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LIV MAESSEN
Knock Knock Who's There? (John Carter - Geoff Stephens) Australia 1970 #1 Sydney #3 Melbourne #1 Brisbane #8 Adelaide #1 Perth
Single on Fable label. Co-charted in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth with the original by Mary Hopkin.    Liv Maessen's material is hard to come by these days. Oddly, three of her charting tracks are on a Bobby & Laurie CD called With Other Fabulous Australian Performers of the Seventies, a Canetoad release: Knock Knock Who's There, Love Moth and Snowbird. [Amazon link  ; Canetoad link] See also, at this site, the origins of Liv Maessen's - Snowbird and The Love Moth.
ANDRA WILLIS
Knock Knock Who's There? (John Carter - Geoff Stephens) USA 1970  Single on Paramount by singer from West Virginia (b.1943). This version charted regionally in the US: see the selection of charts posted at ARSA.Andra Willis was a regular singer on The Lawrence Welk Show in the late 60s. Her husband, the musician, arranger and conductor Larry Muhoberac was keyboardist with Elvis Presley's TCB band in the late 60s and worked with a number of big names over the years. Since the mid-80s The Muhoberacs have lived in Australia. Andra's recordings as Andra Willis Muhoberac appear here and there: her Carol For The Wheat Country is on ABC Radio's Macca By Request, and she duets with John Rowles on one of his albums. Larry has, for example, produced for Grace Knight, arranged for Silverchair, and conducted on Neil Diamond's tour of Australia. Further reading: The Muhoberacs' son Brennan has a 2007 update on the family at his MySpace page. Thanks to Terry Stacey for finding and verifying this version. Image from Old Favourites page at WelkMusicFamily.com.
MARY HOPKIN
Knock Knock Who's There? (John Carter - Geoff Stephens) UK 1970 Original version #2 UK #92 USA #1 Sydney #3 Melbourne #1 Brisbane #1 Perth #1 NZ Single on Apple, #26. This was a Eurovision Song Contest entry, produced by Mickie Most: it came second to All Kinds Of Everything. The breakthrough for Welsh singer Mary Hopkin was her appearance on the talent show Opportunity Knocks. Her first single, an international hit, was Those Were The Days, the second single released on The Beatles' Apple label (1968, #1 UK, #1 USA Cashbox and elsewhere). She was something of a protégée of Paul McCartney who produced Those Were The Days and her first album, Postcard. See also Que Sera Sera. Further reading: 1. MaryHopkin.co.uk (official site; the biography page simply links to the Wikipedia entry). 2. Mary Hopkins Friendly Society (fan site).
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The writers, John Carter and Geoff Stephens, were behind many British hit recordings, especially during the late 60s and into the 70s. John Carter (born John Shakespeare) is usually associated with Ken Lewis (born Kenneth James Hawker), his longtime partner in songwriting and performing since the end of the 50s. With Perry Ford, they recorded as The Ivy League from 1965. Later, Carter and Lewis were involved, for example, in The Flowerpot Men (Let's Go To San Francisco), White Plains (My Baby Loves Lovin') and First Class (Beach Baby). Geoff Stephens, who collaborated with a number of other writers, wrote Winchester Cathedral, the oldtime-radio styled hit for his New Vaudeville Band, a project that included John Carter on vocals. Carter and Stephens were among a number of British songwriters, many of whom worked as performers and producers, whose projects were seldom off the charts during the late 60s and early 70s. Others included Roger Cook, Roger Greenaway, Les Reed, Tony Macaulay, Barry Mason, Peter Callander, Mitch Murray, Graham Gouldman, Ken Howard, Alan Blaikley, Tony Hatch & Jackie Trent. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Some better known songs by Carter and Stephens: John Carter & Geoff Stephens: Semi-detached Suburban Mr Jones (Manfred Mann, 1966) John Carter: John Carter & Ken Lewis: John Carter, Ken Lewis & Perry Ford: John Carter & Gillian Shakespeare Geoff Stephens: Geoff Stephens & Les Reed: Geoff Stephens & Tony Macaulay: Geoff Stephens, Mitch Murray & Pete Callander: Geoff Stephens & Pete Callander:
For more about the British songwriters mentioned on this page, see: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pages at this website (songs recorded by Australian artists): Tony Macaulay and Barry Mason: Melanie Makes Me Smile and She Works In A Woman's Way; Graham Gouldman: You Stole My Love and Going Home; Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway: Everything Is Out Of Season, Gimme Dat Ding and Can You Feel It Baby; Tony Hatch/Jackie Trent: One In A Million, You Made Me What I Am, Heart and You're The One; John Carter and Ken Lewis: That's What I Want; Roger Cook and Bobby Wood: Your Love Still Brings Me To My Knees. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Main sources for this page: Carter and Stephens pages listed above; BMI; Gillett & Smith, Rock File 3, 1975 (out of print).
JOHN CARTER
Knock Knock Who's There? (John Carter - Geoff Stephens) UK 1969 Demo version by one of the writers of Knock Knock Who's There?
Unreleased at the time, now available on the 2003 RPM Records album Measure For Measure: The John Carter Anthology 1961-1977.
THE ORLONS
Knock! Knock! (Who's There?) (Bob Crewe - Larry Santos) USA 1964 Red herring #64 USA Same title but not the same song as 'Knock Knock Who's There?' by Liv Maessen. Single on Cameo by early 60s Philadelphia vocal group whose first and biggest of three Top 5 singles was The Wah Watusi (1962, #2 USA). One of The Orlons' B-sides was the original version of Don't Throw Your Love Away (1963), famously recorded by The Searchers in 1964. See ARSA for some regional chart activity. Thanks to Terry Stacey for Red Herring alert. Corrections or comments? Contact the writer. |
Deep-voiced Melbourne-based singer who won 1970 Logie Award (Australia's equivalent of the Emmys) for Best New Talent.