Jacki Bond was a secretary working for Strike Records in the mid-1960s who, though without previous musical experience, had a short recording career in 1965-7. She came from South London and, with

Samantha Juste Samantha Juste (born Sandra Slater; 31 May 1944 – 5 February 2014) was a British model and television presenter who appeared in the mid-1960s as the "disc girl" on the BBC television programme ''Top of the Pops''. In 1968, she married Micky D ...

, who co-hosted BBC television's ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

'', was one of two British female vocalists signed to Strike or (in Juste's case) its subsidiary, Go.

Recording career

Bond's first single record, ''My Sister's Boy'', was released in 1965 by Columbia records, an

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

subsidiary, under license from Millwick Music, the publishing company from which Strike emerged. Her second, ''Tell Him to Go Away'', which was coupled with ''Don't You Worry ('bout Me)'' (a song written by the head of Strike, Lionel Segal, and arranged by

Alan Caddy Alan Caddy (2 February 1940 – 16 August 2000) was an English rock guitarist, arranger, record producer and session musician. He was an original member of Johnny Kidd and the Pirates and the Tornados. Early life and education Caddy was born in ...

, former lead guitarist of

The Tornados The Tornados were an English instrumental rock group of the 1960s that acted as backing group for many of record producer Joe Meek's productions and also for singer Billy Fury. They enjoyed several chart hits in their own right, including ...

.), appeared in March 1966. It was only the second record to be released by Strike. The first,

Neil Christian Neil Christian (born Christopher Tidmarsh, 14 February 1943 – 4 January 2010) Related session musicians * Paul Brett *Jimmy Page * Ritchie Blackmore * Nicky Hopkins *Albert Lee Albert William Lee (born 21 December 1943) is an English ...

's ''That's Nice'', had been widely promoted by Radio London and other "

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are call ...

" stations and reached number 14 in the British sales charts, however Bond did not enjoy similar success. In fact, ''That's Nice'' proved to be Strike's only chart success. Bond's third and final single, the highly infectious ''He Say'', released by Strike in November 1966 and coupled with ''Why Can't I Love Him'', was written by

Pierre Tubbs Pierre Tubbs (born Pierre Richard Roman Tubbs, 1942) is a British songwriter, record producer and album sleeve designer. One of his biggest successes is "Right Back Where We Started From", which he co-wrote with J. Vincent Edwards. The song ...

and Bond herself and recorded with an orchestra conducted by

Ken Woodman Ken (Kenny) Woodman was a British composer and trumpeter. He was famous for the song "Town Talk", which was used as the theme song for Paul Kaye's shows on the pirate radio station Radio London, and later as the theme song for Jimmy Young o ...

. It has been described as "an irresistibly uptempo slab of New York-style girl-pop", but, though popular on the

Northern soul Northern soul is a music and dance movement that emerged in Northern England and the Midlands in the early 1970s. It developed from the British Mod (subculture), mod scene, based on a particular style of African American music, Black American ...

circuit, Strike lacked the promotional machinery to help make it a commercial success. (Even Samantha Juste's ''No One Needs My Love Today'', issued in the same month, which she performed on ''Top of the Pops'', made little impact.)

Demise of Strike Records

In 1967 Bond recorded

Lionel Bart Lionel Bart (1 August 1930 – 3 April 1999) was an English writer and composer of pop music and musicals. He wrote Tommy Steele's "Rock with the Caveman" and was the sole creator of the musical ''Oliver!'' (1960). With ''Oliver!'' and his work ...

's ''Reviewing the Situation'' from the musical ''

Oliver! ''Oliver!'' is a stage musical, with book, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the 1838 novel ''Oliver Twist'' by Charles Dickens. It premiered at the Wimbledon Theatre, southwest London in 1960 before opening in the W ...

'', but Strike folded before it could be released. The company's final single, Our Plastic Dream's vaguely

psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary mental states (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips") and a perceived "expansion of consciousness". Also referred to as classic halluci ...

''A Little Bit of Shangrila'', was released by Go in August 1967 as the "

Summer of Love The Summer of Love was a major social phenomenon that occurred in San Francisco during the summer of 1967. As many as 100,000 people, mostly young people, hippies, beatniks, and 1960s counterculture figures, converged in San Francisco's Haig ...

" was reaching its climax. ''Reviewing the Situation'' was released 36 years later on a compilation album.

A note on images

According to Pierre Tubbs, Bond was short, with long hair.Sleeve notes for CD, ''The Best of Strike Records'', 2001 Photographs of her during her brief recording career, if they exist, are elusive. None has appeared with re-releases of Strike recordings. There is a photo of her on a single from 1966 released by Strike, entitled Don't you worry/Tell him to go away Bond went on to sign with

Larry Page Lawrence Edward Page (born March 26, 1973) is an American businessman, computer engineer and computer scientist best known for co-founding Google with Sergey Brin. Page was chief executive officer of Google from 1997 until August 2001 when ...

Page One Records Page One Records, established in 1966, was the UK independent record label, owned by the producer/manager, Larry Page. They were involved in a court case in July 1967 with The Troggs. 9681 WLR 157; 9673 All ER 822; (1967) 111 SJ 944 The label ...

under the name of Judi Scott where she released a song dedicated to George Best.

Discography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bond, Jacki English women singers Living people Year of birth missing (living people)