Songs for a Sunday - 29.11.09

As this is my first SFAS outing since my return from India I thought it would be nice to include a song from someone who was born there.  As this song is a duet, I'll cover the background of both artists in turn.

One half of this duet was born Harry Rodger Webb in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh in 1940.  He was in the Quintones and Dick Teague Skiffle Group before forming Harry Webb and The Drifters who evolved into his group The Shadows.  He is the United Kingdom's most successful all-time solo artist; he has won endless awards and sold over 100 million records around the world.  He has had 70 UK Top 10s including 14 UK number ones, and nearly 40 Top 10 LPs.  He fortunes in America, however, have been comparatively poor, with only 3 Top 10 songs, none of which reached the coveted numero uno  He was given an OBE in 1980 and knighted by the Queen in 1995, has made several hit films, had his own TV series and holds the record for the most appearances on the BBC's Top of the Pops (over 80!). He is also the only artist alongside Elvis Presley who had scored hits in Britain in every decade since the 1950s.

The other half of this duo was formerly the younger sibling in the Everly Brothers, who was born in Chicago in 1939.  His partnership with his brother Don became one of the most familiar acts of the Rock n' Roll era, with equal success in the UK and the USA.  Following an acrimonious split with Don in the early 70s he tried his hand at solo work, with limited achievements in his native America.  In the early 80s, therefore, he relocated to the UK and lived in London for a time.  It was then that his first chart successes for 18 years would come to fruition, starting with the record that is today's SFAS choice.

My chosen song reached number 9 in the UK Top 40 chart in the late winter of this particular year, though was never released as a single in either Europe or the United States.

Ladies and gentlemen, from February 1983, I give you Cliff Richard and Phil Everly singing 'She Means Nothing to Me'.