The Reynolds Girls

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The Reynolds Girls
The Reynolds Girls in the music video for their first and only hit single, "I'd Rather Jack" (1989)
The Reynolds Girls in the music video for their first and only hit single, "I'd Rather Jack" (1989)
Background information
OriginLiverpool, United Kingdom
GenresDance-pop
Years active1989
LabelsPWL
Past members
  • Aisling Reynolds
  • Linda Reynolds

The Reynolds Girls were a British dance-pop duo composed of sisters Linda (born in 1970) and Aisling Reynolds (born in 1972). They are best known for their hit single "I'd Rather Jack", which peaked at number 8 on the UK Singles Chart[1] in April 1989, number 6 in Ireland,[2] number 8 in the Netherlands,[3] number 7 in the Flanders region of Belgium,[4] and number 43 in Australia.[5] It remained in the UK singles chart for 12 weeks.[1][6] The sisters signed to the PWL record label after giving Pete Waterman a demo tape.[7] Their single was produced by Stock Aitken Waterman.

The sisters grew up in Litherland, a suburb of Sefton, Liverpool, and were of Irish descent.[7] The duo's younger sister, Debbie (no relation to the late American actress Debbie Reynolds),[8] played the original Katie Rogers, in Brookside, from 1987 to 1989.

" ... AM/FM, all that jazz, we'd rather sing along with Yazz, what happened to the radio, they never play the songs we know ...." " ... No heavy metal rock and roll, music from the past, I'd rather jack, than Fleetwood Mac, I'd rather jack ... ".

"I'd Rather Jack" started out as a response to music critics who ignored the younger pop acts in the UK at the time, and to radio DJs who continued to play older bands on their playlists rather than Stock Aitken Waterman songs. It was also a response to a perceived snub at the Brit Awards, where SAW acts lost out to more "mature" acts such as Enya and Steve Winwood. After their one hit, The Reynolds Girls were dropped by the label. A second single, "Get Real", was released but this failed to chart and the duo have not made any real media appearance since.[7] It is unknown what happened to them after they quit the music industry, and they could not be traced for a 2012 PWL reunion concert.[9]

In a public poll conducted by Channel 4 in 2003, "I'd Rather Jack" was voted number 91 in a list of the 100 Worst Pop Records of All Time.[10] In a documentary about PWL that aired in 2012, the people interviewed admitted that the single was indeed a tongue-in-cheek response to the critics, and in part did ruin the siblings' career after they'd recorded it.[11][not specific enough to verify]

In 2013, ITV started a search for the sisters, so they could appear in a commemorative documentary about Stock, Aitken and Waterman.[12] As of 2021, their whereabouts remain unknown.[13]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b "Official Charts > Reynolds Girls". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  2. ^ "Search results for Reynolds Girls (from irishcharts.ie)". Fireball Media. Retrieved 23 August 2016 – via Imgur.com.
  3. ^ "dutchcharts.nl > The Reynolds Girls – I'd Rather Jack" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
  4. ^ "Ultratop Vlaanderen > The Reynolds Girls – I'd Rather Jack" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 October 2014.
  5. ^ "australian-charts.com > The Reynolds Girls – I'd Rather Jack (song)". Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
  6. ^ Roberts, David, ed. (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records. p. 459. ISBN 978-1-904994-10-7.
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b c "The Known Facts". thereynoldsgirls.com. February 2001. Archived from the original on 27 October 2009. Retrieved 9 February 2020 – via Wayback Machine.
  8. ^ Kibble-White, Graham; Redmond, Phil (2002). Phil Redmond's 20 Years of Brookside. London: Carlton Publishing Group. p. 157. ISBN 978-1-84222-764-0.
  9. ^ Wright, Jade (3 July 2012). "1980s Liverpool pop act the Reynolds Girls sought for PWL concert". Liverpool Echo. Trinity Mirror. ISSN 1751-6277. Retrieved 9 June 2018. But the Liverpool sisters who burst into the pop charts in 1989 with the Stock Aitken Waterman-penned protest song I'd Rather Jack (than Fleetwood Mac) have still not been traced.
  10. ^ "The One Hundred... Worst Pop Records". Channel 4. 1 January 2004. Archived from the original on 16 December 2009. Retrieved 24 December 2009 – via Wayback Machine.
  11. ^ The Hit Factory: The Stock Aitken Waterman Story (Television programme). Produced and directed by Stephen McGinn. ITV: ITV Studios. 2012. 37 minutes in. Retrieved 9 February 2020 – via YouTube.CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  12. ^ Wright, Jade (2 July 2012). "Echo search for 80s pop act the Reynolds Girls". liverpoolecho. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  13. ^ Whatever Happened To The Reynolds Girls?, Classic Pop, August 2021
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