Sharon O'Neill

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Sharon O'Neill

Background information
Birth name Sharon Lea O'Neill
Born November 23, 1952 (1952-11-23) (age 55)
Nelson, South Island, New Zealand
Genre(s) Rock, Pop
Occupation(s) Singer, Musician, Songwriter
Instrument(s) vocals, guitar, piano
Years active 1970-present
Label(s) Sony, Polydor
Website Official Site

Sharon O'Neill (born Sharon Lea O'Neill[1] on 23 November 1952 in Nelson, New Zealand) is a singer-songwriter and pianist from New Zealand, best known for her 1983 hit single "Maxine".

Contents

[edit] Biography

O'Neill began her career in the 1970s in her home country, then gained major success in Australia with the hit "Words" and the subsequent singles "How Do You Talk to Boys?" (#16, 1980), "Maybe"(#18, 1981), "Losing You"(#8, 1983), and "Power" (#23, 1984).(Chart positions are for Melbourne only.)[2]

The early 1980s proved her most commercially successful period, performing the soundtrack to the 1981 film "Smash Palace", and with the Foreign Affairs album in 1983 spawning her biggest hit "Maxine" (#17, 1983 Melbourne)[2]. A legal battle with her then record company Sony caused a delay in her career. During the enforced hiatus, O'Neill wrote songs for ABC TV series Sweet and Sour (1984) including the title song performed by Deborah Conway (later recorded by O'Neill as In Control)[1] and Glam to Wham[1].

In 1987 Sharon returned with arguably her best album (if under-rated at the time) Danced in the Fire on Polygram which featured some biographical songs about the legal wrangles with Sony.

O'Neill's last album of new material, Edge of Winter, was released in 1990. A mature work, two singles were taken from this album, "Satin Sheets" and "Poster Girl", both of which failed to find chart success.

She all but disappeared from the music scene until 2001 when she toured as a guest artist with New Zealand female act, When the Cat's Away. In 2005 she toured Australia as a support act for Leo Sayer and for the first time a comprehensive collection of her greatest hits was released on CD. In 2006 and early 2007 O'Neill again toured Australia supporting Leo Sayer.

In August / September 2007 Sharon toured as part of the 'Countdown Spectacular 2' shows Australia-wide[3] and toured Australia and New Zealand on The Let It Be Tour (The Beatles tribute show) in November / December 2007.[4]

[edit] Discography

[edit] Singles

  • Luck's On Your Table
  • Take The Sailor From The Sea
  • Lately I'm Your Lady
  • Words
  • Asian Paradise
  • How Do you Talk To Boys
  • Maybe
  • For All The Tea In China
  • Waiting For You
  • Losing You
  • Maxine
  • Danger
  • Power
  • Physical Favours
  • Danced In The Fire
  • We're Only Human
  • Satin Sheets
  • Poster Girl
  • Water For The Flowers

[edit] Albums

  • This Heart This Song
    Edge of Winter (1990)
    Edge of Winter (1990)
  • Sharon O'Neill
  • Words
  • Maybe
  • Foreign Affairs
  • So Far ('best of' compilation)
  • Smash Palace (soundtrack)
  • How Do You Do
  • Danced In The Fire
  • Edge of Winter
  • Live In Paradise (with When The Cats Away)
  • The Best Of Sharon O'Neill

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Australasian Performing Right Association. APRA. Retrieved on 2007-07-27.
  2. ^ a b Guest, Thomas J. (1991). Thirty Years Of Hits (1960-1990). Collingwood, Melbourne, Australia: M. J. Moloney. ISBN 0-646-04633-0. 
  3. ^ The Countdown Spectacular. Frontier Touring Co.. Retrieved on 2007-07-27.
  4. ^ The Let It Be Tour entry on Sharon O'Neill. Xazz Media Group. Retrieved on 2007-09-23.

[edit] External links


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