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Mary Hopkin

Mary Hopkin
Born: 3 MAY 1950
Place of Birth: Pontardawe
 

Famous For: Sang 'Those Were The Days...' which knocked 'Hey Jude' by The Beatles off Number One

Trivia: She won 'Opportunity Knocks' on ten consecutive occasions

Biography: Sixties singing star Mary Hopkin, famous for the song "Those were the days", made the news again in 2006 on the annoucement of her collaboration with country music superstar Dolly Parton.

  • Want to have Your Say on Mary? Just scroll down the page and add your comments.

    Mary, from Pontardawe, was born into a Welsh-speaking family, and has released albums in both English and Welsh. She sang in her local chapel choir and was encouraged by her teachers to further her singing skills.

    At the age of 17 she appeared on a Welsh music television programme called, "Hob y Deri Dando", and was signed to Cambrian Records. At this stage she was performing in pubs and clubs in South Wales and had recorded four Welsh-language albums.

    In 1967 she appeared on the talent show, "Opportunity Knocks", performing the song 'Turn Turn Turn'. The Monday after the performance she received a telegram asking her to phone Paul McCartney, and he invited her down to London for an audition.

    Within a week she was being taken to the headquarters of the Beatles' record label Apple Records, where she recorded a number of songs and signed a contract.

    One of the songs initially recorded was 'Those Were the Days', originally a Lithuanian folk tune. It was released in September 1968 and - ironically - knocked off her label-mates The Beatles from the top-spot, displacing 'Hey Jude', from Number One. The song went on to top the charts in more than 14 countries, and made Mary internationally famous. She followed it up with 'Goodbye', which again enjoyed success in Britain, reaching Number Two in the charts.

    Mary found herself touring the USA, Canada, South America, Japan and Britain, including many concerts where she sang alongside fellow 1960s star Engelburt Humperdinck.

    In the summer of 1970 she was made a Bard of Gorsedd at Ammanford, where she took the Bardic name of Mari Hopcyn, and in November the same year she married her record producer Tony Visconti. Mary then embarked on another ambitious tour which took her to Australia and New Zealand.

    In 1972 Mary and Tony had their first child Delaney Jay, and it was at this point that Mary decided to re-focus her energies on family life. For decades Mary has largely shunned interviews, dividing her time between her homes in Wales and France. Although less in the limelight nowadays, Mary continues to keep busy (see the contribution from her fan Hans below this article).

    In February 2006 Mary was in the news, on the announcement that she would be working with country singing legend Dolly Parton, on a new version of her signature hit 'Those Were the Days'. The song is the title track of Dolly's album of covers, where she also performs with the likes of Norah Jones, Keith Urban and Yusuf Islam, the singer formerly known as Cat Stevens. Hopkin's agent Gerry Maxim told The Independent newspaper that the offer to work with Parton was too good an offer to resist.
    "One day out of the blue we received the offer in a phone call from Dolly. She is a great fan of Mary's and vice versa," Maxim said.

  • More about the story on BBC News Online.


  • More about Mary on the BBC Wales site.


    Hans den Besten, a Mary Hopkin fan has been in contact with us from the Netherlands:
    "It is quite obvious that more and more people are quite interested in Mary's activities indeed. All and all not very surprising considering the fact that Mary has been quite active over the last three years.

    "She made a series of special guest appearances during the Chieftains Tour, with a grand finale in London at the Royal Albert Hall in May of 1999. Together with Benny Gallagher she did a concert in the month of August 1999 during the Largs Viking Festival in Scotland. In 2000 she starred in a S4C TV documentary 'Mary Hopkin' in which she did a duet with Davey Crockett, singing The Crocketts hit single 'Chicken vs. Macho' from the album 'The Great Brain Robbery'. Being a tremendous success the song was released on CD-single.

    "In 2001 she played a small part in Sara Sugarman's movie 'Very Annie Mary'. And last but most certainly not least in 2002 she contributed two songs to the BBC 1 TV series 'Billy Connolly's World Tour of England, Ireland and Wales'. Three songs ('Where's Jack?', 'Last Moments' and 'For All My Days') were released from two different movies called 'Kidnapped' and 'Where's Jack?'. In May 2002 some never-before released material from 'Sundance' saw the light of day on CD.

    "More and more material, some of which we thought had never been released before, is being discovered through contacts on the internet. For instance Mary's 'Evolution' and 'The Circle' suddenly appeared on Marc Cerrone's album 'The Collector' which was released only in Canada and France in 1988."

    Comment on this story

    Joanne Singer Harrow
    Those were the days was my favourite in the 1960's
    Tue Jun 16 17:37:25 2009

    Joanna Philipps, Battle, East Sussex, England
    I love 'Those Were The Days' which is my favourite song to sing at karaoke! Apologies to Mary, but it has done me good to sing again, and make new friends.
    Mon Jun 15 15:39:15 2009

    Pat Richmond, Barry Vale of Glamorgan
    Mary's new CD 'Now and Then' has just been released ... It is wonderful so many great tracks you can get it only via her website at Mary Hopkin Music...She has also done lots of interviews on BBC radio.
    Tue Jun 2 18:03:27 2009

    Jorge Munoz, Concepcion City, Chile

    I was searching for Mary Hopkin music a couple of years ago and I found only one or two videos. Today I just could not believe how much music and videos are available.

    Mary's music took me back to my younger days. I was in tears of joy and happiness as well as sadness for all the time that has passed without being in touch with Mary's music and the wonderful gift her music means to me...

    I am sure that Mary's music can help us during this time of global crisis...Mary please sing again Saludos from Jorge Munoz


    Tue May 26 16:32:57 2009

    Stephen Baker
    Favourite album? Earth Song/Ocean Song. Favourite song?See above album, plus Yn Y Bore (Morning of my life, in Welsh) and Both Sides Now - live at Royal Festival Hall, London.
    Wed Jan 14 15:51:21 2009

    Glenn Hudson, Lynchburg Va USA
    When reading Beatles news website...I saw an article on Mary. One thing led to another, finally to youtube. I was absolutely stunned to my very bones with her, not just her songs, but her face, her decency as a human being, and the glory of God which is quite apparent upon her every move. I have never seen a creature so absolutely lovely, who has surely touched the world in her time of fame, and onward. Im 51, male, American, songwriter, singer, and businessman. I am deeply touched by Mary and will never be the same.
    Mon Dec 29 10:51:02 2008

    Steve Martin
    The wonderful song for all my days is on utube, just search on google Mary Hopkin - for all my days.
    Tue Dec 9 17:31:00 2008

    Pat Richmond
    Reply to Jess Taylor from Manchester: Yes Mary recorded the title song "For all My days" from 'Kidnapped' it is still available on CD and DVD. BTW she has a new CD coming out next week called "Recollections".
    Mon Nov 24 16:15:03 2008

    Jess Taylor from Manchester
    Have been searching to see if Mary Hopkins made a recording of a song she sang at the end of the film 'Kidnapped' starring Michael Caine in 1971. The song is called 'For All My Days'. Can anyone help ?
    Wed Nov 19 15:57:38 2008

    Thomas Chacko
    I first heard the song "Those were the days" about two years back and instantly became a Mary Hopkin fan. Since then, I have been collecting all her songs and has found them captivating. What a voice!
    Wed May 14 09:38:38 2008

    Tomoya Kuramochi of Hidaka City Saitama Japan
    Mary's clear, innocent, fantastic voice and lovely songs always encourage me. I am a fan of Mary since my teens.Recently I visited John's museum nearby (Saitama New City Center) where exhibiting his memorials and Yoko's arts and belongings. I found some books about The Beatles including Mary's photos and her days in Apple. May 3rd is Mary's birthday. Let me say here for Mary, 'Happy Birthday to you'.
    Tue May 6 09:24:32 2008

    Nele

    Mary Hopkins' songs were my saviour, during the sorrow of a violent marriage. I loved her songs, so i memorised the words, and actually sang 'Those Were The Days' at parties, and none suspected my sorrow, as i looked happy singing.

    Singing was allowed by my ex. but strictly no dancing!Thanks Mary Hopkins for your songs 'Those Were The Days', 'Goodbye' 'Knock, Knock' 'Temma Harbour' mainly for the boost I needed when I was lonely, but I had many many close friends who made the parties such fun, and i could forget my LIFE of pain and sorrow,just singing your sweet songs, at home anywhere.

    Now touch wood I am a new and happier person, and I still sing your songs, but with a happier outlook to life.God Bless you.

    lovenele fernando
    Fri Jan 4 10:17:57 2008

    Bonnie from Palm Beach County, Florida, U.S.A.

    I have been singing this song since I was 18 years old...having been born in June 1950...so 1968! I sang it on my way to college classes in my yellow Volkswagen Bug with flowers painted on the doors! Those really were the days!

    I was mentioning the words to someone in an email and found this site when I was searching for the writer. How PROLIFIC she was as we, the Baby Boomers, all born after World War II, are now getting ready to retire. As we look back at our youthful days and what we did, how we thought, our lives through the years, our children, our lovers, our spouses...and where we are today!

    Ironically, I am listening, as I write, to a PBS special about the bands and singers of the "British Invasion"...right now playing..."Whiter Shade of Pale"!

    Thanks for the memories and I hope that Mary is doing well! She should contact PBS and sing once again! They do these shows as fundraisers, but pay the participants! We, in America, never knew how good we had it in those days...Thanks again for a wonderful song!
    Thu Jan 3 16:03:30 2008

    Pat Richmond
    Me too Lynne! A fan since the 60's and I still look through my scrapbooks and wonder where the years have gone! It will be 40 years in 2008 since 'Those Were The Days' was released and I think BBC Wales should do something to celebrate this!
    Tue Nov 20 14:49:13 2007

    Lynne Langton W.Yorks
    I have been a fan of Mary since her first hit record. I have still got my scrapbooks of her, in which she has signed them all. Keep singing Mary.
    Wed Nov 14 12:01:45 2007

    Viktor Postnikov from Kiev
    I'm 58, Russian, a great fan of the 60's music; being a teenager, would cling to my transitor throughout the days (and nights) to hear favorite voices. Mary Hopkin is one of the sweetest memories of those days. When my heart is heavy, I put her records, and, lo! I'm saved! Thank you, dear Mary! Correction: 'Those Were the Days', was originally Russian (not Lithuanian) tune, written in the 1920s.
    Wed Jun 27 15:39:10 2007

    Jacquie W
    Dear Mary Hopkin yes, and her golden voice! I still love to listen to her music, especially the song she recorded in Welsh, titled 'Y Blodyn Gwyn'. Having once tried studying Welsh myself, I would love to have the original lyrics to that song! Must have spent half a lifetime already to find them!
    Mon Jun 4 09:27:16 2007

    Derek Alcock, Flintshire
    When will we ever see/hear you again? Will you emerge from relative recluse to enrich your fans (there must still be millions of 'em, young and older!) Whether it be radio, TV or DVD (current), or, even better, Gigs! P-L-E-A-S-E BRING IT ON!!!!!!!!!
    Mon May 28 10:29:28 2007

    Gary Quinn North Carolina USA
    I remember watching Mary on Oppertunity knocks and have been a fan ever since, I have managed to collect some vintage video clips of Mary that are priceless to me.
    Tue Nov 28 09:43:22 2006

    Hum Umbach, Alberta, Canada.
    I first heard of you through a friend S.Phillips from Neath S.Wales. We met on the internet and she sent me a couple of your songs along with a pic of Paul Macartney singing to you.Kindest regards Hum
    Tue Nov 14 14:04:40 2006

    Trevor Harland Middlesbrough
    Mary Hopkin has always been a big part of my life - the good memories of my teenage years, collecting her records, photos and I've still got the scrapbook I showed Mary on her visit to Stockton's then Radio Tees, nearly 40 years ago? Seems like yesterday.
    Mon Oct 16 11:11:20 2006

    James, Newcastle
    It will be 40 years soon since the release of Those Were The Days, so come on BBC look at all the comments here and elsewhere on your site about the song and how it has affected people and stayed in our memories for so long ... Some sort of tribute or celebration is called for.
    Mon Sep 4 09:14:51 2006

    PHILIP JUDD RAYLEIGH ESSEX
    I remember seeing mary going into the london palladium,about 68,69 she was in panto there, i had all the records, but i did not get to see the show, i was about 15 at the time, it was just lovely to see her face to face, she really was beautiful.
    Mon Jul 17 09:15:11 2006

    John Adams, Broomfield, Colorado, formerly of Seil
    Earth Song, Ocean Song is the best album of all time. Happy Birthday, Mary, where ever you are!
    Wed May 3 15:33:25 2006

    Roxanne, Milton Keynes, Bucks
    My favourite song is, Temma Harbour, but I really enjoyed hearing Mary sing the streets of London at a festival in Oxford with Ralph Mac,tell. Its great to have the website, please keep singing Mary, you have a great voice.
    Wed Mar 15 21:56:58 2006

    Patricia - formerly Anglesey-now Canada.
    When we, as a family, emigrated to Canada in 1968 - practically every shop played "Those Were The Days, My Friend", with Mary's hauntingly lovely voice! And now, finding this site today, I intend to find and buy all her previous records, CDs, or whatever! And "Y Deryn Pur" as well - I'm bilingual, you see! And 77 years old...!
    Tue Feb 21 20:19:03 2006

    Derek Alcock from Flint
    My favourite song of Mary's is anything she sings! Seriously tho' I melt to "Temma Harbour" and "Goodbye"! Her unbeatably beautiful voice is matched only by her looks; then and now!
    Mon Feb 20 19:26:31 2006

    Nicolas CH. from Lebanon
    Well, I'm not only a fan of Mary H., but I do consider her like a "Princess of the Music". In the last 70'th, when I was just a teen, her "crystalline" voice in many songs (Those Were The Days, Water, Paper and Clay, etc.) made me dream. Now and since I bought many CD's of her, I listen to her lovely voice when I'm overwhelmed or stressed, after a long and exhausting day at my parisian office,it brings me the serenity i need. Bless you Mary ...
    Thu Jan 5 00:34:20 2006

    Yasutoshi Hizaka from Japan
    I am a Japanese old fan. I hear music of mary hopkin after a long absence and feel nostalgic for old days. The record which I bought for the first time is impressed by a clear singing voice before 37 years in her music again. I knew that a CD was released and purchased a CD at once.

    When traveled in the U.K. four years ago, went to a town of Pontardowe that she was born, but || very I was impressed by solid row of houses along a city street.

    A tone of a harp and harmony of her voice are very clean, and Y BLODYN GWYN singing by Welsh thinks that it is her hometown itself. I can look for her information recently only from a website. My dream wants to hear her singing voice by all means in a town of Pontardowe. And I want to meet Mary Hopkin.
    Tue Dec 20 15:59:22 2005

    Marie Berger from Lincoln
    I am listening to 'Post Card' right now and, as in the early seventies when I first heard her, I love the way her voice floats beautifully in her unique way.
    Sat Nov 12 19:22:41 2005

    Chris, Barry
    A wonderful new CD by Mary has become available, she does lots of folk songs but her version of Aderyn Pur is superb. go to http://www.morganhopkin.co.uk
    Thu Sep 29 20:41:50 2005

    Pat from Chicago via Antigua
    I did not know much about Mary until now. I first heard her singing Temma Harbour during the 70's on my island home of Antigua in the West Indies when I was a teen. I have been living in the USA for 20 years and no one I have asked (including Virgin Records) had ever heard of the song or Mary. I remember listening to her song on Radio Antilles (Monstserrat) pop charts, while at the beach floating on my back and looking up at the clouds pass by. Great memories to a wonderful sweet song. I am so happy to have rediscovered it again here.
    Fri Sep 2 20:46:32 2005

    Stan Carter Birmingham
    From the very first time I saw and heard Mary I have been captivated... she was the inspiration for my poem Cymru which I wrote in 1968 after visiting Pontardawe. She has made people sit up and realise what a wonderful country Wales is and her being part of it draws people like myself to the wonderful magic that is Wales... and now all these years later I too look into the glass... and see a strange reflection... but not of a lonely man but one that has been enriched by the voice and personality of a wonderful lady from Wales...
    Sat Aug 20 13:41:34 2005

    John Jones (really!) Pontardawe
    Just came across this site. Spoke to Mary this very day, she was visiting her mother and her sister Carol. Mary was three years behind me in the local Grammar School. She now lives near Brecon.
    Sun Aug 14 21:32:29 2005

    Maggie Scott-Nicholson from New Zealand
    I'm so glad to have found this website, we were all huge fans of Mary Hopkin and we all wished we could be her. My favourite songs were "Knock Knock Who's There" and "Temma Harbour"
    Thu Aug 11 05:06:16 2005

    Tam Smith from Falkirk
    I have been a huge fan of Mary since I first saw her on Opportunity Knocks in 1967. My favourite song is Ocean Song which has helped me through troubled times. It is brilliant I can now find out lots more about her including music I never knew she had made. She is my no. 1.
    Thu Jul 21 14:03:41 2005

    Pat, Wales
    Reply to readers comment...

    Many singers have recorded 'Those were the Days' other than Mary... From Frank Sinatra to Sandie Shaw... Not wanting to drag you away from the BBC's brilliant 'homage' to Mary but if you go to www.maryhopkin.net there is a whole page dedicated to the song 'Those Were The Days'...
    Wed Jun 1 09:38:24 2005

    Leslie from Perth, Australia
    Who else has recorded Those were the Days my Friends?
    Sat May 28 17:03:50 2005

    Aaron from Raleigh, NC, USA
    I think the flip from "Days" was "Sparrow", a hauntingly beautiful piece that no one could possibly render like dear Mary. What a jewel!
    Wed May 25 00:03:48 2005

    Allan Wyn Davies, Orillia, Ont. Canada
    Days is my favorite song. Still a fan from day one Mary.
    Cofion Cynnes.
    Allan.

    Tue Mar 1 00:25:35 2005

    Vince
    Strange one, my mother in law was in East Surrey Hospital in 2005, and the visiting Priest who came to see was Mary Hopkin?
    No wonder we haven't heard from her!

    Mon Feb 28 13:55:55 2005

    Rusty from Herault France (34)
    "Those Were The Days" is the song I know her best. I woundered what happened to her. Your website has helped me. Thanks, Rusty
    Wed Feb 9 01:59:14 2005

    Justin from London
    Mary is brilliant. My favourite song is 'In The Reedy River'. It's a shame that the 'Postcard' album doesn't have more songs like this. I haven't heard any of her more recent material.
    Sat Jan 22 03:18:27 2005

    Joe C Foryan from Moses Lake, WA, USA
    My favourite song is Temma Harbour! I love the melody and lyrics!
    Fri Dec 24 06:03:40 2004

    Micky
    Just found the most beautiful oil on canvas painting of Mary in a charity shop dated 1970. Artist J? Payne. Anyone heard of this guy or was he just a fan like me?
    Mon Nov 8 21:46:18 2004



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