The Angelettes

Lore & Background

The group first practised together in 1968 under various names, eventually settling on White Spirit. They initially focused on harmonies but by 1971 each had adopted instruments and cut a demo disc that caught the attention of Jonathan King. King arranged for them to sign to Decca Records with him as producer and renamed them The Angelettes. Their debut single, 'Don't Let Him Touch You', was released in March 1972 when the members were 16 and 17. By the end of May, it had risen to number 35 in the UK singles chart, earning them a spot on Top Of The Pops. During their performance, a technical fault caused the sound of the rest of the song not to be broadcast, and the single stalled in the chart. Despite this, the single reputedly sold 100,000 copies.

Reader's Guide

The Angelettes are a footnote in British pop history, remembered primarily for a single top 40 hit that was hampered by a technical mishap on national television. Their brief career illustrates the precarious nature of pop success in the early 1970s, where a single stroke of bad luck could derail momentum. After their debut, two further singles on Jonathan King's UK Records failed to chart, and a final single in 1974 on Mooncrest also missed the charts. The group's most notable later work was providing backing vocals for Bryan Ferry on his 1973 album These Foolish Things and accompanying him on Top Of The Pops for his top ten hit 'A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall'. Without further commercial success, the members took up regular jobs, though they occasionally performed on an amateur basis. Sue Hampson died around 1998. The group's legacy is that of a promising act whose potential was never fully realized.

Did You Know?

• The group's debut single 'Don't Let Him Touch You' reached number 35 on the UK singles chart in May 1972.
• A technical fault during their Top Of The Pops performance caused the sound of the rest of the song not to be broadcast.
• The single reputedly sold 100,000 copies despite stalling in the chart.

From Schoolyard to Studio: The Making of the Group

Born out of a shared schoolyard in Droylsden, Manchester, The Angelettes began as four friends—Sue Hampson, Pat Fitzgerald, Jan Heywood, and Julie Abbott—who first gathered to practise singing together in 1968. For several years they cycled through different group names before landing on White Spirit, during which period their sound centred almost entirely on vocal harmonies. A significant shift came by 1971, when each member picked up an instrument and the quartet recorded a demo disc. That tape caught the ear of producer Jonathan King, who saw enough potential to bring them into the studio under his wing. He arranged a contract with Decca Records and, as part of the deal, rebranded the group as The Angelettes. What had been a long, informal journey of school-friend rehearsals thus became a professional recording career, setting the stage for a brief but memorable run through the early-1970s British pop scene.

A Charting Hit and a Top of the Pops Fiasco

Their debut single, "Don't Let Him Touch You," arrived in March 1972 with the four girls aged just sixteen and seventeen. The track climbed steadily through the spring and, by the end of May, had settled at number thirty-five on the UK singles chart. That position earned them an invitation to perform on the BBC's Top of the Pops, a moment that should have marked a high point in their short career. Instead, a technical glitch struck roughly a minute into their live rendition, cutting off the audio for the remainder of the song on the broadcast. The misstep appeared to cap the single's momentum, and it stalled in the charts. Yet the record still managed an estimated one hundred thousand sales and peaked at number twenty-nine on the New Musical Express poll for the week ending twenty-seven May. For a group of teenagers from a small town near Manchester, that was a remarkable achievement, even if the Top of the Pops fiasco would remain the defining footnote of their one charting hit.

Later Singles and the Bryan Ferry Collaboration

Following their Decca debut, the group moved to Jonathan King's own UK Records label, releasing "Popsicles and Icicles" in September 1972 and "Do You Love Me" in January 1973. Neither single found a place on the charts, signalling that the initial spark had faded. A more notable chapter came in 1973 when the four women stepped behind the microphone as backing vocalists for Bryan Ferry, contributing to his album These Foolish Things. Their studio work with Ferry also led to a second appearance on Top of the Pops, this time accompanying his top-ten hit "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall"—a far smoother broadcast than their own earlier performance. Their final release, "I Surrender," a co-write by Ron Roker and Gerry Shury, appeared on the Mooncrest label in 1974 but, like the others, failed to chart. Across four singles in total, the group never again broke into the top forty, leaving "Don't Let Him Touch You" as their sole charting entry.

Life Beyond the Spotlight

With the commercial momentum long gone, the Angelettes quietly dissolved as a professional act. The four women returned to Droylsden and took up regular employment, stepping away from the recording industry altogether. That said, the group never entirely abandoned music; the members occasionally performed together on an amateur basis, keeping the bond forged in their school days alive in a low-key, personal setting. The group's story is ultimately a brief one in the broader catalogue of 1970s British pop: a single top-forty hit, a handful of non-charting singles, and a few sessions as backing vocalists. Sue Hampson passed away around 1998, and the remaining members continued their lives away from the spotlight. For fans of that era, The Angelettes remain a small but poignant footnote—four friends from Manchester whose one shot at national recognition was derailed by a broken microphone on television.