Christine Holmes - From Your Window (1971)

Christine Anne Authors (aka Christine Holmes) was born in 1949, and her musical career started when she studied violin and piano in Manchester, and was a member of the Manchester Youth Orchestra at just 11 years old. She moved to Solihull at 14 where she sang one night a week with The Applejacks pop group, after previously singing with the Downbeats, who were one of a very few bands to have a female singer, enabling them to widen their repertoire to include covers by Dionne Warwick, Dusty Springfield, and The Supremes. She was spotted by The Applejacks manager and taken to London at 16 years of age, chaperoned to the Embassy Club nightly, and performed in a BBC Pop Club show called Gadzooks as a regular host and singer. Her career took off when she won the part of Charlie Girl in the West End production of the same name, which ran for five years at the Adelphi Theatre London, and she also hosted three series of the children's TV series 'Crackerjack', all before she was 21. In 1969 she joined The Family Dogg, replacing departing vocalists Doreen De Veuve and Pam Quinn, and she stayed with them until 1972, when they released their final album 'The View From Rowland's Head', scoring a hit single along the way in the Netherlands with a cover of Rare Bird's 'Sympathy'. In the early 70's glam rock was the place to be, and so with a little reinvention, Christine Holmes became Kristine Sparkle, and with the addition of Glitter Band-style drums, fuzz-guitars, and hand-claps, she released a number of singles in 1974, including glammed-up takes of 'It's In His Kiss', 'Hokey Cokey', and 'Eight Days A Week', as well as her album 'Image' the same year. She then embarked on a pop/country career in 1976, and enjoyed hit records in Canada as a singer/songwriter. One of her songs was recorded by Cliff Richard in 1976, with 'Devil Woman' giving him his first American hit, and she also wrote 'No Charge', which was a big hit for J J Barrie, with both of these singles being in the UK top 5 at the same time in 1976. There was a compilation of Kristine Sparkle's music released in 2008, but no-one has ever compiled her singles as Christine Holmes, and so here are all the tracks she recorded between 1964 and 1971, included some unreleased acetates, and a cringe-inducing flexi-disc which tried to get 'the kids' to start saving their money at the Post Office.  

Track listing

01 This Is My Prayer (single 1964)
02 My Dream (b-side of 'This Is My Prayer') 
03 Play Me A Sad Song (Please Mr. Dee Jay) (single 1964)
04 Doesn't He Know (b-side of 'Play Me A Sad Song (Please Mr. Dee Jay)') 
05 Goodbye Boys Goodbye (Ciao, Ragazzi, Ciao) (single 1964)
06 Many Things From Your Window (single 1965)
07 You'd Better Believe It (b-side of 'Many Things From Your Window') 
08 Goin' Where The Lovin' Is (single 1965)
09 Where There's Smoke There's Fire (b-side of 'Goin' Where The Lovin' Is') 
10 Every Little Kiss (acetate 1965)
11 Here Comes My Baby (acetate 1965)
12 The Pop Way To Save (Post Office Savings Bank flexi-disc 1969)
13 A Shoulder To Cry On (previously unreleased)
14 The Drum (single 1971)
15 I Wanna Be The Star Of The Show (b-side of 'The Drum')