Sharon O'Neill

Sharon O'Neill
Birth name Sharon Lea O'Neill
Born 23 November 1952 (1952-11-23) (age 59)
Nelson, South Island, New Zealand
Genres Rock, Pop, New Wave
Occupations Singer, Musician, Songwriter
Instruments vocals, guitar, piano
Years active 1970–present
Labels Sony, Polydor
Website sharononeill.com.au

Sharon Lea O'Neill[1] (born 23 November 1952, Nelson, New Zealand) is a singer-songwriter and pianist from New Zealand, who had an Australasian hit single in 1983 with "Maxine" which reached #16 on both the Australian Kent Music Report and Recording Industry Association of New Zealand charts.[2][3][4]

Contents

Biography

O'Neill began her career in the 1970s in her home country, then gained moderate success in Australia with the hit "Words" (AUS #56) and the subsequent singles "How Do You Talk to Boys?" (AUS #25, 1980), "Maybe" (AUS #38, 1981), "Losing You" (AUS #26, 1983), and "Power" (AUS #36, 1984).[3][4]

The early 1980s proved her most commercially successful period, composing and performing the soundtrack to the 1981 film "Smash Palace", and with the Foreign Affairs album in 1983 spawning her biggest hit "Maxine" (AUS #16, 1983)[3] a song which chronicled the life of a Kings Cross prostitute.[5] 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") and "Glam to Wham".[1] O'Neill met American keyboardist and songwriter, Alan Mansfield on Dragon's Body And The Beat Tour of New Zealand in 1984—they later became domestic and professional partners.[6]

In 1987 O'Neill 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.

In 1991, O'Neill collaborated with Robert Palmer and they wrote "True Love" together for Palmer's Don't Explain. She also contributed vocals on that release. In 1994, O'Neill and Palmer joined forces once again, writing "Love Takes Time" and "You Can't Get Enough of a Good Thing" for Palmer's Honey. She contributed vocals to that release, as well as to Palmer's 1999 Rhythm and Blues and 2003's Drive.

In 2001 she toured as a guest artist with a New Zealand female act, When The Cat's Away. In 2005 she toured Australia as a support act for Leo Sayer and 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 O'Neill toured as part of the 'Countdown Spectacular 2' concert series Australia-wide[7] and toured Australia and New Zealand on The Let It Be Tour (The Beatles tribute show) in November / December 2007.[8]

Discography

Singles

Year Title Peak chart positions Album
AUS
KMR[3]		 NZL
RIANZ[4]
1972 "Love Song" — — Non-album single
1978 "Luck's on Your Table" — 27
"This Heart This Song" — — This Heart This Song
"You Take the Sailor from the Sea" — —
1979 "Don't Say No to Tomorrow" (The Telethon Song) — 6 Non-album single
"Words" 56 22 Words
"Baby Don't Fight" — —
"Don't Let Love Go" (duet with Jon Stevens) 32 — Non-album single
1980 "Asian Paradise" 76 24 Words
"How Do You Talk to Boys?" 25 26
1981 "Waiting for You" 50 — Maybe
"Maybe" 38 12
1982 "For All the Tea in China" 98 —
"Smash Palace" (soundtrack) — — Smash Palace
1983 "Losing You" 26 — Foreign Affairs
"Maxine" 16 16
"Danger" 78 —
1984 "Power" 36 — Non-album single
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that country.
Year Title Peak chart positions Album
AUS
KMR[3]		 NZL
RIANZ[4]
1987 "Physical Favours" 39 25 Danced in the Fire
"Danced in the Fire" 98 —
1988 "Shock to the Heart" / "We're Only Human" — —
1989 "Water for the Flowers" (shared single with Doug Parkinson) — —
1990 "Satin Sheets" — — Edge of Winter
"Poster Girl" — —
2001 "Asian Paradise" (When the Cat's Away & Sharon O'Neill version) — 16 Live in Paradise
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that country.

Albums

References

  1. ^ a b "Australasian Performing Right Association". APRA. http://www.apra.com.au/cms/worksearch/worksearch.srvlt?action=workSearch. Retrieved 2007-07-27. 
  2. ^ Spencer, Chris; Zbig Nowara, Paul McHenry with notes by Ed Nimmervoll (2002) [1987]. "ONEILL, Sharon". The Who's Who of Australian Rock. Noble Park, Vic.: Five Mile Press. ISBN 1-86503-891-1. http://www.whiteroom.com.au/howlspace/whoswho/PHPTracks.php?Band_ID=153600. Retrieved 13 February 2010.  Note: [on-line] version established at White Room Electronic Publishing Pty Ltd in 2007 and was expanded from the 2002 edition.
  3. ^ a b c d e Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book Ltd. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.  NOTE: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1974 until ARIA created their own charts in mid-1988. In 1992, Kent back calculated chart positions for 1970–1974.
  4. ^ a b c d "Discography: Sharon O'Neill". New Zealand charts portal. Hung Medien. http://charts.org.nz/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Sharon+O%27Neill. Retrieved 13 February 2010. 
  5. ^ Filmarchive.org.nz
  6. ^ Taylor, Phil (P J) (24 August 2006). "The Times interview, Sharon O'Neill explain yourself to PJ Taylor". Howick and Pakuranga Times (Times Online). http://www.times.co.nz/cms/news/interview/2006/08/art100012925.php. Retrieved 25 May 2008. 
  7. ^ "The Countdown Spectacular". Frontier Touring Co.. http://www.frontiertouring.com.au/currenttours/The_Countdown_Spectacular_2. Retrieved 2007-07-27. 
  8. ^ "The Let It Be Tour entry on Sharon O'Neill". Xazz Media Group. Archived from the original on 2008-05-12. http://web.archive.org/web/20080512142258/http://www.theletitbetour.com/sharon-oneill.html. Retrieved 2007-09-23. 

External links