Anita’s musical career began as a child although her expectation was to become a dancer. Soon after leaving school she left the UK to train as a choreographed skater in Las Vegas. Even today this would be unusual, but in the 1950s it was an exceptional experience and gives some idea of the kind of expectation held by her family. However, her first significant professional engagement in the UK was as a singer- briefly as one of the few ladies to sing with the Cliff Adams Singers. These were choralists who were to enjoy an astonishingly long run with BBC radio’s “Sing Something Simple”. She was still in her teens when invited to cut her first recording- with the John Barry Seven- a band who at that time were at the most active part of their own pop chart career. This early single did not succeed as hoped and it was a few years before Anita tried again. The late 1960s saw her career at its peak. Besides her important hit “Just Loving You” -acquired through her friend Dusty Springfield from brother Tom- she also made appearances in several British movies and had a very popular presence on UK television. |
