Pussyfoot was a British recording act of the late 1970s. The act consisted of songwriter, producer and musician Mick Flinn, and vocalist Donna Jones. Flinn remained behind the scenes, and Jones was marketed as a solo artist.

Biography

Early 1970s

Flinn had been a member of Australian rock band

The Mixtures The Mixtures were an Australian rock band that formed in Melbourne in 1965. Biography 1965–1976: The Mixtures Australian musicians Terry Dean and Rod De Clerk met in Tasmania in 1965. They then met Laurie Arthur, a member of the Strangers, ...

from 1967 to 1972, which included the band's most successful period. With consecutive number 1 songs in Australia in 1970, " The Pushbike Song" and "

In the Summertime "In the Summertime" is the debut single by British rock band Mungo Jerry, released in 1970. It reached number one in charts around the world, including seven weeks on the UK Singles Chart, two weeks at number one on the Canadian charts, and ...

". The Mixtures made the trip to England in January 1971, returned to Australia in November for a concert tour, and then returned to England in January 1972. Flinn left the band in May 1972, eventually settling permanently in the UK. In the UK, Flinn formed The Springfield Revival with Ray Martin and Donna Jones. Flinn subsequently became Jones' manager-writer-producer.

1975-1984: Pussyfoot

In 1975, Pussyfoot recorded the

soft rock Soft rock (also known as light rock or mellow rock) is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in the United States and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, mel ...

song " The Way That You Do It" which was released in June 1975, and first attracted public attention when the song's suggestive lyrics caused it to be banned by the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. The song was re-released under the title "Ooh Na Na Hiya" in 1976, but did not chart. In

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, the

television show A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming platf ...

Countdown A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...

'' began playing the video clip, and exploited the British ban on playing the song. Over several months, Jones became a sensation and a

sex symbol A sex symbol or icon is a person or character widely considered sexually attractive and often synonymous with sexuality. Pam Cook, "The trouble with sex: Diana Dors and the Blonde bombshell phenomenon", In: Bruce Babinigton (ed.), ''British St ...

. The song was released as a single by EMI Australia in 1976 and spent seven weeks at number one on the singles chart from 31 January 1977. "The Way That You Do It" was the second highest single in Australia in 1977 " Ooh Ja Ja" was released in Australian 1977 and peaked at number 20 in Australia. Pussyfoot toured Australia in April 1977 promoting their debut studio album, ''Pussyfootin' Round... With Love''. In 1978, Pussyfoot released a second studio album, featuring the singles ""A Night to Remember" and "Dancer Dance", which reached number three on the British club charts. Flinn formed the Mick Flinn Band in 1978; Jones joined

The New Seekers The New Seekers were a British pop group, formed in London, in 1969, by Keith Potger, after the break-up of his group, the Seekers. The idea was that the New Seekers would appeal to the same market as the original Seekers, but their music wou ...

in 1979. In 1980, Jones fronted a female band of Fiona Tucker, Jude Allen, Jackie Dixon and Annabel Rees with Mick Flinn on bass that adopted her previous stage name Pussyfoot, and the group entered the Song for Europe 1980 contest, in an attempt to represent the

United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest The United Kingdom has been represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 67 times. Its first participation was at the , in 1957, and it has entered every year since . The British participating broadcaster in the contest is the BBC, British Broadc ...

with the song "I Want to Be Me". Pussyfoot came fourth in the contest, with media commentators speculating after the event that Jones was, once again, too raunchy for British tastes. In 1984, Pussyfoot released The Australian-only single "Mind Over Matter" that failed to chart.

1985-present: Post Pussyfoot

Jones returned to

in the late 1980s as a replacement for Vivien Banks who had been a member of the 1976 group Co-Co.

Jones Jones or Joneses may refer to: People and fictional characters *Jones (surname), a common Welsh and English surname * List of people with surname Jones, including fictional characters ** Justice Jones (disambiguation) ** Judge Jones (disambiguati ...

had previously been in the girl trio Chrys-Do-Lyns along with fellow New Seekers bandmate

Lyn Paul Lyn Paul (born Lynda Susan Belcher; 16 February 1949) is an English pop singer and actress. She came to fame as a member of the international chart-topping pop group the New Seekers in the early 1970s. She has more recently found success and criti ...

. Flinn worked with Peter Morris of the band

Black Lace Black Lace are a British pop band, best known for novelty party records, including their biggest hit, "Agadoo". The band first came to the public eye after being selected to represent the UK in the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest, in which they f ...

for the 1984 UK Top 40 hit "Do the Conga", and joined The New Seekers in 2002.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

{{Authority control English pop music groups British disco groups English soft rock music groups Musical groups established in 1975 Musical groups disestablished in 1984