St Winifred's School Choir, from St Winifred's Roman Catholic Primary School in
Stockport
Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt, Rivers Goyt and River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame merge to create the River Mersey he ...
,
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...
, England, was a
choir
A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...
of children whose
single entitled "
There's No One Quite Like Grandma
"There's No One Quite Like Grandma" is a song by the Stockport-based primary school choir St Winifred's School Choir, released as a single in November 1980. It was number-one on the UK Singles Chart from 21 December 1980 to 3 January 1981. The ...
" in 1980 became that year's British
Christmas number one single
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...
.
Career
Formation
The choir had formed in 1968 and been recording songs since 1972, when Miss Terri Foley played the guitar with the choir and the conductor was Miss Olive Moore. In 1978, they were the uncredited
backing vocalists on the number one hit "
Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs" by
Brian and Michael
Brian and Michael were a British music duo best known for their 1978 UK number one hit single, " Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs". Without further chart entries, they remain one-hit wonders in the UK. They comprised two members: M ...
(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
''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...
''.
"There's No One Quite Like Grandma"
Their first major single under their own name came in November 1979. During this time, 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
"There's No One Quite Like Grandma" is a song by the Stockport-based primary school choir St Winifred's School Choir, released as a single in November 1980. It was number-one on the UK Singles Chart from 21 December 1980 to 3 January 1981. The ...
" in time for the Christmas market. The song was written for the 80th birthday of
Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother
Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was List of British royal consorts, Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of K ...
in 1980 by record producer
Gordon Lorenz and sold one million copies, most of them Christmas presents from grandchildren. It spent two weeks at
number one, and 11 weeks on 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
ABBA ( ) were a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. They are one of the most popular and successful musical groups of all time, and are one of the List ...
's "
Waterloo" and "
Dancing Queen
"Dancing Queen" is a song by the Swedish group ABBA, released as the lead single from their fourth studio album, '' Arrival'' (1976). It was written by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and Stig Anderson. Andersson and Ulvaeus also produced the ...
".
1990s–2000s
In 1990, St Winifred's School Choir teamed up with Ziba Banafsheh and recorded "A Better World" in aid of
Mother Teresa of Calcutta
Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu (born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu, ; 26 August 1910 – 5 September 1997), better known as Mother Teresa or Saint Mother Teresa, was an Albanian-Indian Catholic Church, Roman Catholic nun, founder of the Missionaries of ...
's charity, for BMG's Ariola label. In 1993, they recorded the single "
One Voice" with
Bill Tarmey (better known as
Jack Duckworth from ''
Coronation Street
''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...
''), but ended up being uncredited on the release.
This
Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow ( ; born Barry Alan Pincus on June 17, 1943) is an American singer, songwriter and record producer with a career that spans over sixty years. His hit recordings include "Could It Be Magic", "Looks Like We Made It", "Brandy (Scott ...
cover would be produced by
Mike Stock and
Pete Waterman
Peter Alan Waterman (born 15 January 1947) is an English record producer, songwriter, and television personality. As a member of the Stock Aitken Waterman production and songwriting team, he co-wrote and co-produced many UK hit singles. An av ...
from 1980s hitmaking production team
S/A/W and would reach number 16 on 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
Age Concern is the banner title used by several charitable organisations specifically concerned with the needs and interests of all older people (defined as those over the age of 50) based chiefly in the four countries of the United Kingdom.
I ...
charity.
Notable members
One of the children who appeared on
television
Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
in the 1980 recording was
Sally Lindsay
Sally Jane Lindsay (born 8 July 1973) is an English actress and television presenter. She rose to fame playing Shelley Unwin in the long-running ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street'' (2001–2006). Her other roles include Lisa Johnson in the Sky ...
, who has gone on to become an actress, appearing in the
ITV soap opera
A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...
''
Coronation Street
''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...
'' and the
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
sitcom
A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...
''
The Royle Family
''The Royle Family'' is a British sitcom produced by Granada Television for the BBC, which ran for three series from 1998 to 2000, and specials from 2006 to 2012. It centres on the lives of a television-fixated Manchester family, the Royles, com ...
''. Another,
Jennifer Hennessy, is also a television actress and has appeared in the BBC
drama
Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...
''
Doctor Who
''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...
'' and the BBC
comedy
Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium.
Origins
Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...
''
The Office
''The Office'' is the title of several mockumentary sitcoms based on a British series originally created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant as '' The Office'' in 2001. The original series also starred Gervais as manager and primary charac ...
''.
See also
*
Brian and Michael
Brian and Michael were a British music duo best known for their 1978 UK number one hit single, " Matchstalk Men and Matchstalk Cats and Dogs". Without further chart entries, they remain one-hit wonders in the UK. They comprised two members: M ...
*
Claire and Friends - another group featuring St Winifred's School Choir members and a connection to Brian and Michael
References
External links
Lyrics of "There's No One Quite Like Grandma""''St Winifred's School Choir''"- Article by the
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
.
Short video clip of the song(requires
RealPlayer
RealPlayer, formerly RealAudio Player, RealOne Player and RealPlayer G2, is a cross-platform media player (software), media player app, developed by RealNetworks. The media player is compatible with numerous container file formats of the multimed ...
)
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
Music for Pleasure (record label) artists
English child singers