Pop Archives

Cheryl Gray - You Made Me What I Am (1967)

(Tony Hatch - Jackie Trent)
Australia Australia
#23 Sydney #11 Melbourne #18 Brisbane #9 Adelaide #59 Perth

Single on HMV by artist later known as Samantha Sang. See her international hit Emotion (1977), a record with strong Bee Gees connections.

Cheryl Gray (b.1953) is the daughter of Melbourne singer and vocal teacher Reg Gray whose real surname was Sang. Both her father and her mother, Joan Clarke, sang on Melbourne radio and TV. She was in her early teens when Brand New Woman, her first charting single, was released.


Brand New Woman (1966, #46 Melbourne) was an original song by Peter N. Pinne who, with Don Battye, has written a number of stage musicals, as well as the Sons And Daughters theme song.


See also Cheryl Gray's It's Not Easy Lovin' You (1967, #34 Adelaide #11 Perth), also written by Jackie Trent and Tony Hatch, and first recorded by Jackie Trent; and The Real Thing, another charting record by Cheryl Gray.

Further reading: 1. At the age of fifteen and a half, Cheryl Gray is well on her way to fulfilling her chosen ambition… Sydney Morning Herald, 5 August 1967 [Google News Archive]  2. The Samantha Sang biography at Super Seventies Rock Site also covers the Cheryl Gray years.


Mark Wynter - You Made Me What I Am (1966)

(Tony Hatch - Jackie Trent)
UK UK
Original version

Single on Pye label by early 60s teen idol, best known for his 1962 hits Venus In Blue Jeans and Go Away Little Girl.

Prolific songwriter, arranger, musical director and producer Tony Hatch wrote most of his songs with his wife, singer Jackie Trent. He was the musical brains behind Petula Clark’s mid-60s career revival and was responsible for her run of hit records from Downtown (1964). Hatch and Trent also wrote the theme to the TV series Neighbours.

Tony Hatch also had a hand in the original versions of One In A Million by Bev Harrell and Heart by Lynne Randell. He produced The Montanas’ version of Ciao Baby, a song better known in Australia through Lynne Randell’s version.

Further reading: The Tony Hatch song lists at Magic Town.