| Friday Brown | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Marian Stockley |
| Born | 18 February 1947 Manchester Lancashire England |
| Genres | Pop |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocals Guitar Piano |
| Years active | 1964-1984 |
| Labels | Fontana Phillips |
| Associated acts | Graham Gouldman Marianne ＆ Mike High Society |
| Website | The Friday Brown Archive |
Friday Brown is a singer-composer from the Walkden area of Manchester, England. She was active from the mid-1960s through to the mid-1980s, recording seven solo singles and one LP in the UK during her career Her most well-known record was the single "32nd Love Affair", which was co-written by Friday and her sister, Barbara Stockley. [ 1 ] She performed regularly on UK radio and television, and at venues across Britain and Europe. [ 2 ]
At the age of 15, Friday Brown, the daughter of a headmaster in Little Hulton, Manchester, was introduced to the Mike Taylor Combo group by one of its members, Wilf Lewis, a fellow student at Bolton College of Art. The band played at venues in Darwen and elsewhere in Lancashire, with Friday as their vocalist until they disbanded in 1965. Friday Brown left college to be auditioned at a Preston club and her first single, "As he Once was Mine", written by Wilf Lewis, was released in 1964, becoming a firm favourite with the BBC's Pete Murray (DJ). In this, her very first recording, she performed under the name 'Marianne', as part of a group known as Marianne and Mike, the other main participant being Mike Taylor. Later the same year the group released a second single, "You're the Only One". [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ]
In 1966 the singer-songwriter Graham Gouldman, along with Harvey Lisberg, the creator of Herman's Hermits, formed a new group known as High Society, which included Friday Brown, Peter Cowap, Christine Ebbrell and Keith Lawless. They issued "People Passing By", written by Goldman, accompanied by Phil Dennys, Clem Cattini of the The Tornadoes and John Paul Jones, later of Led Zeppelin. The song was later covered by Wayne Fontana on his 1966 solo album. [ 6 ] [ 7 ] Graham Gouldman, who became a member of the group 10cc, went on to create Strawberry Studios in Stockport, where Friday Brown made some of her later recordings.
In 1966 Brown also released the single "Getting Nowhere", this time under the name Friday Brown, the song having been written by Graham Gouldman, with "And (To Me He Meant Everything)" on the B-side, which was written by Brown and her sister Barbara Stockley, a schoolteacher. [ 3 ] The same year Brown went on a UK nationwide tour with a number of artists, including Herman's Hermits, The Mindbenders, Dave Berry and others. [ 8 ]
Friday's next single, "32nd Love Affair", also released in 1966, was described as 'having a dramatic arrangement and well-punched lyrics', which later made it popular in the realms of Northern Soul. This song was also co-written by Brown and her sister Barbara. [ 9 ] The following year Brown recorded a single of "Ask any Woman" and in 1969 released a cover version of " Stand by Your Man ", originally recorded by Tammy Wynette.
Early in her career, Friday appeared regularly on BBC radio, beginning with "Folk Room" and " Saturday Club (BBC radio) " in the mid-'60s, followed by "Late Night Extra" and "Follow the Stars", both with the BBC Northern Dance Orchestra, as well as "Night Ride" in the seventies. [ 10 ]
In 1966 she appeared several times on the Granada TV series "Scene". [ 8 ] By 1970 she acquired her own television show, "A Girl Called Friday", directed by George Adams and shown on ITV Tyne Tees, had appeared in " The Golden Shot " on Associated Television (ATV), which starred Bob Monkhouse, and on "The Stanley Baxter Show". She was said to be 'guested in just about every major television and radio show in Great Britain'. [ 2 ] [ 11 ] The same year, Friday recorded two shows for the BBC-2 series "One More Time" and in September sang on the "Show of the North" from BBC Glasgow. [ 12 ]
Brown continued to feature frequently on both national and local shows, including a programme of her own called "Reflections", with the guest group Fivepenny Piece, in which she performed her own composition "If I were a Sailing Ship", accompanied by the augmented BBC Northern Dance Orchestra. [ 13 ]
By 1972 she was performing in 'her own six-week show, singing what comes naturally in "Tuesday Night is Friday Night" on BBC-1 (North West)', claiming at the time that she had 'often been mistaken for a coloured (sic) blues singer'. [ 14 ] [ 15 ]
Other TV appearances included BBC TV's " The Two Ronnies ", the BBC's North West show "Wait While" and a special 1975 BBC production of her own, called "Castle Concert". [ 17 ]
Friday performed at the 10th European Song Cup contest at Knokke-le-Zoute, Belgium, along with other Philips label entrants, including Marty Wilde and Wayne Fontana, winning the final on 18 July, 1968. Seen by over 85 million viewers via Eurovision, it was said that 'she tore into 'God Bless the Child' and the casino audience was spellbound, a white version of Aretha Franklin.' and that 'Friday, in fact, was the first winner asked to do two songs at the end of the Final instead of one.' [ 18 ] [ 19 ] [ 20 ] [ 21 ] [ 22 ]
In 1969 she was asked to appear at the Golden Rose Festival at Montreux. At the time, it was said that she was 'a self-taught guitarist and has the ability of being able to master almost any instrument in a matter of hours'. The same year saw the release of a special record entitled "Philips Artists at the Golden Rose of Montreux", which included her singing " Stand by Your Man " and "I Want the Rain" (a variation of the title "I Want to Rain), which she also performed that year on " The Golden Shot " TV show. [ 23 ] [ 24 ]
Her career in European music festivals continued in 1970, when she won the "Polish Day" contest at the 10th Sopot International Song Festival, Poland, on August 28, with the song "Be With Me", the words written by her as an interpretation of a Polish song, the music having been arranged by Brian Fitzgerald, deputy conductor of the BBC Northern Dance Orchestra. She was awarded 15,000 Zloty (£300) as the 'most outstanding artiste of the 30 competing nations' and was the 'first western singer ever to be awarded the top prize'. [ 12 ] [ 25 ] [ 26 ] [ 27 ] [ 28 ]
In 1971 she starred at the Split Song Festival in Yugoslavia, where she 'sang the last verse of her partner's song, 'Plovi Brode Moj' in Yugoslav, which she had to learn phonetically in a short time'. [ 29 ] [ 30 ]
Her last performance in Europe was at Rostock in 1978, at that time in East Germany, where she sang at the Rostock International Song Festival, which had a theme of "People and Sea". [ 31 ]
Friday Brown released her LP, "Friday Brown" (Philips 6308 074), produced by Peter Knight (composer), in 1971. It was well-received, with the NME saying that she 'makes them [the songs] fresh, giving each song a new meaning'. [ 32 ] [ 33 ] Of the songs written by Friday for this album, "Once I was a Sailing Ship" was also performed by the singer Val Doonican, appearing on his 1970 album "The Many Moods of Val Doonican" and his 1972 album "Morning has Broken". [ 34 ]
Along with her television and radio shows, which, by 1981 had amounted to 111 entries in the Radio Times, she also performed at live venues, such as the London Savoy hotel during 1972 and 1973, as well as "The Val Doonican" Show at the Empire Theatre, Liverpool, in October 1972. [ 35 ] [ 36 ] [ 37 ] [ 38 ]
In September 1973 she released her version of " A Groovy Kind of Love ", which was said to be a 'low-key, but effective performance' and 'ludicrously under-rated'. [ 39 ]
Her earlier song "The Outdoor Seminar", written with her sister Barbara, and originally released in 1967, was reissued in 2013 on "Piccadilly Sunshine, Vol. 12: British Pop Psych and Other Flavours 1967-1971". [ 40 ]
Later in her career, in 1978, she contributed as a vocalist to the album "The Eye of Wendor" by Mandalaband, of whom Graham Gouldman was also a member. [ 41 ]
©Ray White 2015.