The Reynolds Girls were a British

dance-pop Dance-pop is a popular music subgenre that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Developing from a ...

duo Duo may refer to: Places *Duo, West Virginia, an unincorporated community and coal town in Greenbrier County, West Virginia *Duo, Tampere, a shopping centre in Hervanta, Tampere, Finland * DUO, a twin-tower development in Singapore Arts, enterta ...

composed of sisters Linda (born in 1970) and Aisling Reynolds (born in 1972). They are best known for their hit single "I'd Rather Jack", produced by

Stock Aitken Waterman Stock Aitken Waterman (abbreviated as SAW) are an English songwriting and record production trio consisting of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken, and Pete Waterman. The trio had great success from the mid-1980s through the early 1990s. SAW is considered ...

, which achieved success across Europe in 1989.

Early life

The sisters grew up in

Litherland Litherland is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside. It was an urban district, which included Seaforth and Ford. It neighbours Waterloo to the north, Seaforth to the west, and Bootle to the south and is approximately north ...

, a suburb of Sefton,

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, and were of

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

descent. The duo's younger sister, Debbie (no relation to the late American actress

Debbie Reynolds Mary Frances "Debbie" Reynolds (April 1, 1932 – December 28, 2016) was an American actress, singer, and businesswoman. Her career spanned almost 70 years. She was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer for her portra ...

), played the original

Katie Rogers Katie Rogers is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera ''Brookside'', played by Debbie Reynolds and Diane Burke. The character debuted on-screen during the episode broadcast on 7 December 1987. Reynolds played the character ...

, in ''

Brookside Brookside may refer to: Geography Canada * Brookside, Edmonton * Brookside, Newfoundland and Labrador * Brookside, Nova Scotia United Kingdom * Brookside, Berkshire, England *Brookside, Telford, an area of Telford, England United States * Brook ...

'', from 1987 to 1989.

1989: the single produced by SAW

The sisters signed to the

PWL Pete Waterman Entertainment (PWE) is the production company one-time pop and dance record label owned by British pop mogul Pete Waterman. The label, originally PWL (Pete Waterman Limited), is most famous for being the home of hit record prod ...

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

after giving

Pete Waterman Peter Alan Waterman, (born 15 January 1947) is an English record producer, songwriter, radio and club DJ, television presenter, president of Coventry Bears rugby league club and a keen railway enthusiast. As a member of the Stock Aitken Waterm ...

demo Demo, usually short for demonstration, may refer to: Music and film *Demo (music), a song typically recorded for reference rather than release * ''Demo'' (Behind Crimson Eyes), a 2004 recording by the band Behind Crimson Eyes * ''Demo'' (Deafhea ...

tape Tape or Tapes may refer to: Material A long, narrow, thin strip of material (see also Ribbon (disambiguation): Adhesive tapes * Adhesive tape, any of many varieties of backing materials coated with an adhesive *Athletic tape, pressure-sensitiv ...

, and their

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

"I'd Rather Jack" was produced by

. The song started out as a response to music critics who ignored the younger pop acts in the UK at the time, and to

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

DJs A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile D ...

who continued to play older bands on their

playlist A playlist is a list of video or audio files that can be played back on a media player either sequentially or in a shuffled order. In its most general form, an audio playlist is simply a list of songs, but sometimes a loop. The term has sever ...

s rather than Stock Aitken Waterman songs. It was also a response to a perceived snub at the

Brit Awards The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...

, where SAW acts lost out to more "mature" acts such as

Enya Enya Patricia Brennan (; ga, Eithne Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin; born 17 May 1961), known professionally by the mononym Enya, is an Irish singer, songwriter, and musician known for modern Celtic music. She is the best-selling Irish solo arti ...

and

Steve Winwood Stephen Lawrence Winwood (born 12 May 1948) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter whose genres include blue-eyed soul, rhythm and blues, blues rock, and pop rock. Though primarily a keyboard player and vocalist prominent for his disti ...

. "I'd Rather Jack" reached the top ten in all the European countries it was released. It peaked at number 8 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 April 1989 where it remained for 12 weeks, number 6 in Ireland, number 6 in Finland, number 8 in the Netherlands, number 7 in the Flanders region of Belgium, and number 43 in Australia. The single also reached a peak of number 24 on the

Eurochart Hot 100 The European Hot 100 Singles was compiled by '' Billboard'' and ''Music & Media'' magazine from March 1984 until December 2010. The chart was based on national singles sales charts in 17 European countries: Austria, Belgium (two charts separately ...

. In a public poll conducted by

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

in 2003, "I'd Rather Jack" was voted number 91 in a list of the 100 Worst Pop Records of All Time, and has been called "the beginning of the end for Stock Aitken Waterman." By contract, in 2021, British magazine ''

Classic Pop Traditional pop (also known as classic pop and pre-rock and roll pop) is Western pop music that generally pre-dates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The most popular and enduring songs from this era of music are known as pop standards ...

'' ranked the song number 38 in their list of 'Top 40 Stock Aitken Waterman songs', presented the song a "pure-pop apes Chicago house in a track squarely aimed at the teen market. ..A bubbling, squelchy momentum carries the tune skywards as the two jettison music's old guard".

After the success

After their brief success in 1989 with "I'd Rather Jack", The Reynolds Girls had a public falling out with

, who accused them of being difficult. They parted ways with PWL, saying they wanted to direct their own careers. The girls self-released a second single, "Get Real", funded by their parents remortgaging their family house, but the song failed to chart. The duo have not made any real media appearance since. In a documentary about PWL that aired in 2012, the people interviewed admitted that the single was indeed a tongue-in-cheek response to the critics, and in part did ruin the siblings' career after they'd recorded it. It is unknown what happened to them after that and they could not be traced for a 2012 PWL reunion concert. In 2013, ITV started a search for the sisters, so they could appear in a commemorative documentary about Stock, Aitken and Waterman. As of 2022, their whereabouts remain unknown.

Discography

Singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reynolds Girls English pop music duos English dance girl groups English pop girl groups Dance-pop groups Female musical duos Musical groups from Liverpool Sibling musical duos English people of Irish descent