Maureen Evans

[Jk]

Hi Martin, Hope this helps you a bit.
Best wishes
John.

Maureen Evans Real Name: Maureen Evans
Birth Date: 23rd March 1940
Birth Place: Cardiff


Maureen Evans was drawn towards the stage while still in her childhood and had sung in several stage shows before beginning her recording career. This began as a session singer with the 'budget' label on which Woolworth's stores sold music, "Embassy". Although this label has been neglected by collectors- making it difficult to be sure that I have a complete listing of her output- all the recordings were well made covers of chart hits by a great variety of other artists. However, she later transferred to Embassy's sister label- the small 'independent' Oriole on which she cut more original material, including her famous hits.

Maureen made many stage and TV appearances. Her style was always polished and professional but, despite her wonderful singing voice, she never quite broke through into the top flight of UK singing stars. During 1963, she hoped to sing the song "Pick The Petals" in the Eurovision song contest. Unfortunately the song was voted third in the qualifying heats and the prize went to Ronnie Carroll with "Say Wonderful Things" which ultimately came 4th in the contest.

Although Maureen's output on singles was quite prolific, she has only this one EP credited her which is rather disappointing- though perhaps making its title rather apt. However, with the possible exception of the title track, Maureen's fans will find the songs it carries are not melancholic at all.
Although she transferred to the CBS record label during the latter half of the 1960s, her chart prospects slowly faded and eventually she retired from foreground pop music. However, she never lost her love of show business and at the time of writing she could still be found teaching others in stagecraft at her drama school- based in her beloved home city, Cardiff.


1950s & 1960s 45rpm UK Discograp


Embassy WB300 1958 Stupid Cupid/Carolina Moon
Embassy WB303 1958 Fever/Born Too Late
Embassy WB309 1958 Hula Hoop Song/ Hoopa Hoola
Embassy WB313 1958 I'll Get By/Someday (You'll Want Me To Want You)
Embassy WB316 1958 You Always Hurt The One You Love/The Day The Rains Came
Embassy WB319 1958 Kiss Me Honey Honey Kiss Me/To Know Him Is To Love Him
Embassy WB344 1959 May You Always/Goodbye Jimmy Goodbye
Embassy WB348 1959 Lipstick On Your Collar/ What A Diff'rence A Day Made
Embassy WB356 1959 Broken Hearted Melody/Plenty Good Lovin'
Embassy WB371 1959 Among My Souvenirs/Happy Anniversary
Oriole CB1517 1959 Don't Want The Moonlight/The Years Between
Oriole CB1533 1960 The Big Hurt/I Can't Begin To Tell You #26
Oriole CB1540 1960 Love Kisses And Heartaches/We Just Couldn't Say Goodbye #44
Oriole CB1550 1960 Paper Roses/Please Understand #40
Oriole CB1563 1961 Mama Wouldn't Like It/My Little Corner Of The World Oriole CB1578 1961 As Long As He Needs Me/Where Is Love
Oriole CB1581 1961 Till/Why Don't You Believe Me
Oriole CB1613 1962 My Foolish Heart/Oh Gipsy Oh Gipsy
Oriole CB1743 1962 Never In A Million Years/We Had Words
Oriole CB1760 1962 Like I Do/Starlight Starbright #3
Oriole CB1804 1963 Pick The Petals/Melancholy Me
Oriole CB1851 1963 Oh What A Guy/What A Difference A Day Made
Oriole CB1875 1963 As You Love Her/Like You Used To Do
Oriole CB1906 1964 I Love How You Love Me/John John #34
Oriole CB1939 1964 Don't Believe Him/He Knows I Love Him Too Much
Oriole CB1969 1964 Get Away/I've Often Wondered
CBS 201733 1965 All The Angels Sing/Speak Sugar Speak
CBS 201752 1965 Never Let Him Go/Poco Sole
CBS 202621 1967 Somewhere There's Love/It Takes A Little Time
CBS 3222 1968 I Almost Called Your Name/Searching For Home

[Graham Bunn]

First of all Martin it's nice to see you back on the "Message Board again.
Just to add a little more to what has already been said relating to Maureen Evans.
Her biggest hit was "Like I Do" lyrics were added to an already known tune,in fact at a later date Alan Sherman used it for his hit recording of "Hello Muddah Hello Fadduh".

Maureen Evans had a great voice which was easily recognisable but I would not say that it was like Rubys.

At this time the various Recording Companys had artists under contract and they all recorded the same songs hoping for that hit.....for example Alma cogan who recorded for H.M.V records put out a version of "Softly Softly"

Maureen Evans reorded for Oriole Records and did record "My Little Corner Of The World"(not sure about "Goodbye Jimmy Goodbye")

The only singer who I think came a little close to sounding like Ruby was a pretty girl singer by the name of Edna Savage.

Edna recorded for Parlaphone records and did in fact record "Evermore"

Due to Rubys popularity I think Edna was groomed in the Ruby fashion and when listening to her sing there are certain notes which really have you believing that you are listeneing to Ruby singing.

Edna did change her recording label and went over to the Columbia label
where she did have some success dueting with the wonderful Michael Holliday.

However in a show I once saw Joan Regan and in her act Joan did impressions of the singers of the day and her impression of Ruby was the best ever.

Gosh just look at all the wonderful singers that I have mentioned makes you think what has gone wrong with the music business or perhaps I am just getting too old for change.

Best Wishes

[Jk]

Hi Graham, I just read your message, I don’t agree with you about Edna Savage being a bit like Ruby, she was not in the same league. Edna Savage came from Warrington, and was married to singer Terry Dene for a while, that was until he thumped her on stage one night and give her a black eye. She also did a summer season in Blackpool at the same time as Ruby, Edna on the central pier and Ruby on the north pier, there was some trouble over Edna copying Ruby’s dress, and made front page headlines in the morning papers.

[Graham Bunn]

Hi John,
This was only my opinion and I shall not change my mind from what I said.
There can only ever be one Ruby and I did indicate that only on certain notes would you think that it was Ruby singing.

The dress item really only goes to prove what I was saying that they were trying to make her as much like Ruby as possible.
It seems John that we have a friendly difference of opinion

Best Wishes

[Jk]

Graham, I am in hot water all over hear, about an hour ago I put an Edna Savage record on, and Kathleen "My Wife" said,oh she sounds like Ruby Murray.

[David]

I have seen the Edna Savage CD on Vocalion, but I did not know anything about her. Thanks to this board, I think I will need to purchase it. If she sounds even a little like Ruby than she must have been good.

What songs was she most known for? Also, how long-lived was her career?

[Jk]

Hello David. She had a hit in Jan 1956 and it went to No 19 in the charts with "Arrivederci Darling" I have that on my computer, let me know if you would like it. send me your email By PM
By the way Graham and David I have just made an appointment for Kathleen to have her ears syringed, Mmmmmmmmmmm

[MARTIN FOSTER]

Hi guys,

Thank you for all your replies re Maureen Evans and also Edna Savage. I knew I could rely on you all.

I am getting some recordings of both Edna and Maureen so I am looking forward to listening to them and reaching my own conclusions. I am sure both are excellent.

Thanks again.

Martin.

[Graham Bunn]

Martin and others who may be interested in Maureen Evans,she does have a C.D which is still available details are as follows

Title......"Like I Do"

Marginal Records CDMAR065

Contains 31 tracks all are credited to Maureen( however two are by Susan Maughan don't know how she got in on the C.D obviously an error on the recording companys part).

It's a very enjoyable C.D.

Best Wishes

[David]

Marginal CDs can be difficult to find. However, eBay is a good source. In fact, I just purchased a copy of Maureen's CD from that site. Another site that offers this particular CD is www.gemm.com, although the prices for it are a bit higher than what I found on eBay. This is not always the case with GEMM, but in this instance it is.

For those who are not familiar with GEMM, it is a site where dealers from all over the world post vinyl, CDs, etc. for sale. It is an excellent source for hard-to-find items.

[David]

The link I just provided for GEMM is incorrect, and will not work if you click on it. I accidentally included a comma in place of a period. The following should work: www.gemm.com.