Mary Hopkin (born 3 May 1950), credited on some recordings as Mary Visconti from her marriage to

Tony Visconti Anthony Edward Visconti (born April 24, 1944) is an American record producer, musician and singer. Since the late 1960s, he has worked with an array of performers. His first hit single was T. Rex's " Ride a White Swan" in 1970, the first of man ...

, is a Welsh singer best known for her 1968 UK number 1 single " Those Were the Days". She was one of the first artists to be signed to

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

label.

Life and career

Early life and singing career

Hopkin was born into a Welsh-speaking family in

Pontardawe Pontardawe () is a town and a community (Wales), community in the lower Swansea Valley (). it had a population of approximately 7,172 in the 2021 Census for Pontardawe Parish, and forms part of the county borough of Neath Port Talbot. On the opp ...

Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...

, Wales. She took weekly singing lessons as a child and began her musical career as a folk singer with a local group called the Selby Set and Mary. She released an EP of Welsh-language songs for a local record label called Cambrian, based in her hometown, before signing to

Apple Records Apple Records is a British record label founded by the Beatles in 1968 as a division of Apple Corps Ltd. It was initially intended as a creative outlet for the Beatles, both as a group and individually, plus a selection of other artists inclu ...

, owned by the Beatles, one of the first artists to do so. The model Twiggy saw her winning the ITV television talent show '' Opportunity Knocks'' and recommended her to

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

. Hopkin's debut single, " Those Were the Days", produced by McCartney, was released in the UK on 30 August 1968. Despite competition from well-established star Sandie Shaw, whose own single version of the song was also released that year, Hopkin's version became a number 1 hit on the UK Singles Chart. It reached number 2 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, where for three weeks it was held out of the top spot by the Beatles' "

Hey Jude "Hey Jude" is a song by the English rock music, rock band the Beatles that was released as a non-album single in August 1968. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The single was the Beatles' fir ...

", and spent two weeks at number 1 on Canada's ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

'' singles chart. It sold over 1,500,000 copies in the United States alone, and was awarded a

gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

. Global sales topped 8,000,000. Hopkin's recording of "Those Were The Days" was nominated for the " Best Contemporary Pop Vocal Performance, Female" at the 11th Annual

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

in March 1969.(https://www.grammy.com/artists/mary-hopkin/3371) On 2 October 1968, Hopkin appeared at

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...

in London for the ''Pop Experience'', where she sang " Morning of My Life", " Turn Turn Turn" and " Plaisir d'amour". In December that year, the ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' music magazine reported that Hopkin was considering a lead acting role in Stanley Baker's planned film ''Rape of the Fair Country'', which was to be based on Alexander Cordell's book of the same name. That particular project did not materialise but Hopkin did sing the title songs to two of Baker's films, '' Where's Jack?'' and '' Kidnapped''. On 21 February 1969, Hopkin's debut album, ''

Post Card In computing, a POST card is a plug-in diagnostic Expansion card, interface card that displays progress and error codes generated during power-on self-test (POST) of a computer. It is used to troubleshoot computers that do not Booting, start ...

'', again produced by McCartney, was released. It included covers of three songs from

Donovan Donovan Phillips Leitch (born 10 May 1946), known mononymously as Donovan, is a Scottish musician, songwriter and record producer. He emerged from the British folk scene in early 1965 and subsequently scored multiple international hit singles ...

, who also played on the album, and one song each from

George Martin Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the "fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the Beatle ...

and

Harry Nilsson Harry Edward Nilsson III (June 15, 1941 – January 15, 1994), sometimes credited as Nilsson, was an American singer-songwriter who reached the peak of his success in the early 1970s. His work is characterized by pioneering vocal overdub experi ...

. It reached number 3 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

, although it proved to be her solitary success in that chart. In the United States, ''Post Card'' reached number 28 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' albums chart. The next single was " Goodbye", written by McCartney (credited to

Lennon–McCartney Lennon–McCartney is the songwriting partnership between the English musicians John Lennon (1940–1980) and Paul McCartney (born 1942) of the Beatles. It is widely considered one of the greatest, best known and most successful musical collabo ...

), and released on 26 March 1969. It reached number 2 on the UK Singles Chart, number 13 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number 15 on the ''RPM'' chart in Canada. Hopkin said she interpreted "Goodbye" as McCartney pledging to stop " micromanaging" her career, since she was uncomfortable with his positioning of her as a pop chanteuse. She also expressed dissatisfaction with her manager at this time, Terry Doran. Hopkin's third single, " Temma Harbour", was a re-arrangement of a Philamore Lincoln song. Her first single not to be produced by McCartney, it was released on 16 January 1970 and peaked at number 6 in the UK and number 42 in Canada. In the US, "Temma Harbour" reached number 39 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number 4 on the magazine's

Easy Listening chart The Adult Contemporary chart is published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine and lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary music, adult contemporary radio stations in the United States. The chart is compiled based on ...

. Along with Donovan and

Billy Preston William Everett Preston (September 2, 1946 – June 6, 2006) was an American keyboardist, singer, and songwriter whose work encompassed R&B, rock, soul, funk, and gospel. Preston was a top session keyboardist in the 1960s, backing Little Richa ...

, Hopkin was one of the chorus singers on the Radha Krishna Temple's 1970 hit single " Govinda", produced by

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...

for Apple Records.

Eurovision

In March 1970, Hopkin represented the United Kingdom in the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest, achieving second place with " Knock, Knock Who's There?" Despite being the pre-contest favourite, Hopkin lost to " All Kinds of Everything", performed by Irish singer Dana. Produced by

Mickie Most Michael Peter Hayes (20 June 1938 – 30 May 2003), known as Mickie Most, was an English record producer behind acts such as the Animals, Herman's Hermits, the Nashville Teens, Donovan, Lulu, Suzi Quatro, Hot Chocolate, Arrows, Racey and t ...

, "Knock, Knock Who's There?" was released as a single on 23 March 1970 and peaked at number 2 in the UK. It was a worldwide hit, selling over a million. Hopkin's final big hit was "Think About Your Children", released in October 1970, which reached number 19 in the UK. Hopkin has expressed dissatisfaction with the material produced by Most, who had taken over as her producer with "Temma Harbour". After appearing in Eurovision, Hopkin wanted to return to her folk-music roots.

After Eurovision

At McCartney's insistence, Hopkin had recorded a cover of " Que Sera, Sera" in August 1969. Hopkin had no wish to record the song and refused to have the single released in Britain. Initially issued in France in September 1969, it was released in North America in June 1970. The single peaked at number 77 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number 47 in Canada, and was also a hit in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and

Rhodesia Rhodesia ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state, unrecognised state in Southern Africa that existed from 1965 to 1979. Rhodesia served as the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to the ...

. The last single to hit the British charts was "Let My Name Be Sorrow", which reached number 46 in July 1971. It was produced by

, whom Hopkin had met earlier for a Welsh recording of "Sparrow". "Let My Name Be Sorrow" was a hit in Poland in January 1972. Hopkin's second album, '' Earth Song/Ocean Song'', was released by Apple on 1 October 1971. The album was produced by Visconti and included cover versions of songs written by

Cat Stevens Yusuf Islam (born Steven Demetre Georgiou; ), commonly known by his stage names Cat Stevens, Yusuf, and Yusuf / Cat Stevens, is a British singer-songwriter and musician. He has sold more than 100 million records and has more than two billion st ...

, Gallagher and Lyle and Ralph McTell, as well as the two title tracks by Liz Thorsen. Hopkin felt it was the album she had always wanted to make, so, coinciding with her marriage to Visconti and with little left to prove, she left the music scene. The album's single, "Water, Paper and Clay", missed the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It was Hopkin's last single for Apple Records, which she left in March 1972. After Hopkin's departure from Apple, a compilation album titled ''Those Were the Days'' was released in the latter part of 1972. The album featured all of Hopkin's hits but failed to chart. "Knock Knock, Who's There?" was released as a single in the United States and Canada, both countries having been excluded from the first release of that record in 1970. The single reached number 92 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number 11 on the Easy Listening chart in December 1972, giving Hopkin her last US hit.

Television series

Following her appearance in the Eurovision contest, Hopkin had her own peak time TV series, ''Mary Hopkin in the Land of ...'', on

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and Flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...

. Created by Eric Merriman, each episode featured Hopkin looking at a different aspect of storytelling through music and dance. The six 30-minute programmes were broadcast in 1970 and were repeated in 1971.

After the hit singles

After marrying Visconti in 1971, Hopkin withdrew from the pop-music scene to have a family. Although reportedly unhappy with show business, she did not stop recording. She travelled to Australia with Visconti in January 1972 and performed at a large outdoor rock festival in South Australia, in addition to giving concerts in several major cities. In March, Hopkin announced her departure from Apple Records; her manager, Jo Lustig, said they were considering offers from "three major ecordcompanies". In June, the single " Summertime Summertime" / "Sweet and Low" was released on

Bell Records Bell Records was an American record label founded in 1952 in New York City by Arthur Shimkin, the owner of the children's record label Golden Records, and initially a unit of Pocket Books, after the rights to the name were acquired from Benn ...

under the name of Hobby Horse. The A-side was a cover of a 1958 song by the Jamies. With Visconti's assistance, she released the 1972 Christmas single "Mary Had a Baby" / "Cherry Tree Carol" on

Regal Zonophone Records Regal Zonophone Records was a British record label formed in 1932, through a merger of the Regal and Zonophone labels. This followed the merger of those labels' respective parent companies – the Columbia Graphophone Company and the Gramopho ...

. Hopkin starred in her own one-off TV special for BBC1 on 29 July 1972. Titled ''Sing Hi, Sing Lo'', it was billed simply as "light entertainment starring Mary Hopkin". Although no other singles or albums came out in her name until 1976, she sang on numerous recordings that her husband produced, such as those featuring

Tom Paxton Thomas Richard Paxton (born October 31, 1937) is an American folk singer-songwriter whose career spans more than sixty years. In 2009, Paxton received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

, Ralph McTell,

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

('' Low''), Bert Jansch, the Radiators from Space,

Thin Lizzy Thin Lizzy are an Irish rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. The band initially consisted of bass guitarist, lead vocalist and principal songwriter Phil Lynott, drummer Brian Downey, guitarist Eric Bell and organist Eric Wrixon although Wr ...

, Carmen, the Sarstedt Brothers,

Osibisa Osibisa is a Ghanaian-Caribbean Afro rock band founded in London in the late 1960s by four expatriate West African and three London-based Caribbean musicians. Osibisa was the most successful and longest lived of the African-heritage bands in ...

, Sparks, Hazel O'Connor and

Elaine Paige Dame Elaine Jill Paige (born Elaine Jill Bickerstaff, 5 March 1948) is an English singer and actress, best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Chipping Barnet, Barnet, Hertfordshire, Paige attended the Aida Foster Theatre School, m ...

. On all of these recordings (and also on her husband's own ''Inventory'' album) she is credited as "Mary Visconti". During this time, she also appeared on various TV shows, such as

Cilla Black Priscilla Maria Veronica White (27 May 1943 – 1 August 2015), better known as Cilla Black, was an English singer and television presenter. Championed by her friends the Beatles, Black began her career as a singer in 1963. Her singles "A ...

's, as well as various radio programmes.

Return to recording

In 1976, she returned to recording under her birth name and released the single " If You Love Me (Really Love Me)" (originally recorded by Édith Piaf as " Hymne à l'amour"), which reached number 32 in the UK chart. The

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

, "Tell Me Now", was an original composition by Hopkin. Her next single was "Wrap Me in Your Arms", with the B-side again written by Hopkin ("Just A Dreamer"). These singles came out on Visconti's Good Earth Records label. Several songs recorded for an album at the time have now been released under Hopkin's own label, Mary Hopkin Music. Two members of

Steeleye Span Steeleye Span are a British folk rock band formed in 1969 in England by Fairport Convention bass player Ashley Hutchings and established London folk club duo Tim Hart and Maddy Prior. The band were part of the 1970s British folk revival, ...

(Bob Johnson and Pete Knight) chose Hopkin to play "Princess Lirazel" on their

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

'' The King of Elfland's Daughter''. She also appeared at the Cambridge Folk Festival with Bert Jansch. In 1976, her second child was born. Before the 1970s ended, Decca released a

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

of Hopkin's Cambrian recordings, ''The Welsh World of Mary Hopkin''.

1980s

Hopkin's first project in the 1980s was a well-reviewed stint playing the Virgin Mary in ''Rock Nativity'' at the Hexagon Theatre in

Reading, Berkshire Reading ( ) is a town and borough in Berkshire, England, and the county town of Berkshire. It is the United Kingdom's largest town, with a combined population of 355,596. Most of Reading built-up area, its built-up area lies within the Borough ...

. After this, Mike Hurst (record producer and formerly of the Springfields) asked her to sing lead in a new group named Sundance that he had formed with Mike de Albuquerque of ELO. Their only single, "What's Love", allowed them to tour the UK with Dr. Hook but Hopkin quickly left the group, dissatisfied with the gigs. "What's Love" proved very popular in South Africa, albeit the only territory where it charted, peaking at number 10 in April 1982. In 2002, Hurst released recordings from this time on the Angel Air label. Hopkin and Visconti divorced in 1981. The following year she provided vocals on "Rachael's Song" for the

Vangelis Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou (, ; 29 March 1943 – 17 May 2022), known professionally as Vangelis ( ; , ), was a Greek musician, composer, and producer of electronic, progressive, ambient, and classical orchestral music. He composed ...

soundtrack of ''

Blade Runner ''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott from a screenplay by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Di ...

''. Around 1984, Peter Skellern asked her to join him and Julian Lloyd Webber in a group called

Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environment Oasis In ecology, an oasis (; : oases ) is a fertile area of a desert or semi-desert environmentWEA along with two singles. The album reached number 23 on the UK album chart in 1984 and remained there for 14 weeks. A tour of the UK was planned but was brought to an abrupt end because Hopkin became ill. The group disbanded shortly afterwards. During the 1980s, Hopkin appeared in several charity shows, including an appearance at the

London Palladium The London Palladium () is a Grade II* West End theatre located on Argyll Street, London, in Soho. The theatre was designed by Frank Matcham and opened in 1910. The auditorium holds 2,286 people. Hundreds of stars have played there, many wit ...

with Ralph McTell. In 1988, she took part in George Martin's production of

Dylan Thomas Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet and writer, whose works include the poems " Do not go gentle into that good night" and " And death shall have no dominion", as well as the "play for voices" ''Un ...

' ''

Under Milk Wood ''Under Milk Wood'' is a 1954 radio drama by Welsh people, Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. The BBC commissioned the play, which was later adapted for the stage. The first public reading was in New York City in 1953. A Under Milk Wood (1972 film), f ...

''. She played the character Rosie Probert and performed a piece called "Love Duet" with

Freddie Jones Frederick Charles Jones''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916-2005.''; at ancestry.com (12 September 1927 – 9 July 2019) was an English actor who had an extensive career in television, theatre and cinema productions for ...

as Captain Cat. The making of the record was filmed and made into a special edition of '' The South Bank Show'', where Hopkin and Jones were shown rehearsing and recording "Love Duet". In 1992, the cast reunited for a performance of the play as a tribute to Thomas in the presence of

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

for

The Prince's Trust The King's Trust (formerly the Prince's Trust) is a United Kingdom-based charity founded in 1976 by Charles III, King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) to help vulnerable young people get their lives on track. It supports 11-to-30-year-olds w ...

. Hopkin recorded an album called ''Spirit'' in 1989. This was released on the Trax label and is a collection of light classical songs and featured the single "

Ave Maria The Hail Mary or Ave Maria (from its first words in Latin), also known as the Angelic or Angelical Salutation, is a traditional Catholic prayer addressing Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary, the mother of Jesus. The prayer is based on two biblical pa ...

". The record was produced by Benny Gallagher, of Gallagher and Lyle, who had contributed songs to her during her days at Apple Records.

1990s

Early in 1990, Hopkin sang with

the Chieftains The Chieftains were a traditional Irish folk band formed in Dublin in 1962, by Paddy Moloney, Seán Potts and Michael Tubridy. Their sound, which is almost entirely instrumental and largely built around uilleann pipes, has become synonymous w ...

at the

in a charity show and later joined them on a tour of the UK. She continued to do projects of her choosing, working with people such as Julian Colbeck; she wrote the

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, ...

and performed a song on his CD ''Back to Bach''. Also, there was Marc Cerrone's ''The Collector'', a stage play/opera for which she performed two songs on the CD and video. She worked again with the guitarist Brian Willoughby and Dave Cousins (of

Strawbs The Strawbs are an English rock band founded in 1964 as the Strawberry Hill Boys. The band started out as a bluegrass group, but eventually moved on to other styles such as folk rock and progressive rock. They are best known for their hi ...

) on their CD ''The Bridge''. She also appeared on a Beatles'

tribute album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century a ...

by RAM Pietsch. In 1996, the Welsh label Sain bought Cambrian's back catalogue and released all of Hopkin's Welsh recordings on a CD called ''Y Caneuon Cynnar/The Early Recordings'', which removed the overdubbed drums found on the Decca recordings. In 1999, she again joined the Chieftains on their UK tour and, later that year, performed concerts in Scotland with Benny Gallagher and Jim Diamond. There were also three TV documentaries about her, one each for HTV (1998),

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It p ...

(1998) and

S4C S4C (, ''Sianel Pedwar Cymru'', meaning ''Channel Four Wales'') is a Welsh language free-to-air public broadcast television channel. Launched on 1 November 1982, it was the first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speakin ...

(2000). She made a guest appearance on the Crocketts' album ''The Great Brain Robbery'', sang the

theme song Theme music is a musical composition which is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at ...

for Billy Connolly's BBC TV series '' World Tour of England, Ireland and Wales'' and re-recorded "Those Were The Days" with

Robin Williams Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951August 11, 2014) was an American actor and comedian known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in dramas and comedie ...

rapping Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates " rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backin ...

. She also appeared in the

Sara Sugarman Sara Sugarman (born 13 October 1962) is a Welsh actress and filmmaker whose work includes Walt Disney Pictures, Disney's ''Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen'' (2004) and ''Very Annie Mary'' (2001). She has also appeared in films including ''D ...

film '' Very Annie Mary''.

2000s

In September 2005, she released a retrospective album on the Mary Hopkin Music a label run by her daughter entitled ''Live at the Royal Festival Hall 1972''. It was followed in December 2006 by a Christmas recording, "Snowed Under", released on download only. To celebrate her 57th birthday in 2007, she released an album called ''Valentine'' on her new eponymous label. It included 12 previously unheard tracks dating from 1972 to 1980, three of which were written by Hopkin. In 2008, a new album, ''Recollections'', was released on her own label. It included 11 tracks that were originally recorded between 1970 and 1986, alongside a CD of three Christmas songs which included "Mary Had a Baby" and " The Cherry-Tree Carol" (these tracks were first released on Regal Zonophone in 1972) and "Snowed Under", which was released in 2006 as a download only. Her final archival CD, ''Now and Then'', was released in May 2009. It comprises 14 tracks recorded between 1970 and 1988. She sang the song "Y 'deryn pur" ("Gentle Bird") on the album ''Blodeugerdd: Song of the Flowers – An Anthology of Welsh Music and Song'' released by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings in June 2009.

2010s

Hopkin's daughter, Jessica Lee Morgan, released her first CD, called ''I Am Not'', on which Hopkin sings on several songs. In October 2010, Hopkin and her son, Morgan Visconti, released ''You Look Familiar'', a collaboration which brings together Hopkin's melodies, lyrics and vocals with her son's instrumentation and arrangements. In 2013, ''Painting by Numbers'' was released on Mary Hopkin Music. The album includes 10 tracks written by Hopkin, two of which are co-written with friends; "Love Belongs Right Here" with Brian Willoughby and "Love, Long Distance" with Benny Gallagher. For Christmas 2014, Hopkin recorded a single with her son and daughter. The traditional carol, "Iesu Faban" (meaning "Baby Jesus" in Welsh), was described on her website as a "close, intimate choral performance of a traditional Welsh Christmas carol". To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the release of "Those Were the Days", on 30 August 2018 Hopkin released a new acoustic version, on an EP also featuring the live version from her 1972 "farewell" concert at the

Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London, England. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a G ...

. Also included are the versions of "Those Were the Days" and "Goodbye" released in 1977, produced by her then husband, Tony Visconti.

2020s

Hopkin released an album called '' Two Hearts'', together with her daughter Jessica Lee Morgan. Featuring newly written material and covers from

the Bangles The Bangles are an American all-female band, all-female pop rock band formed in Los Angeles, in 1981. They are known for hit singles during the 1980s that made them one of the most successful pop rock groups of the decade. The band’s biggest ...

Dire Straits Dire Straits were a British rock band formed in London in 1977 by Mark Knopfler (lead vocals, lead guitar), David Knopfler (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), John Illsley (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Pick Withers (drums, percussion). Th ...

, it was released on 3 May 2023, Hopkin's 73rd birthday.

Discography

* ''

'' (1969) * '' Earth Song/Ocean Song'' (1971) * ''Spirit'' (1989) * ''Valentine'' (2007) * ''Recollections'' (2008) * ''Now and Then'' (2009) * ''You Look Familiar'' (2010), with Morgan Visconti * ''Painting by Numbers'' (2013) * ''Another Road'' (2020) * ''A Christmas Chorale'' (2020) * ''Pieces'' (2022) * '' Two Hearts'' (2023) with her daughter Jessica Lee Morgan

References

External links

*
Mary Hopkin on Facebook
*
Biography on BBC Wales

Interview on BBC Wales
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hopkin, Mary 1950 births Living people Apple Records artists Clan Celentano artists Nationwide Records artists Bards of the Gorsedd People from Pontardawe 20th-century Welsh women singers Welsh women songwriters Welsh-language singers 21st-century Welsh women singers Oasis (1980s band) members Welsh folk singers Welsh pop singers Eurovision Song Contest entrants