Shapiro was born at Bethnal Green Hospital in the East End district of Bethnal Green, London. Her early childhood was spent in a Clapton council house in the London borough of Hackney, where she attended Northwold Primary School and Clapton Park Comprehensive School until Christmas 1961. She is the granddaughter of Russian Jewish immigrants; her parents, who were piece-workers in the garment industry, attended Lea Bridge Road Synagogue. The family moved from Clapton to the Victoria Park area of Hackney, on the Parkside Estate, when she was nine. "It was, and remains, a beautiful place," she said in a 2006 interview.
Although too poor to own a record player, Shapiro's parents encouraged music in their home (she had to borrow a neighbour's player to hear her first single). Shapiro played banjolele as a child and sang with her brother Ron occasionally in his youth club skiffle group. She had a deep timbre to her voice, unusual in a girl not yet in her teens: school friends gave her the nickname "Foghorn".
Aged ten, Shapiro was a singer with "Susie and the Hula Hoops," (with her cousin, 60s singer, Susan Singer) a school band which included Marc Bolan (then using his real name of Mark Feld) as guitarist. At 13 she started singing lessons at The Maurice Burman School of Modern Pop Singing, based in London's Baker Street, after the school produced singing star Alma Cogan. "I had always wanted to be a singer. I had no desire to slavishly follow Alma's style, but chose the school merely because of Alma's success", she said in a 1962 interview. Burman's connections eventually led her to a young Columbia Records A&R man named John Schroeder, who recorded a demo of Shapiro singing "Birth of the Blues".
In 1961, aged fourteen, she had a UK No. 3 hit with her first single, "Don't Treat Me Like a Child" and two number one hits in the UK, "You Don't Know" and "Walkin' Back to Happiness". The latter did not top the UK chart until 19 October 1961, by which time Shapiro had reached 15, on 26 September. She had a No. 2 in 1962 with "Tell Me What He Said", achieving her first four single releases in the top three of the UK Singles Chart. Most of her recording sessions were at EMI's studios at Abbey Road in north west London. Her mature voice made her an overnight sensation, as well as the youngest female chart topper in the UK.
Shapiro's final UK Top Ten hit single was with the ballad "Little Miss Lonely", which peaked at No. 8 for two weeks in 1962. Shapiro's recording manager at the time was Norrie Paramor.
Before she was sixteen years old, Shapiro had been voted Britain's "Top Female Singer". The Beatles first national tour of Britain, in the late winter/early spring of 1963, was as one of her supporting acts. During the course of the tour, the Beatles had their first hit single and John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote the song "Misery" for her, but Shapiro did not record the composition. In 1995, during a This is Your Life highlighting her life and career, Shapiro revealed, "It was actually turned down on my behalf before I ever heard it, actually. I never got to hear it or give an opinion. It's a shame, really." Shapiro lip-synched her then-current single, "Look Who It Is", on the British television programme Ready Steady Go! with three of the Beatles (John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison).
In 1962, Shapiro appeared as herself in the Billy Fury film Play It Cool, and played the lead female role in Richard Lester's movie, It's Trad, Dad!, which co-starred another early 60s hitmaker, Craig Douglas. On 31 December 1969, Shapiro appeared on the BBC/ZDF co-production Pop Go The Sixties, singing "Walkin' Back to Happiness".
By the time she was in her late teens, her career as a pop singer was on the wane. With the new wave of beat music and newer female singers such as Dusty Springfield, Cilla Black, Sandie Shaw and Lulu, Shapiro appeared old-fashioned and emblematic of the pre-Beatles, 50s era. As her pop career declined, Shapiro turned to cabaret appearances, touring the workingmen's clubs of the North East of England. Her final cabaret show took place at Peterlee's Senate Club on 6 May 1972, where she announced she was giving up touring as she was "travel-weary" and had had enough of "living out of a suitcase". Later, after a change of mind, she branched out as a performer in stage musicals, and jazz (being her first love musically).
She played the role of Nancy in Lionel Bart's musical, Oliver! in London's West End and appeared in a British television soap opera, Albion Market, where she played one of the main characters until it was taken off air in August 1986.
Between 1984 and 2001, she toured extensively with legendary British jazz trumpeter Humphrey Lyttelton and his band, whilst still performing her own jazz and pop concerts. Her one-woman show "Simply Shapiro" ran from 1999 to the end of 2002, when she finally bade farewell to show business.
Her autobiography, published in 1993, was entitled Walking Back to Happiness. She appeared as a guest on BBC Radio 4's 'The Reunion' in August 2012. In March 2013 she appeared on BBC Radio 3's 'Good Morning Sunday'
Helen Shapiro has been married since 31 August 1988 to John Judd (real name, John Williams), an actor with numerous roles in British television and cinema.
It's in His Kiss
Helen Shapiro Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
[Repeat]
Oh yeah it's in his kiss That's where it is Oh it's in his kiss That's where it is Oh it's in his kiss That's where it is Oh oh it's in his kiss That's where it is Oh ohh it's in his... kiss That's where it is...
The song "It's In His Kiss" by Helen Shapiro explores the difficulty of knowing if someone truly loves you. The song suggests that if someone wants to know if their significant other truly loves them, then they need to pay closer attention to their partner's actions rather than their words. The singer warns that relying solely on physical appearances, like charm or arms, or the way someone acts, can be deceiving. As Shapiro repeats throughout the song, "It's in his kiss, that's where it is," implying that one should focus on the way their partner kisses them as a way to know if their love is true.
The song captures the uncertainty and confusion that can come with trying to figure out if someone loves you. It highlights the importance of paying attention to nonverbal cues and suggests that a genuine kiss can reveal more than words ever could. The repeated chorus emphasizes the importance of physical intimacy, which can serve as a barometer for true love.
Line by Line Meaning
Does he love me I wanna know
The singer questions whether her lover truly loves her and wants to find out.
How can I tell if he loves me so
The singer is searching for a way to determine if her lover genuinely loves her.
Is it in his eyes? Oh no you'll be deceived
The singer dismisses the idea of trusting her lover's eyes to reveal his love.
Is it in his eyes? Oh no he'll make believe
The singer doesn't trust her lover to show genuine affection through his eyes as he might pretend or act.
If you wanna know if he loves you so, It's in his kiss That's where it is
The singer believes that if you want to discover if your lover loves you, look at his actions instead of his words.
Or is it in his face? Oh no it's just his charms
The singer doesn't think her lover's true feelings are visible through his physical appearance or charm.
In his one embrace? Oh no that's just his arms
The singer thinks her lover's embrace is just physical and can't reveal his true feelings.
Ohoh it's in his kiss That's where it is
The singer strongly suggests that a kiss can reveal an individual's true feelings.
Hold him and squeeze him tight Find out what you want to know
The singer encourages her listeners to get close to their lover and find out how they truly feel.
If it's love if it really is It's there in his kiss
The singer believes that if someone truly loves you, it will be evident through their kiss.
How 'bout the way he acts? Oh no that's not the way
The singer doesn't believe that her lover's behavior can reveal his true feelings.
And you're not listenin' to all I said
The singer feels that her listeners aren't following her advice to look for their lover's true feelings in a kiss.
Oh oh it's in his kiss That's where it is
The singer reiterates that a kiss truly reveals a person's innermost feelings.
Writer(s): Rudy Clark
Contributed by Sophie E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.