| Biography | The Breakaways were an English female vocal trio, formed in 1962. Britain's premiere session vocalists throughout the 1960s, The Breakaways also recorded a handful of little known girl group singles.
They started out as the Fordettes, backing Emile Ford. They spent a year on tour with Ford in 1960, playing one-nighters. Back in London they left Ford to sing backup for Joe Brown who Vicki Haseman had been engaged to for a year. Having broken away from Ford, they were then known as The Breakaways.
They worked with Dusty Springfield on her first solo recordings and went on to sing on hundreds of sessions supporting Springfield, Cilla Black, Normie Rowe and Lulu. Their work with Cilla Black included being credited as backing vocalists on Black's 1964 single, "You're My World", and were backing singers on her BBC television series Cilla. They backed Cliff Richard's performance of Congratulations in the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest at the Royal Albert Hall which placed second in the competition. In 1971, they returned to Eurovision, backing Clodagh Rodgers in her performance of Jack in the Box, joined by Clodagh's sister Lavinia. That time the song placed fourth. In 1977, at the Eurovision contest staged at the Wembley Conference Centre, the trio sang backing vocals for the Israeli entry Ahava Hi Shir Lishnayim performed by Ilanit. The song was performed in Hebrew and The Breakaways learnt their lyrics phonetically as none of them spoke the language. The song placed 11th of the 18 entries. They toured behind American stars such as Little Richard and Sam Cooke, and regularly appeared on Ready Steady Go!. |