"Mother of Mine" is a song written by Bill Parkinson and made famous by a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

former child

singing Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

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Neil Reid Neil Reid (born 1959) is a Scottish people, Scottish former child singing celebrity, star, winner of ITV Network, ITV's ''Opportunity Knocks (UK TV series), Opportunity Knocks,'' and the youngest person to reach number one on the UK Albums Chart ...

, who sang it on ITV's '' Opportunity Knocks'' and won the competition on 13 December 1971, singing his version of the song. The B-side for international releases was another track appearing in the album, "If I Could Write a Song". The song was an instant hit with the British public and was released commercially by

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...

shortly after his win, and went to number two on the UK Singles Chart, particularly following a performance of the song on ''

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 ...

''. The "Mother of Mine" record sold over 250,000 copies in the

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, and over 2.5 million globally. It also sold around 400,000 copies in

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alone. The song also appeared on his self-titled album ''

'', reaching number 1 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 ...

, and thus making Reid the holder of the title of the youngest person to reach number one on that chart. at the age of 12 years 9 months. Reid followed up the single "Mother of Mine" by "That's What I Want To Be" three months later, but that song peaked at number 45, and Reid quickly faded from national prominence to performing on the

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circuit. Two years after winning ''Opportunity Knocks,'' Reid's voice broke and as a result he gave up professional singing.

Charts

Cover versions

* In 1972, following the success of the song, another young singer,

Jimmy Osmond James Arthur Osmond (born April 16, 1963) is an American singer and businessman. He is the youngest member of the sibling musical group the Osmonds. As a solo artist, Osmond has accumulated six RIAA certification, gold records, one RIAA certific ...

, recorded it as the

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of his hit " Long Haired Lover from Liverpool". The song was also included on Osmond's 1972 album '' Killer Joe''. * Also in 1972, The

Paul Mauriat Paul Julien André Mauriat ( or ; 4 March 1925 – 3 November 2006) was a French orchestra leader, conductor of Le Grand Orchestre de Paul Mauriat, who specialized in the easy listening genre. He is best known in the United States for his mill ...

Orchestra recorded an instrumental version that appeared on the album ''Summer Memories - The Superb Sounds of The Paul Mauriat Orchestra''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mother of Mine 1971 singles