 1911 as the New Prince's Theatre, it was the last theatre to be built in Shaftesbury Avenue. History The theatre was d ...

, London. The duo were said to be working together on several new songs to have been included in a US and Canadian production of the show.

Neuro-linguistic programming

Shipman was a NLP (

Neuro-linguistic programming Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) is a pseudoscientific approach to communication, personal development and psychotherapy, that first appeared in Richard Bandler and John Grinder's 1975 book ''The Structure of Magic I''. NLP claims that th ...

) Master Coach, Trainer, and Master Practitioner, and a partner with Paul Jacobs in New Oceans. Together they ran regular Life, Business, Education, Coaching, and Performing & Creative Arts trainings, workshops, and seminars, and were also successful

life coaches Coaching is a form of development in which an experienced person, called a ''coach'', supports a learner or client in achieving a specific personal or professional goal by providing training and guidance. The learner is sometimes called a ''coa ...

. In 2006, Shipman and Wes McGhee co-wrote the CD ''NLP Songs For Change'', a musical introduction to the tools and techniques of NLP. Shipman also wrote three books of short stories, based on her NLP experiences: The ''Sunbeam Collection Vol.1'', ''The Sunbeam Collection Vol.2'', and ''All We Are Is Our Stories. Vol.1'' Prior to her death, she was writing Volume 2 of the latter title, and also working on ''The Book Of Inspirational Parenting''.

Personal life and death

Shipman died on 11 June 2020.

References

External links

Official Site

New Oceans

Someone Like You – Premiere Studio Recording
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shipman, Dee English musical theatre lyricists English musical theatre composers Neuro-linguistic programming writers 1942 births 2020 deaths