Okay, let’s get obscure. That’s what this particular series exists for, after all!
Christine Quaite was born in Leeds, England in 1948 and entered her first singing competition at the tender age of eight. She loved the excitement of it all and started singing with local community groups, joining them for shows while continuing to enter more contests on her own. Finishing second at one of these events, newly-a-teen Christine won herself a recording contract with a tiny independent label called Oriole.
Oriole released Quaite’s first few singles in the UK to little fanfare or airplay, but during the first flush of the British Invasion, the World Artists label picked up her fourth single, “Tell Me Mamma,” for US distribution. (Everything English was picked up for US distribution in 1964 — West Country farm reports were picked up and released as singles.) Unexpectedly, 15 year-old Christine Quaite from Leeds suddenly found herself with the #85 song in America.
Her next few singles couldn’t replicate that small success and, like many young entertainers whose spotlight shines only briefly, she left show business, got married, and started a family. Hopefully, she dined out on the story of her youthful musical adventures for decades to come.
Here’s Christine, exuberantly belting out the catchiest of pop:
1 2 3 o' clock 4 o' clock Rock 
Well that’s a lively little ditty. I think I was listening to Under The Boardwalk that year.
Lively is an apt description! The song has taken up residence in my head for weeks now. And at some point I’ll get to The Drifters and my personal Under The Boardwalk story.
I love that song.
Very lively indeed! She certainly doesn’t sound 15. Can you imagine being that age and having success across the Atlantic?
She does sound more mature and polished. I had no idea she was 15 until I looked into it. Crazy to have success in the US at that time! Like suddenly having a hit in Narnia.