Malcolm Holland (born 9 March 1942), better known by the stage name of Nelson Keene, is a British

pop singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

who was prominent in the early 1960s. Keene was born in Farnborough,

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

, one of ten children. As a singer, he was managed by

Larry Parnes Laurence Maurice Parnes (3 September 1929 – 4 August 1989) was a British pop manager and impresario. He was the first major British rock manager, and his stable of singers included many of the most successful British rock and roll singers of ...

, who chose his stage name - along with those of many other pop singers of the period including

Billy Fury Ronald Wycherley (17 April 1940 – 28 January 1983), better known as Billy Fury, was an English singer, musician, songwriter, and actor. An early star of rock and roll, he equalled the Beatles' record of 24 hits in the 1960s and spent 332 we ...

Marty Wilde Marty Wilde, (born Reginald Leonard Smith; 15 April 1939) is an English singer and songwriter. He was among the first generation of British pop stars to emulate American rock and roll, scoring several 1950s hit singles including " Endless Sl ...

Vince Eager Vince Eager (born Roy Taylor, 4 June 1940, Grantham, Lincolnshire, England) is an English pop singer. He was widely promoted by impresario Larry Parnes, but later quarrelled with him over his commercialising of Eddie Cochran's tragic early dea ...

and

Georgie Fame Georgie Fame (born Clive Powell; 26 June 1943) is an English R&B and jazz musician. Fame, who had a string of 1960s hits, is still performing, often working with contemporaries such as Alan Price, Van Morrison and Bill Wyman. Fame is the on ...

- and was signed to

HMV Records His Master's Voice (HMV) was the name of a major British record label created in 1901 by The Gramophone Co. Ltd. The phrase was coined in the late 1890s from the title of a painting by English artist Francis Barraud, which depicted a Jack Russ ...

. His first single, "

Image of a Girl "Image of a Girl" is a song written by Richard Clasky and Marvin Rosenberg and performed by The Safaris featuring The Phantom's Band. It reached #6 on the U.S. pop chart in 1960. The song ranked #62 on ''Billboard'' magazine's Top 100 singles ...

", a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of a US top ten hit by

The Safaris The Safaris were an American pop group of the early 1960s from Los Angeles, California. The Safaris formed in 1959, and the following year released their debut single, " Image of a Girl". The song was a hit in the United States, peaking at #6 o ...

, reached No. 37 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in 1960, but was outsold by

Mark Wynter Mark Wynter (born Terence Sidney Lewis; 29 January 1943) is an English singer and actor, who had four Top 20 singles in the 1960s, including "Venus in Blue Jeans" and " Go Away Little Girl". He enjoyed a lengthy career from 1960 to 1968 as a p ...

's rival version of the same song. Two follow-ups, "Keep Loving Me" (1960) and "Miracles Are Happening To Me" (1961) failed to reach the chart, and Keene's recording career appears to have ended at that point. Keene was reported as living in Australia in 2010.

References

1942 births Living people English male singers English pop singers People from Farnborough, Hampshire {{UK-singer-stub