Chart entered : 10 November 1973
Chart peak : 13
Number of hits : 10
Kiki's qualification here is a bit tenuous relying on two duets and a shared single with a much bigger star plus a subsequent single which had this song on the flip side but hey ho let's make her welcome.
Kiki was born in Bradford in 1947 as Pauline Matthews. She began singing locally from the age of 10 following the usual route of talent contests to get herself noticed.After leaving school at 16 she began singing with Jack Brent's dance band and was spotted by an A & R man at a gig in Leeds. That led to a contract with Fontana who put Mitch Murray in charge of her. He suggested the name change and dyeing her hair from brunette to red.
Her first single, a full decade before her first hit was "Early Night" in May 1963. The galloping beat immediately recalls Johnny Remember Me but Joe Meek had nothing to do with it. It's a Susan Maugham-style teen pop number written by Murray with Kiki showing great control, somewhere between Petula Clark and Sandie Shaw. It made few ripples. Neither did "Don't Put Your Heart In His Hand" in October 1963, a Sharon Sheeley/ Jackie DeShannon song. It's a rather ponderous doo-wop influenced number which wasn't a hit for Ral Donner in the States either.
Kiki's third single for them was "Miracles" in February 1964 , a cavernous Dusty Springfield style pop number which subsequently found favour with the Northern Soul crowd. Her fourth "( You Don't Know) How Glad I Am " in July was a fairly faithful cover of a big US hit for Nancy Wilson with an arrangement by Les Reed. While all these singles were failing to chart Kiki was earning her corn as a session singer, most notably working with Dusty Springfield. You would think that it was these connections that kept her afloat at the company although it probably didn't help her find her own voice. "Runnin' Out Of Fools" is a big Dusty-esque ballad with a fine Les Reed arrangement trying to mask a dreadful, clumsily-written song.
Her next release in February 1966 was "Why Don't I Run Away From You" which got a lot of support from pirate radio. It was also recorded with a slightly re-worded title by Tami Lyn and that was the version preferred in Wigan making it a big hit on re-release in 1971. Kiki got to sing it in the low budget pop film Dateline Diamonds but that still wasn't enough to break her. A year later she tried again with "I'm Going Out ( The Same Way I Came In ) " a wistful Sandie Shaw like pop number with no immediately obvious weaknesses. "I" from May 1967 is a slightly over-produced soul-pop item in the Dionne Warwick style. "Excuse Me" that October is another decent pop number. The following March she recorded a version of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" which found favour with the Northern Soul crowd but sounds rather stilted to my ears. Both it and her final single for Fontana, "Now The Flowers Cry" were arranged by Mike Vickers. Ironically the latter is one of her best, a breezy lament with a lovely string arrangement that could have come from Jim Webb.
On being cast adrift by Fontana Kiki sought a change of fortune in America and got herself signed up by Motown for whom she recorded just one LP, the unfortunately titled "Great Expectations". The lead single was "The Day Will Come ( Between Sunday and Monday )" in May 1970. It's a good Supremes-ish soul pop number belted out with conviction but it didn't catch. The second single "Love Makes The World Go Round", a mellower groove with piercingly loud glockenspiel notes , was released on the Rare Earth subsidiary and was actually a minor US hit ( number 87 ) but that didn't reprieve her.
Kiki returned to the UK and despite not having a label got some TV work performing covers on things like Morecambe and Wise and Benny Hill. Her big break came early in 1973 when Elton John signed her to the new Rocket label set up with Taupin, Gus Dudgeon and others. The first fruit of this link up was the single "Lonnie And Josie" in June. Elton and Taupin wrote the song; the former produced it with Clive Franks and plays piano and mandolin on the track. His usual crew are the backing band. It's an attractively melodic song about teenage runaways but failed I think because it's over-wordy for a single with no real middle-eight to separate the give the listener a breather.
Then came this one. Elton only produced this time. The song was a cover of a 1972 French hit for Veronique Sanson . Lyricist Gary Osborne translated it to English although he altered the verses so it contains a girl's reflections on losing her virginity , a theme not present in the original. Nevertheless Sanson recorded the new version herself for a UK single in 1972.
Kiki - at 26, perhaps a little mature to be singing about popping her cherry - performs the song in her lower register and it's certainly tempting to say this is the best record The Carpenters never made although the arrangement is more Clifford T Ward than Richard Carpenter. Although the song has a strong chorus the real hook is Kiki's leap into the next octave at the end of its first couple of lines. I have a feeling the young Kate Bush might have been listening as this isn't a million miles away from Wow ( the similarity is even more pronounced on Sanson's original version ).
Kiki's first hit was hard won . Released at the end of August it had to fight off a rival version by eternal bridesmaid Polly Brown before getting the "Tip For The Top" slot on Top Of The Pops which did the trick.
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