Kathy Kirby (born Kathleen O'Rourke, 20 October 1938[1][2] Ilford, Essex) is a retired English singer, whose popularity was at its peak during the 1960s.
Career
Convent-educated,[3] Kirby's soprano[citation needed] voice became apparent early in life, and she was thought to be good enough for opera. She became a professional singer after meeting the bandleader, Bert Ambrose at the Ilford Palais in 1956. She remained with Ambrose's band for three years and he remained her manager and mentor until his death in 1971.
She adopted the look of a 'blonde bombshell', and was compared to Marilyn Monroe. Her looks, lip-gloss and her powerful, pitch-perfect voice became her trademarks. She had 5 Top 40 hits between 1963 and 1965, the best known of which is her cover version of "Secret Love". That year (1963), she won Top British Female Singer in the New Musical Express poll.[2]
Kirby became one of the biggest stars of the mid 1960s, appearing in the Royal Command Variety Performance and three television series for BBC TV. She represented the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1965, and came second with the song "I Belong". Author and historian John Kennedy O'Connor describes Kirby's "I Belong" as being far more representative of current musical tastes than other songs from the contest,[4] but she was beaten by France Gall from Luxembourg, singing an even more contemporary song written by Serge Gainsbourg. She also sang the theme tune of the BBC television series Adam Adamant Lives!.
Kirby's star faded in the late 1960s. She recorded twelve singles and an album between 1967 and 1973, but they all failed to chart. She continued to make television appearances, and her 1974 appearance on The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club TV variety show is available to watch on YouTube.[5] On 31 December 1976, Kirby performed her hit song Secret Love on BBC1's A Jubilee Of Music, celebrating British pop music for Queen Elizabeth II's impending Silver jubilee.
During the 1970s Kirby endured bankruptcy and some mental health problems, but she made occasional television appearances and performed a few live gigs on the 'nostalgia circuit'. In December 1983,[2] still in her early forties, she retired from show business altogether.
Post-retirement
Kirby lives in the South Kensington area of London. She shuns publicity and reports say that she has been in poor physical and mental health for some years.[6][7] She has not performed in public since her retirement, but an amateur recording of Kathy Kirby singing the song "He", made in around 2005, has been made available online.[8]
Interest in Kathy Kirby and her work has continued,[9] particularly among gay men for whom she is something of an icon.[10] She records regular short greetings for a website dedicated to her,[11] and a 2005 biography was adapted into a stage show about her life, called Secret Love. The show opened in Leeds in May 2008.
The Daily Express reported in 2008 that plans for a new filmed interview had been abandoned,[7] but later reports confirmed that the interview had been filmed, and it was subsequently included on a DVD compilation released the following year. She also gave an interview to the Express in 2009, billed as her first in 26 years, which included recent photographs.[12]
In late 2009, the Sunday Express reported that some previously unreleased recordings would be made available on CD in 2010, and that Kirby has been approached to appear on Desert Island Discs.
HitsYear Title Chart positions UK Singles Chart 1963 "Dance On" 11 "Secret Love" 4 1964 "Let Me Go, Lover!" 10 "You're The One" 17 1965 "I Belong" 36
