The “Golden Hits Of The 60s” 

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CARAVELLES

“YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE A BABY TO CRY”

 (Merrill, Shand)    Smash 1852

No.3    December 21, 1963

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In the early ’60s, Andrea Simpson  (b. 1946) and Lois Wilkinson (b.1944) worked for a brokerage firm in

London, their hometown.  At office parties, after the rug had been rolled back and some folks had had a

few, the girls would sing a few breathy numbers.  Many  a fellow employee thought the misses had the

makings of stardom and encouraged  them.   Thereafter, Andrea and Lois spent many an after hour

rehearsing and  tightening  up their tunes.

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Late in 1963, the duo made a demo of something called “You Don’t Have To Be A Baby To Cry” and brought

it to the blokes at B.P.R. Records.  The label lads liked the  girls’ wholesome style, and signed them up.  With

an eye to the sky, the young ladies  named themselves after the Caravelle, a famous French airliner.   Just

weeks before the stateside Beatle Invasion, “You Don’t Have To Be A Baby” landed on the nation charts.

Similar-sounding  singles followed in the jet stream, but nothing nudged the masses to buy these Caravelle

waxings.

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With the   failure of  their folk-rocking “Hey Mama, You’ve Been On My Mind,”  Lois Wilkinson left the duo

in 1966 for a solo career as Lois Lane and married bandleader Johnny Arthey.   After a number of easy

listening singles, Lois became something of  a fixture on the BBC’s “Light Programme” and “Radio 2”

sessions, singing versions  of  pop hits, when the broadcast restrictions denied the use  of prerecorded

materials.

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Against all odds, Andrea Simpson and a series of replacements have carried the “Caravelles” into the ’80s.

but none of their sporadically released recordings have charted here or abroad.