''Showpeople'' is the debut album by UK singer

Mari Wilson Mari Macmillan Ramsay Wilson (born 29 September 1954, Neasden, London) is a British pop and jazz singer. She is best known for her 1982 UK top-10 hit single "Just What I Always Wanted" and her 1960s image complete with beehive hairstyle. Care ...

. It was released in 1983 and featured her breakthrough hit "

Just What I Always Wanted "Just What I Always Wanted" is a song by English singer Mari Wilson, released as a single in 1982. It is from her 1983 debut album '' Showpeople''. As Wilson's fifth single release, "Just What I Always Wanted" was her first UK top 40 hit, reach ...

Background

In early 1982, Wilson had achieved minor success with two singles, "Beat the Beat" and "Baby It's True", but it was in September that she broke through to top ten success when "

" became a No.8 hit. The song sparked media interest in Wilson due to her 1960s image (in particular her

beehive hairstyle The beehive is a hairstyle in which long hair is piled up in a conical shape on the top of the head and slightly backwards pointing, giving some resemblance to the shape of a traditional beehive. It is also known as the B-52 due to a resemblance ...

) and retro sound. She was also keen to promote her backing band, The Wilsations, who received joint credit on the album. This was followed up with the more modest hit "(Beware) Boyfriend", but a cover of " Cry Me a River" returned her to the top 30. Alongside this fifth single came the debut album, which also charted well, by reaching No.24 in the UK. One more single was released from the album afterwards; "Wonderful (To Be With)", which proved to be Wilson's final top 75 entry. The album was released in three different versions - the UK edition, a slightly modified version in Europe and a truncated version in the US. The UK edition featured neither "(Beware) Boyfriend" or "Baby It's True", while none of them included "Beat the Beat". In the US, the album was issued in 1983 on

Polygram Records PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be a ...

and was released alongside lead single "Just What I Always Wanted", but was unsuccessful. In the UK, ''Showpeople'' remains her only hit album. The album has never been released on Compact disc, but in 2007, all tracks were featured on Wilson's compilation album, ''The Platinum Collection''. allmusic - ''The Platinum Collection''/ref>

Track listing

All tracks composed by Teddy Johns; except where indicated.

UK edition

Side One # "Wonderful (To Be With)" (4.35) # "The End of the Affair" (5.16) # "One Day Is a Lifetime" (4.28) # "Dr Love" (3.30) # "Remember Me" (3.46) # " Cry Me a River" (Arthur Hamilton) (3.26) Side Two # "

" (3.29) # "This Time Tomorrow" (Tot Taylor) (3.01) # "Are You There (With Another Girl)" (

Burt Bacharach Burt Freeman Bacharach ( ; born May 12, 1928) is an American composer, songwriter, record producer and pianist who composed hundreds of pop songs from the late 1950s through the 1980s, many in collaboration with lyricist Hal David. A six-time Gra ...

Hal David Harold Lane David (May 25, 1921 – September 1, 2012) was an American lyricist. He grew up in New York City. He was best known for his collaborations with composer Burt Bacharach and his association with Dionne Warwick. Early life David ...

) (4.40) # "I May Be Wrong" (3.21) # "Ecstasy" (3.40) # "This Is It?" (6.01)

European edition

Side one # "Just What I Always Wanted" # "The End of the Affair" # "Are You There (With Another Girl)" # "Dr Love" # "Remember Me" # "Cry Me a River" Side two # "Wonderful (To Be With)" # "This Time Tomorrow" # "One Day Is a Lifetime" # "I May Be Wrong" # "(Beware) Boyfriend" (4.58) # "This Is It?"

US edition

Side one # "Just What I Always Wanted" # "The End of the Affair" # "One Day Is a Lifetime" # "Baby It's True" (4.35) # "Ecstacy" Side two # "Wonderful (To Be With)" # "Dr Love" # "(Beware) Boyfriend" # "Are You There (With Another Girl)" # "Cry Me a River"

Personnel

Tony Mansfield Tony Mansfield (born 19 January 1955) is an English songwriter, musician and record producer. Early work Mansfield was born in Wimbledon, London, and became best known as the main songwriter/producer for New Musik, a synthpop band that perfo ...

- producer *

Andrew Powell Andrew Powell (born 18 April 1949) is an English musical composer, arranger and performer, born of Welsh parents. He himself moved to Wales in 2003. Early life Powell was born Surrey, England. He began piano lessons at the age of four and late ...

- producer and arrangement on "Cry Me a River" *Teddy Johns - string arrangements *Tommy Masefield - programmer *Colin Ryan - guitar, bass *Mark Cunningham - bass *

Paul Bultitude Paul Bultitude is an English musician and record producer. He was the drummer in power pop band Advertising, working with his cousin Dennis Smith, Tot Taylor and Simon Boswell, before replacing Seb Shelton as the drummer in Secret Affair. He w ...

- drums *Keith Airey - strums and lead guitar *Rocky Holman - piano *Tot Taylor - backing vocals, piano, vibraphone, harp, clavichord, percussion, samples *Stewart Curtis - saxophone *Oscar Morse - saxophone *Lester Moses - saxophone on "Dr. Love" *Christopher Smith - trumpet, flugelhorn *Anne Stephenson, Virginia Hewes - violin *Hank B Hive, Jenny Hallet, John Cogan, Jules Fordham, Mari Wilson,

Melvyn J Taub Melvyn J Taub (born 7 September 1960) is a British, London-based tour and promotion manager and some-time pop/rock singer and actor, primarily known for his role as singer in 1980s bubblegum pop band The Jetset and as a part of Mari Wilson's to ...

- backing vocals

References

{{Authority control 1983 debut albums Mari Wilson albums London Records albums PolyGram albums