In 1968, Mary Hopkin’s agent signed up her to audition for a local British talent show called Opportunity Knocks.
Little did this 17-year-old Welsh singer know that her life would forever be changed.
When Mary was 17, she performed weekly with a local folk-rock band called Selby Set and Mary.
This went on for about six months until the group disbanded. Her agent wasn’t going to give up on her and he signed her up to audition for a popular talent show.
Mary landed a slot on Opportunity Knocks.
She wasn’t thrilled, at first.
“I was mortified when I heard he had done it. You can’t condemn that kind of show, because they can do a lot for people, and certainly, it would’ve taken me a lot longer, if at all, to get into the music business, but the whole thing is terribly embarrassing,” Mary shared with Goldmine Magazine.
Nonetheless, Mary went to the audition.
She sang several songs.
The producers liked her performance and chose her as one of the contestants.
Opportunity Knocks works the way talent shows like Britain’s Got Talent. After all, these talent shows are highly influenced by Opportunity Knocks.
Every week, each contestant performs and the audience votes via phone.
Mary went on to win six episodes in a row because of her beautiful singing voice.
Everything changed with one song.
Her rendition of “Turn, Turn, Turn” got her the attention of the voting audience, and a very influential personality.
Model Twiggy is one of the people who regularly watch the talent show and she loved Mary’s performances.
She loved it so much that she had to tell her producer and musician friend about this lovely young woman with the beautiful voice.
That friend was Paul McCartney.
It was perfect timing because Paul was looking for new singers to sign for his new record label, Apple Records.
Two days later, Mary received a telegram.
It said “Ring Peter Brown at Apple Records.”
Mary and her mum had no idea who Peter Brown and Apple Records were, so Mary left it alone.
She let it be for three days until her mother convinced her to finally call. That’s when they discovered they were talking to Paul McCartney.
Paul wanted Mary to come down to London to sing. She sang a couple of songs for him and they had lunch afterward before she went back home to Wales.
Two days passed before the phone rang.
They rang her up, telling Mary that they wanted to sign her. Mary went back to London, where Paul told her he had the perfect song for her.
They recorded it five weeks later and released the song a few months after.
Five weeks after the release, the song became number one.
All this started because of her beautiful performance of the song “Turn, Turn, Turn” on Opportunity Knocks.
Her performance of this song continued to be requested by the audience throughout her stint at the talent show.
Mary obliged the request every time.
Mary went on to release several albums, represented the UK at Eurovision, and even had her own television show on BBC.
All this happened because her agent signed her up without her knowing and she went along with it anyway.
See Mary record the song that shot her to the top for the Apple Records promo in the video below!
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