Mary Tippett

"Not In A Million Years" c/w "Beggin'"

HMV HMVPOPS 65788

"I was working as a secretary for Harold Silverman of Silvershine Music in Old Portland Street", says Mary. "He was a lovely man...always sweet to me, buying me trinkets and flowers. I was very surprised when he arranged a recording session with Meryck Kirkman. Harold was always doing things like that, coming up with little surprises".

It was 1962 and Mary Tippett was about to embark on an astronomically successful career in music. "I was just lucky, I suppose", sighs Tippett.

At that time Meryck Kirkman was the number one pop producer in London. A mentor/fashion advisor to several homeless boys from Spitalfields, Kirkman lived above a greengrocer's shop in Shoreditch. His mother was a kleptomaniac and Meryck's recording studio, which was also the kitchen, was filled with stolen shopping baskets. Meryck himself was obsessive compulsive.

Meryck's condition exhibited itself in strange ways. "He couldn't produce a record unless he had flushed the toilet, which was also the vocal booth, seventy three times exactly. After every take he had to run up and down his stairs shouting the names of Bristol City footballers".

Mary's recording sessions were carefully monitored by Silverman. "He would stand with me in the vocal booth, which was also the toilet, and you can hear the faint whisper of his asthmatic breath on 'Not In A Million Years'".

Mary not only sang well but she also proved to be very adept at writing lyrics. "I just started making up lines for Meryck's melodies. Silly little things. They just came out of nowhere, really.

Her songs, like "I Can Read You Like A Book" and "Wrapped Around My Finger", have proved to be some of the catchiest of the era and Mary looks back on her career with pride.

"I was extremely lucky. Harold was a successful businessman. Very wealthy. And he took a shine to me, I suppose. I guess I was just in the right place at the right time". Mary was certainly in the right place to take over Silverman's business in 1971.

In June of that year, Silverman received the very first stereo HiFi system in the UK. The system, constructed in Japan, subsequently exploded in Silverman's office, killing A&R guru Barry Mansfield-Park, Silverman and two female assistants, all of whom had their clothes blown away in the blast. "It broke my heart to hear the news", says Tippett with a sigh. "When I bought the equipment for Harold, I had no idea anything like that might happen".