Rosalind Judith Hannaman was a British singer, mostly active in the 1960s.

Career

Hannaman was born and raised in London. She signed to

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

in 1967 to pursue a career in pop music. She was initially managed by

Tim Rice Sir Timothy Miles Bindon Rice (born 10 November 1944) is an English lyricist and author. He is best known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote, among other shows, ''Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat'', ' ...

, and he and

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948), is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 21 musicals, ...

wrote both of her singles and their subsequent

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

s. Her debut single, "Down Thru' Summer" (b/w "I’ll Give All My Love to Southend"), was released in 1967. It received airplay on the offshore pirate radio station Radio London, made the station's Fab 40 chart, but did not feature in the official

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 ...

. Shortly afterward her second single, "1969", was released. Its B-side was a lush ballad titled "Probably on Thursday". Like its predecessor, "1969" went nowhere on the UK chart and Hannaman's solo career ended. Both of the singles are very rare and highly sought after by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice collectors. Ross was named "face of the year" in 1968 by the ''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'', and she then married EMI producer

Mark Wirtz Mark Philipp Wirtz (3 September 19437 August 2020) was a German-French pop music record producer, composer, singer, musician, author, and comedian. Wirtz is best known for the never-completed '' A Teenage Opera'' concept album, a project he devi ...

. They wrote songs using the aliases "Philwit and Bigsby". Together and under the name The Sweetshop, Wirtz and Hannaman recorded the song "Barefoot and Tiptoe", as part of his unfinished recording ''

A Teenage Opera ''A Teenage Opera'' is a musical project from the 1960s, created by record producer Mark Wirtz. The first song released was from the project was "Excerpt from A Teenage Opera" ("Grocer Jack") recorded by Keith West in 1967. The album was not relea ...

''. Wirtz and Hannaman subsequently divorced.

Singles

*"Down Thru' Summer" / "I'll Give All My Love to Southend" (1967, Columbia DB8217) *"1969" / "Probably on Thursday" (1967, Columbia DB8288) ;The Sweetshop *"Barefoot and Tiptoe" (Parlophone R5707)

Re-releases

* "Barefoot & Tiptoe" appears on the RPM CD ''A Teenage Opera''. *''Andrew Lloyd Webber: Now & Forever'' five-CD box set (2003) contains "Down Thru' Summer" (although an edited version) and "I'll Give All My Love to Southend" on disc 5. *''Go Girl: Dream Babes Volume Four'' (2003) contains an edited version of "Down Thru' Summer" (identical to the ''Andrew Lloyd Webber: Now & Forever'' release) as well as a mini-biography of Hannaman. It also includes a photo from a magazine article and a very rare colour photo of Hannaman with Mark Wirtz. *''That’s My Story'' by Tim Rice & Friends (2006) contains both singles from 1967, as well as their B-sides. **This re-release contains "Down Thru' Summer" in its entirety, as it appears on the original vinyl single; when re-released on the other compilations listed, two unique lines were cut near the end of the song.

Sheet music

*"Down Thru' Summer" (1967)

Song cover

*A demo version of the song "Probably On Thursday" was recorded with a slightly different melody, as well as some lyrical changes, in 1989 by

Sarah Brightman Sarah Brightman (born 14 August 1960) is an English classical crossover soprano singer, actress and dancer. Brightman began her career as a member of the dance troupe Hot Gossip and released several disco singles as a solo performer. In 1981, ...

, at the time the wife of Andrew Lloyd Webber; this was released in 2005 on the CD '' Love Changes Everything'', a compilation of Brightman's work with Lloyd Webber. The title is mis-printed on the album packaging as "Probably On A Thursday". Brightman never sings the word "a" during the song.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hannaman, Ross English women singers Musicians from London Year of birth missing (living people) Living people