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.
Keep Away from Other Girls
Helen Shapiro Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You used that line before
You gave me everything that a girl could want
In that small restaurant
A hero sandwich and a glass of wine
A smile, a joke and oh, such a great big line
Keep away from other girls
Don’t break my heart, just to be smart
You gotta keep away from other girls
You told me everything that I longed to hear
Mixed my dreams with instant cheer
Gave my world such a rainbow shine
A smile, a joke and oh such a great big line
You better keep away from other girls
Keep away from other girls
Don’t break my heart, just to be smart
You gotta keep away from other girls
A hundred times or more
You used that line before
When you were close to me in that corner booth
Was it love? Now tell the truth
You held me closer than a clinging vine
A smile, a joke, a smile, a joke, and oh such a great big line
You better keep away from other girls
Keep away from other girls
Don’t break my heart, just to be smart
You gotta keep away from other girls
You gotta keep away from other girls
Keep away from other girls
Don’t break my heart, just to be smart
You gotta keep away from other girls
A hundred times or more
You used that line before
The song Keep Away from Other Girls by Helen Shapiro talks about a girl who is being warned by her lover to stay away from other men. The lyrics indicate that the lover has used the line "keep away from other girls" several times before, which could suggest a lack of trust in their relationship. The lover tries to reassure the girl with everything that she could want, such as a hero sandwich and a glass of wine, mixed with instant cheer and a rainbow shine. However, the girl is not sure if it's love or just a great big line that the lover is feeding her. The girl is left to wonder whether she should trust her lover or keep away from other men.
Despite the reassuring words of the lover, there is a sense of instability and insecurity present in the song. The line "don't break my heart, just to be smart" indicates that the girl is being asked to make a decision that could hurt her if she doesn't follow her lover's advice. The repetition of the warning to "keep away from other girls" also suggests that the lover may be projecting their own insecurities onto the girl.
Overall, the song has a catchy melody and lyrics that speak to the complexities of relationships and trust. It captures the fears and uncertainties that everyone faces when navigating romantic relationships.
Line by Line Meaning
A hundred times or more
You've said that same thing to me over and over again
You used that line before
You've already said those words to me
You gave me everything that a girl could want
You made me feel like you were everything I wanted
In that small restaurant
When we were together at the restaurant
A hero sandwich and a glass of wine
You bought me a sandwich and some wine
A smile, a joke and oh, such a great big line
You made me smile and laugh, and you sweet-talked me with your flattery
You better keep away from other girls
You need to stay loyal to me and not flirt with other girls
Don’t break my heart, just to be smart
Don't hurt me by trying to be clever or sneaky
You told me everything that I longed to hear
You said all the things I wanted to hear from somebody I liked
Mixed my dreams with instant cheer
You made my hopes and dreams seem more possible, and you made me feel happy
Gave my world such a rainbow shine
You made my world seem better and more colorful
When you were close to me in that corner booth
When we were sitting together in a secluded area of the restaurant
Was it love? Now tell the truth
Were you actually in love with me or were you just pretending?
You held me closer than a clinging vine
You held me tightly, like you didn't want to let me go
A smile, a joke, a smile, a joke, and oh such a great big line
You kept using your charm to get me to like you, even though it might not have been genuine
You gotta keep away from other girls
You need to resist temptation and be faithful to me
Keep away from other girls
Stay away from other girls who might try to steal your attention from me
You gotta keep away from other girls
You need to be committed to me and avoid giving other girls the wrong impression
Don’t break my heart, just to be smart
Don't try to use your wits against me and end up causing me pain
You gotta keep away from other girls
You have to choose between me and other girls, and you need to choose me
A hundred times or more
You keep repeating yourself
You used that line before
You're saying the same things again, even though I know what you're really like
Lyrics © BMG RIGHTS MANAGEMENT US, LLC, Peermusic Publishing, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group, BOURNE CO.
Written by: BURT BACHARACH, BOB HILLIARD, BURT F. BACHARACH
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind