Biography
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Members
- Tiger Sue
The Paper Dolls were a late 1960s British female vocal trio, from Northampton, comprising lead vocalist Susie 'Tiger' Mathis, Pauline 'Spyder' Bennett and Sue 'Copper' Marshall.
They appeared some years before similar recording acts such as Bananarama and Atomic Kitten became commonplace. Anticipating the Spice Girls, each member of the group had a nickname.
Signed to Pye Records, Paper Dolls had one solitary success. The song, "Something Here in My Heart (Keeps A-Tellin’ Me No)", which was their debut single, and was written by Tony Macaulay and John Macleod, reached Number 11 in the UK Singles Chart in 1968. The enduring image of the Paper Dolls, as seen, for example, on BBC Television's Top of the Pops, was inescapably that of three young women in miniskirts, the popularity and brevity of which were at their height at the time. Moreover, the name of the group was itself suggestive of "dolly birds", a rather impersonal term which, in the 1970s, journalist Christopher Booker associated with "girls transformed into throwaway plastic objects".
Several follow-ups, notably "My Life (Is In Your Hands)" and "Someday", failed to chart. Their greatest disappointment came when their producers arranged for them to record another Macaulay co-composition "Build Me Up Buttercup" later that year. Due to a misunderstanding they never turned up for the session, and instead the song was given to The Foundations, whose version became a transatlantic hit. The flip side of "Someday", entitled "Any Old Time (You're Lonely and Sad)" was also recorded by The Foundations, for whom it charted in the UK.
The Paper Dolls released a single album, Paper Dolls House in 1968, which was re-issued with bonus tracks on CD in 2001. Originally it contained a cover of The Beach Boys' song "Darlin'"; whilst the latter version contained a previously unreleased cover of the Paul McCartney penned, "Step Inside Love".
In 1970 they signed to RCA. But two further singles, yet another cover, this time of The Angels' "My Boyfriend's Back"; plus the more original "Remember December" (featuring backing vocals by Brian Connolly - later of Sweet); went unnoticed, and the trio split up. Thus they remain as one-hit wonders.
After the split:
In 1978, billed as 'Tiger Sue', Mathis released a solo single of the Jackie DeShannon penned song, "When You Walk in the Room".
Mathis had another moment of glory in 1980 as vocal coach for the St Winifred's School Choir, whose single "There's No-one Quite Like Grandma" was a Christmas number one in 1980.
Mathis became a local radio presenter, appearing on Piccadilly Radio and BBC Radio Manchester.
Also, Mathis went on to become a fundraising co-ordinator for the "Kirsty Appeal" on behalf of the Francis House Children's Hospice, in Didsbury, Manchester, and was involved with various other cancer charities. Ironically, she was diagnosed with breast cancer herself, early in 2004.
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