St Winifred's School Choir, from St Winifred's Roman Catholic Primary School in

Stockport Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here. Most of the town is within ...

, England, was a choir of children whose

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 ...

entitled " There's No One Quite Like Grandma" in 1980 became that year's British

Christmas number one single In the United Kingdom, Christmas number ones are singles that top the UK Singles Chart in the week in which Christmas Day falls. The singles have often been novelty songs, charity songs or songs with a Christmas theme. Historically, the volume ...

Career

Formation

The choir had formed in 1968 and been recording songs since 1972, when Foley played the guitar with the choir and the conductor was Miss Olive Moore. In 1978, they were the uncredited

backing vocalists A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

on the number one hit " Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs" by Brian and Michael (actually Kevin Parrott and Michael Coleman). The single concerned the paintings of L.S. Lowry and gave the choir their first appearance on the BBC One show '' Top of the Pops''.

"There's No One Quite Like Grandma"

Their first major single under their own name came in November 1979. During this time (in the late 1970s and the 1980s), Miss Terri Foley trained and conducted the choir. In 1980 the choir signed to Music for Pleasure, an EMI associated label also known as MFP and released "There's No One Quite Like Grandma" in time for the Christmas market. The song was written for the 80th birthday of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother in 1980 by award-winning record producer

Gordon Lorenz Gordon Albert Lorenz (4 March 1943 – 5 June 2011) was an English songwriter and record producer, who made his fame by writing the 1980 UK Christmas number one hit "There's No-one Quite Like Grandma" for St Winifred's School Choir. After the song ...

and sold one million copies, most of them Christmas presents from grandchildren. It spent two weeks at number one, and 11 weeks in the UK Singles Chart in total. It was also the only UK No. 1 single for the MFP record label. Over the next ten years they would release nine albums including in 1982, ''Christmas for Everyone''; and in 1986 ''Children's Party Time'', which included 32 arrangements of songs including ABBA's "

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" and "

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Recent work

In 1990, St. Winifred's School Choir teamed up with Ziba Banafsheh and recorded "A Better World" in aid of Mother Teresa of Calcutta's charity, for BMG's Ariola label. In 1993 they recorded the single " One Voice" with Bill Tarmey (better known as Jack Duckworth from ''

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''), but ended up being uncredited on the release. This

Barry Manilow Barry Manilow (born Barry Alan Pincus; June 17, 1943) is an American singer and songwriter with a career that spans seven decades. His hit recordings include "Could It Be Magic", " Somewhere Down the Road", " Mandy", "I Write the Songs", " Can ...

cover would be produced by Mike Stock and Pete Waterman from 1980s hitmaking production team S/A/W and would reach number 16 in the UK singles chart for Tarmey (and BMG's Arista label). In November 2009, 14 of the original choir members reunited to record a new version of "There's No One Quite Like Grandma" in association with Innocent Drinks to raise money for the Age Concern charity.

Notable members

One of the children who appeared on television in the 1980 recording was Sally Lindsay, who has gone on to become an actress, appearing in the

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soap opera ''

'' and the BBC sitcom '' The Royle Family''. Another,

Jennifer Hennessy Jennifer Hennessy (born Jennifer Hayes in 1970) is an English actress. She has made numerous television appearances, including as Mrs. Brazendale in the BBC TV series ''Lilies''. Hennessy trained for three years at the Central School of Speech ...

, is also a television actress and has appeared in the BBC drama ''

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'' and the BBC comedy '' The Office''.

References

External links

Lyrics of "There's No One Quite Like Grandma""''St Winifred's School Choir''"
- Article by the BBC.
Short video clip of the song
(requires RealPlayer)
Composer Gordon Lorenz
{{Authority control Choirs of children Music in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport Musical groups established in 1968 Musical groups from Greater Manchester English choirs