Anita Harris

Anita Madeleine Harris (born 3 June 1942) is an English actress, singer and entertainer.

Harris sang with the Cliff Adams Singers for three years from 1961 and had a number of chart hits during the 1960s. She appeared in the Carry On films Follow That Camel (1967)

Early life and career Harris was born in Somerset; her family moved from Midsomer Norton to Bournemouth when she was seven. She won a talent contest at the age of three. However, it was her penchant for figure skating which led to her performing career: she began skating at the neighbourhood rink, eventually becoming a regular at the Queens Ice Rink in London. Seen by a talent scout shortly before her sixteenth birthday, she was offered a chance to skate in Paris or to travel to Las Vegas, where she would be a dancer in a chorus line. She accepted the latter, and danced at the El Rancho Hotel in Las Vegas. "We did three shows a night and on the 12th night, we had the night off", she said years later. she performed in a vocal group known as the Granadiers, and then spent three years with the Cliff Adams Singers.

Subsequent to their meeting, when they both auditioned for a musical revue, Mike Margolis and Harris formed a personal and professional relationship, marrying in 1973. He became her manager and wrote the songs which served as her second and third singles: "Lies"/"Don't Think About Love" (Vocalion, September 1964) and "Willingly"/"At Last Love" (Decca, February 1965).

In January 1965, she performed at the San Remo Music Festival, although her duet with Beppe Cardile, "L'amore è partito", failed to reach the finals. She made her label debut for Pye Records with the May 1965 release "Trains and Boats and Planes"; however, rival versions by both the song's composer Burt Bacharach (with vocals by the Breakaways) and Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas eclipsed her recording. She had four subsequent releases on Pye, including the only evident recording of the Burt Bacharach/Hal David composition "London Life".

Recording artist

In 1966, she moved to CBS Records, where her debut release was also her debut album, Somebody's in My Orchard. Her chart breakthrough came in the summer of 1967 with the single "Just Loving You", a Tom Springfield composition which singer Dusty Springfield had suggested her brother give to Harris after the two women had performed on the same episode of Top of the Pops.

Recorded at Olympic Studios in a session produced by Margolis and featuring harmonica virtuoso Harry Pitch, "Just Loving You" had been released in January 1967 but did not reach the UK Top 50 until 29 June 1967. Even after peaking at No. 6 on 26 August 1967, "Just Loving You" remained in the UK Top 40 until the end of the year, and was reported to have accumulated UK sales of 625,000 in six months, Besides charting at No. 18 in Ireland, "Just Loving You" was a Top Ten hit in South Africa, where sales reached 200,000 copies. The disc was released in September 1967 in the United States, where it rose to No. 20 on the "Easy Listening" chart in Billboard and approached the mainstream Pop "Hot 100" chart. It rose no higher than No. 120 on the "Bubbling Under" chart. In January 1968, Harris made her only appearance on the UK album chart when her Just Loving You album reached No. 29.

The sustained interest in "Just Loving You" predicated a mild chart impact for her follow-up single "The Playground", released in September 1967. This reached its chart peak of No. 46 by 28 October 1967, Other television appearances up to 2001 included Boom Boom: The Best of the Original Basil Brush Show, French & Saunders and Bob Monkhouse: A BAFTA Tribute. with subsequent credits including Bell, Book and Candle, Deathtrap, Seven Deadly Sins Four Deadly Sinners, Verdict and the stage dramatisations of House of Stairs and My Cousin Rachel. Additionally, she co-starred with Alex Ferns, Will Thorp, Colin Baker and Leah Bracknell in the UK tour of the stage adaptation of Strangers on a Train in 2006. She portrayed Gertrude Lawrence in G and I at the New End Theatre in the spring of 2009. In 2010 she starred with Brian Capron in the UK national tour of Stepping Out; having previously played the leading role of Mavis, she now took on the part of Vera. She continues to perform with her band around the country, including at the Royal Albert Hall, London. She performed in pantomime over Christmas 2014–15, appearing as the wicked Baroness in a production of Cinderella at the Grand Opera House in York. "I've played Aladdin, Jack and Dick Whittington and Robinson Crusoe. I've loved playing principal boy and I'm sorry that boys are now playing that role", she told a York press meeting at the time.

In 2019, Harris guest starred in the first episode of Series 20 of Midsomer Murders, entitled "The Ghost of Causton Abbey" as Irene Taylor, an accomplice to the killer. She guest starred as a medium called Shyanna in an episode of EastEnders which aired in August 2019.

Harris starred in the UK tour of Cabaret, alongside John Partridge, from August 2019 to early 2020.

Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes 1966 Death Is a Woman Singer at the Casino Minor Role 1967 Follow that Camel Corktip Main Role Carry on Doctor Nurse Clarke 2016 People are Messy Gran Supporting Role

Television

Discography Singles "I Haven't Got You" / "Mr. One and Only" (Parlophone R 4830) – 1961 "Lies" / "Don't Think About Love" (Vocalion V 9223) – 1964 "Willingly" / "At Last Love" (Decca F 12082) – 1965 "Trains and Boats and Planes" / "Upside Down" (Pye 7N 15868) – 1965 "I Don't Know Anymore" / "When I Look at You" (Pye 7N 15894) – 1965 "London Life" / "I Run to Hide" (Pye 7N 15971) – 1965 "Something Must Be Done" / "Funny Kind of Feeling" (Pye 7N 17069) – 1966 "Just Loving You" / "Butterfly With Coloured Wings" (CBS 2724) – 1967 – UK No.6 / US Easy Listening No.20 / US Pop No.120 "The Playground" / "B.A.D. For Me" (CBS 2991) – 1967 – UK No.46 "Anniversary Waltz" / "Old Queenie Cole" (CBS 3211) – 1968 – UK No.21 "We're Going on a Tuppenny Bus Ride" / "Artie" (CBS 3468) – 1968 "Dream a Little Dream of Me" / "The Flying Machine" (CBS 3637) – 1968 – UK No.33 "Le Blon" / "Dusty Road" (CBS 3765) – 1968 "Loving You" / "Ferdinand and His One Man Band" (CBS 4157) – 1969 "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" / "Love is Everywhere" (CBS 4467) – 1969 "The Only One To Love Me" / "When You Were A Child" (CBS 4845) – 1970 "Jumbleland" / "Late Night Final" (CBS 5377) – 1970 "Genesis" / "Put on a Little Music" (Columbia DB 8846) – 1971 "I Just Need a Lover" / "Music" (Brut Productions 45-1345) – 1971 "You and I" / "Captain Biscuit" (Columbia DB 8962) – 1972

Albums Somebody's in My Orchard (CBS BPG 62894) – 1966 Just Loving You (CBS SBPG 63182) – 1967 – UK No.29 Anita Harris (Marble Arch MAL 761) – 1968 Cuddly Toy (CBS 63927) – 1969 Anita in Jumbleland (CBS 64258) – 1970 Anita is Peter (Golden Hour GH 590) – 1974 Love To Sing (Warwick WW 5015) – 1976 The Best of Anita Harris (CBS Embassy 31615) - 1977 Feelings (Chevron CHVL 117) – 1979 A Taste of Honey (Columbia 484104 2) - 1996 The Essential Anita Harris (Right Recordings RIGHT021) – 2003 – compilation album