Mary Hopkin

Biography

Mary Hopkin is a Welsh folk singer. She was one of the first to sign to the Beatles’ Apple label. She took weekly singing lessons as a child and began her musical career as a folk singer with a local group. Her 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 single 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”, and spent two weeks at number 1 on Canada’s RPM singles chart. It sold over 1,500,000 copies in the United States alone, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA. Global sales topped 8,000,000. On 21 February 1969, Hopkin’s debut album, “Postcard“, again produced by McCartney, was released.
In March 1970, Hopkin represented the United Kingdom in the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest, achieving second place with “Knock, Knock Who’s There” which 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 copies. Following her appearance in the Eurovision contest, Hopkin had her own prime time TV series, “Mary Hopkin in the Land of…”. 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, and released albums throughout 50 years, since 1968. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the release of “Those Were the Days”, on 30 August 2018 Hopkin released a brand new acoustic version