Sandie Shaw (born 26 February 1947) is an English pop singer, who was one of the most successful British female singers of the 1960s. In 1967 she was the first British act to win the Eurovision Song Contest. She has been described as "the barefoot pop princess of the 1960s".

She announced her retirement from music in April 2013.

Biography

Early life and career

Sandra Ann Goodrich was born and brought up in Dagenham, Essex, England. On leaving school, she worked at the nearby Ford Dagenham factory, and did some part-time modelling before coming second as a singer in a local talent contest. As a prize, she appeared at a charity concert in London, where her potential was spotted by singer Adam Faith. He introduced her to his manager, Eve Taylor, who won her a contract with Pye Records in 1964 and gave her the stage name of "Sandie Shaw".

Taylor teamed Shaw with songwriter Chris Andrews, who wrote her first single, "As Long as You're Happy Baby", which failed to make the charts. However, for her second single Taylor gave her the Bacharach and David song "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me", which had been a No. 49 US pop hit for singer Lou Johnson. Shaw's version rose quickly to No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart in the autumn of 1964, and also charted in the United States at No. 52 on the Billboard Hot 100 early the following year. "I'd Be Far Better Off Without You" was issued as the follow-up, but DJs preferred its B-side, "Girl Don't Come", also written by Andrews, and the sides were switched. "Girl Don't Come" reached No. 3 in the UK and became her biggest US hit, reaching No. 42. It was followed by further hits in the UK including "I'll Stop at Nothing", "Long Live Love", her second UK No. 1 in 1965, and "Message Understood". The singles were produced by Taylor, Andrews and Shaw herself (though she was never credited), with help from Pye Records arranger Ken Woodman.

Me is the second album by 1960s British girl singer Sandie Shaw. It was released by Pye Records in November 1965, just eight months after her debut, but unfortunately did not follow its success - though her singles were still selling well. Since the release of the Sandie album, Shaw had gained another three UK Top 10 hits - "I'll Stop at Nothing," the Number One "Long Live Love" and "Message Understood," all of which had been written by Chris Andrews. As with the previous album, Me contained a mixture of Chris Andrews-penned material and cover versions of songs by other artists, as well as a track written by Shaw herself. However the balance of original and remade material was different this time - half of the twelve tracks were written by Andrews, as opposed to the third on the Sandie album, one track by Shaw, and five songs by other artists. Me was later re-issued as a package with Sandie on CD in the 1990s on the RPM label, and then again in digitally remastered format by EMI in 2005 with bonus French versions of "Down Dismal Ways" and "Too Bad You Don't Want Me."