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Almost every record that Carol Deene made
now seems to be a cover version. This isn't really true, but
she certainly took her fair share from other singers- no less
than three were covers of American singer Sue Thompson, but she
also covered Linda Scott and Joanie Sommers as well as fellow
UK artist Valerie Mountain. Her later releases were all originals,
but by then the hits had stopped; so perhaps the cover formula
was a winning one. Arguably, Carol's covers were every bit as
good as the originals- if not better. In my opinion, Carol's
version of "Some People" was, indeed, superior to the
original which was taken from the sound track of the moving picture
of the same name. |
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Most people who are old enough will remember
her rendition of Norman- "Norman, Ooohoohoohoo!". It's
absolutely for sure that anybody called Norman will recall it
because doubtless they would have had it sung for their benefit
at the time. So despite the fact that Carol had pinched the song
from Sue Thompson and that BBC TV's "Juke Box Jury"
gave it a resounding "raspberry", Carol made it her
own- very much stamping it with her personality. In fact the
lowly chart placing that Carol achieved with "Norman' probably
does not properly reflect its popularity as it received a lot
of airplay and was picked up vocally by almost anybody that had
a Norman in earshot who they could victimise! Sue Thompson's
version of the song sank almost without trace in the UK but she
did scrape consolation from minor chart entries with "Sad
Movies" and "Paper Tiger"- the latter of which
appears to have escaped Miss Deene's notice. |
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It looked as if Carol might have a lengthy
show business career and she secured herself a programme slot
on Radio Luxembourg where she brought her bubbly personality
to a spot of DJing alongside other stalwarts of the "Station
Of The Stars" like Barry Alldis and Jimmy Saville. Sadly,
Carol's show business aspirations came to an abrupt halt during
1966 when she was involved in a serious motor accident. She eventually
recovered from this and began regularly touring the northern
clubs, but suffered in yet a second car crash in 1974. Despite
this set back she began recording again in 1979, however the
resulting discs did not receive much promotion and she eventually
dropped out of foreground 'pop'. Perhaps, one day we'll once
again hear "Norman, Ooohoohoohoo!" sung by Carol on
the 1960s nostalgia circuit, but there's little sign of that
happening. Nevertheless, at the time of writing, Carol is still
involved in the entertainment business and presumably putting
her Luxembourg experience to good use, because she has forgone
her beloved Yorkshire for the warmth of Spain where she manages
a radio station with her husband. |
