The Avons

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Avons was British pop music vocal group composed of Valerie Murtagh, born in 1936 at Willesden, London, England and Elaine Murtagh, who was born in 1940 at County Cork, Eire and these sisters-in-law were originally known on stage as The Avon Sisters. They then added Raymond S. Adams who came from Jersey, Channel Islands and changed their name to The Avons.

[edit] Brief biography

The two sisters-in-law Valerie Murtagh from London and Eileen, known as Elaine Murtagh from Cork performed as The Avon Sisters at the 1958 BBC Radio Exhibition in the Olympia Exhibition Halls at Earls Court, London where they were heard by Norrie Paramor who signed them to the UK Columbia Records label.

[edit] Biggest hit

Their first recording was with the Mudlarks and their cover version of Witch Doctor and following this they added Ray Adams who came from the Channel Islands and shortened their name from The Avon Sisters to The Avons. Their first release in 1959 was a cover version of Paul Evans' song Seven Little Girls Sitting In The Back Seat. This record reached number 3 when it entered the British Top 20 and stayed on the chart for thirteen weeks.

The Avons had three other chart entries in the Top 50, but they never achieved the same success as their first record. The group also recorded for the Decca and Fontana labels. The Avons had been approached to perform the song Pickin' Petals in the UK heat of the 1960 Eurovision Song Contest but the participation was cancelled due to a European Broadcasting Union rule that trios could not compete in Eurovision!

Valerie Murtagh became a successful writer and remained involved with the British music business. She wrote the UK entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 1974, Long Live Love performed by Olivia Newton-John.

There is also an american 1950s Doo-wop group of that name. Biggest hit: "Baby"