KATHY KIRBY

[john]

WHAT A SUPERB VOICE KATHY KIRBY HAS. SHE SANG SOME FABULOUS SONGS INCLUDING A COVER OF DORIS DAY'S SECRET LOVE, DANCE ON AND MATT'S WHERE IN THE WORLD. WHAT A PITY SHE DOESN'T PERFORM ANYMORE, THERE HAVE BEEN A COUPLE OF CD'S RELEASED IN THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS OF HER RARER SONGS, WOULD BE NICE TO HAVE A DVD AVAILABLE, PERHAPS THIS MAY COME IN THE FUTURE, THERE ARE A FEW CLIPS ON YOUTUBE

[ROBERT M.]

Yes john, one of the clips of Kathy on Youtube is her appearance on the "Wheel tappers Club" from the 1970's, she had a great voice, very powerful. You are obviously a big fan john

[Mark Fox]

WHAT A SUPERB VOICE KATHY KIRBY HAS. SHE SANG SOME FABULOUS SONGS INCLUDING A COVER OF DORIS DAY'S SECRET LOVE, DANCE ON AND MATT'S WHERE IN THE WORLD. WHAT A PITY SHE DOESN'T PERFORM ANYMORE, THERE HAVE BEEN A COUPLE OF CD'S RELEASED IN THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS OF HER RARER SONGS, WOULD BE NICE TO HAVE A DVD AVAILABLE, PERHAPS THIS MAY COME IN THE FUTURE, THERE ARE A FEW CLIPS ON YOUTUBE

She lives the life of a virtual recluse nowadays.
A friend of mine used to drive her from gig to gig in the early days.A TV company recently commisioned a biography/filmof her life but I think it was shelved.
Amanda Holden was to play her.

[michduncg]

Like Matt, Kathy also represented her country in the Eurovision, and was favourite to win it in 1965. However, 'we was robbed' again, this time by the Luxembourgers and the confusingly named France Gall, singing a song written by a certain Serge Gainsbourg. You can see clips of Kathy belting out 'I belong' at youTube.

I happened to see a UK Gold tv broadcast of Wheeltappers recently, with Kathy on it, and she was indeed a fantastic singer. I had heard of her years ago, when Jimmy Saville used to do charts of the 50s & 60s on Sunday afternoon, and thought what a fantastic voice she had. There is still a lot of interest in her, and I think her biography was recently released. There was also talk of BBC3 or 4 doing a documentary on her, in a similar vein to the one that they did about Fanny Craddock - lets hope they are a bit kinder to Kathy! It was to be Amanda Holden that played her but then she was worried that nobody would know who Kathy Kirby was!

[ROBERT M.]

Thats a bit odd Mike, Amanda Holden worried that nobody would know who KK was Well, if she TOOK the lead role in the documentary, people WOULD find out who KK was.

[Administrator]

You might be interested to know that Kathy is our guest of the month in November.

[michduncg]

Excellent news - Kathy is often overlooked, and deserves more recognition! Watching that Eurovision footage on YouTube, you can see that she was very glamourous and expressive performer. She had just beaten off Dusty Springfield, Pet Clarke and Cilla Black (?!) to be named 'Top British Female Vocalist' in 1964

[mariana44]

Hi all-I think that is a bit steep of Amanda Holden to think that maybe no-one had heard of Kathy Kirby--I think there are probably many people out there who have not heard of Amanda Holden !!!

Marian

[ROBERT M.]

Well said Marian, by the way who is Amanda Holden??

[Mark Fox]

Well said Marian, by the way who is Amanda Holden??

Les Dennis'ex.

[mariana44]

Hi Mark--I think that Robert and I both did know that--we were just being a little sarcastic !!!

Marian

[michduncg]

Wow - has anyone read the 'Spotlight on Kathy Kirby' feature this month? Its a very honest and revealing resume of the seemingly sad and tragic life Kathy has lead for the last 30 or so years.

You read of the way that many stars have complicated or tragic lives (Doris Day and Connie Frances spring to mind, and I am sure that you will have many other examples). Sometimes people bring these on themselves but often it is because they are inexperienced and inappropriately trust others. But Kathy's seems to have been particularly turbulent. I hope that any future attention she may get is a kinder to her, and that this months feature is a reassurance that there are still people out here who appreciate her for the talented singer that she was and probably still is.

[ROBERT M.]

Just read the Spotlight On "Kathy Kirby" and what a life of ups and downs, (mainly downs) for poor Kathy. But her unusual showbiz story would make for a tremendous documentary or feature film. To think Amanda Holden rejected being Kathy in a planned film?? it would have made Amanda a bigger star than she is now!!!! P.S. What a great photo of Kathy in the green dress, fabulous or even stunning

[mariana44]

Hi Robert---funnily enough-I was going to say the same thing---her story would make a very interesting and moving film---although maybe people would think it was too farfetched-----but truth is stranger than fiction!!

I think Amanda Holden made a big, big mistake in refusing to play the part of Kathy Kirby. And Kathy always looked beautiful--a look of Marilyn Monroe I always thought--but with a better voice !!

[Hilary]

Hi All,

I too have just read about Kathy and her very sad life.
I suppose this is the downside of show business and this is a good example of how bad things can get.

The part that I found the most upsetting was this. Kathy was on stage and someone in the audience shouted out to her, something about losing her baby!! How cruel is that for goodness sake.

Let's hope there is a film made of her life as it would certainly be very interesting to watch and who knows, maybe the lady herself could be persuaded to come out of retirement for all her fans!