Noeleen Batley (born 25 December 1944) was an Australian pop star in the 1960s and early 1970s. She was known as "Australia's Little Miss Sweetheart".

Early life

Batley was born in Sydney on Christmas Day, 1944, and began singing at the age of five with her mother's encouragement. As a child, she sang on radio shows such as

2UE 2UE is an all-music radio station in Sydney owned by Nine Entertainment Co and run under a lease agreement by Ace Radio. It currently broadcasts from its studios in Pyrmont, New South Wales. History 1920s 2EU Electrical Utilities applied to the ...

's ''Youth Parade'', 2UW's ''Amateur Hour'' and the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

's ''Rockville Junction''. She entered numerous talent competitions, and eventually won her first recording contract, with

Festival Records Festival Records (later known as Festival Mushroom Records) was an Australian recording and publishing company founded in Sydney, Australia, in 1952 and operated until 2005. Festival was a wholly owned subsidiary of News Limited from 1961 to ...

, in 1960 as a prize in a singing competition.

Career

Batley's first record "Starry Eyed" was released in February 1960, but was not a success. However her next record, released in October of the same year, reached the Top 5 in all Australian mainland capital cities. It was a recording of ''Barefoot Boy'', a song written by the then 16-year-old Helene Grover. It remained in the charts for sixteen weeks. With its success, Batley became the first Australian female pop singer to have a national hit song, and began to appear on TV shows such as '' Youth Show'', ''

Bandstand A bandstand (sometimes music kiosk) is a circular, semicircular or polygonal structure set in a park, garden, pier, or indoor space, designed to accommodate musical bands performing concerts. A simple construction, it both creates an orname ...

'' and ''

Six O'Clock Rock ''Six O'Clock Rock'' was an Australian rock and roll television show broadcast on ABC from 28 February 1959 to 1962 at 6 p.m. on Saturdays. Program synopsis Inspired by the BBC program '' 6.5 Special'', it had a similar format to its riva ...

''. In 1961, Batley was voted Australia's Top Female Singer. Her mother became her manager and together they completed a two-week tour of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in 1964. She continued to record for Festival until 1969, when she went on a tour of Europe and England. She eventually settled in England, in 1970, and continued to perform there. Her last recording, ''Seabird'', was released in 1972.

Later life

Batley married in 1975 and had a child in 1976. The family lived first in

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

, England, and then in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

, Florida.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Batley, Noeleen Living people Musicians from Sydney Australian pop singers 1944 births Australian women pop singers