They Don't Know About Us
And They've Never Heard Of Love
Starting off as Mandy Doubt as a backing singer for r&b/punk band The Drug Addix (originally called The Tooting Frooties) in 1978. The bands E.P. 'Make A Record' was released on Independent label Chiswick Records.
They were:
- Vocals/ Guitar - Art Nouveau (real name George Lloyd)
- Drums - Ron Griffin
- Bass - Alan Offa
- Vocals - Mandy Doubt (real name Kirsty MacColl)
- Vocals - Sterling Silver (real name Rick Smith)
They were hopefuls trying to make it successful, but when the single hit Dave Robinson's desk at Stiff Records he was more taken with Kirsty's vocals than the rest of the band and she was snapped up. Stiff were impressed with her vocals and song writing abilities and it wasn't long before she cut her own record.
Bunch Of Stiffs
'They Don't Know' (the original at the link) was released on the Stiff label in '79 as BUY 47. Sadly buying didn't happen as a strike by distributors halted it from making the record shops and also disagreements between her and Stiff Records leading to perhaps less promotion than it deserved.
By strange chance, Tracey Ullman T.V. Star appearing in 'A Kick Up The Eighties' and 'Three Of A Kind' decided to have a crack at making a record and so, signed up with Stiff Records as well. She evidently loved 'They Don't Know' so much she resurrected it, put her own spin on it and topped it off with a fantastic comedic video. It reached the dizzy heights of #2 in the UK in 1983. Oddly enough Kirsty sang backing vocals on the single!
Elvis Has Left The Chip Shop
Kirsty decided after her second release to quit Stiff and signed up to major label Polydor Records to release her third single 'There's A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis' in 1981 which reached #14 in the UK Charts. Interestingly when released by Polydor Records in Spain it was entitled 'Hay Un Chico Que Trabaja En La Tienda De Patatas Fritas Que Jura Que Es Elvis' ...as if the title wasn't a mouth full enough for the British version!
....As opposed to there's A Guy In Romford Market Swears He's Elvis, have a check it out at the link!
She hit the highs with a cover of Billy Bragg's 'A New England' in 1985 which reached #7 in the Charts.
Big Names & Famous Dad
Her brilliance shone everywhere, she did vocals for The Smith's with their single 'Ask', with the Happy Monday's on 'Hallelujah', involvement on tracks by big names such as Simple Minds, Big Country, Alison Moyet, the list goes on. She also appeared on T.V. featuring in comedy sketch show 'French & Saunders'.
Obviously she had a massive hit with 'Fairytale Of New York' with The Pogues which reached #2 in the Charts in 1987. Oddly enough The Pogues song 'Dirty Old Town' which was released in 1985 was originally written by Ewan MacColl (Kirsty's Dad) all the way back in 1949 and was covered by many other bands including The Dubliners. He also wrote 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face' all the way back in 1957, again it was originally a folk song but was covered by Roberta Flack in 1972 becoming a massive hit for her.
Kirsty MacColl has a bench in Soho Square London with a plaque which reads... 'One Day I'll Be Waiting There. No Empty Bench In Soho Square'.
Remembering her great voice, lyrics and music.
Video Thanks To
Photo by Metin Ozer on Unsplash