Keeley, Yvonne (6th September 1952-Present)

She is a singer born Yvonne Paay in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, whose sister is the singer Patricia Paay.

She and her sister often worked together and became backing vocalists for popular Dutch groups such as Golden Earring and Tee Set and The Cats and in 1971 she released he own single “One Way Ticket” using the pseudonym Ivy Christie.

In 1972 she and her sister recorded as Honey Pie and released the single “I Believe In Love” and that same year she met the singer Steve Harley. They became romantically involved so she made the decision to return with him to London, England. While there, she established quite a career as a session singer, working with British artists such as Vicki Brown, Madeleine Bell, Kiki Dee and The Alan Parsons Project and also backed her sister Patricia on her solo album Beam of Light.

Her name change from Paay happened in 1974 when a record company was concerned about the two sisters getting mixed up and so Steve Harley thought up “Keeley”. That same year she released her own single, “Tumbling Down/Loretta’s Tale” in 1974. The following year she sang backing on the Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel 1975 hit song “Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)”. She also performed on several of their albums.

Success came knocking in 1977 when she paired up with the Scottish singer Scott Fitzgerald and recorded the song “If I Had Words” which was an adaptation of the Maestoso’s main theme in Camille Saint-Saen’s Symphony No. 3 in C minor (Organ Symphony). It was accompanied with the backing of the choir from Chelsea’s St. Thomas More Roman Catholic School and shot up to No. 3 on the UK chart in 1978. It also gained hit status in several European countries and in New Zealand and Australia.

As the 1980s came around, she and Steve Harley parted and she returned to the Netherlands where she released “Thank You” in 1981 and she and her sister became singers on the popular Stars on 45 series of recordings. The Stars On/Starsound team put them in the trio The Star Sisters with Sylvana van Veen, and they became known for impersonating The Andrews Sisters. They released singles such as “Stars on 45 proudly presents The Star Sisters” in 1983, “Bad Girls” in 1987 and the albums Tonight 20.00 Hours and Danger.

The trio went their own separate ways in the late 1980s and in 1988 she presented a show on Cable One radio. Continuing with broadcasting she moved onto Rotterdam’s City TV in 1991.

In 1992 she teamed back up with Scott Fitzgerald to release “United We Stand” which was far less successful than their previous venture and five years later she was presenting her show, Keeley In the Afternoon on Radio Rijnmond, which continued until 2001.

After three decades The Star Sisters reunited and released a remix of their Stars on 45 single and appeared on the Dutch version of Dancing with the Stars.

Sources:

Keeley, Yvonne (6th September 1952-Present)

Navigate Feenotes

Search Feenotes

Please donate to keep the site alive