Sally Carr born 28 March 1945

Sally Carr (born 28 March 1945) is a Scottish singer, best known as the lead singer of the 1970s pop group Middle of the Road.

Singer Sally Carr was born Sarah Cecilia Carr on March 28, 1945. Her father was a miner while her mother Cecilia was an invalid who was bedridden until her death at age 62. Carr has four brothers. Sally used to sing with the rest of her family around a piano when she was a child. 

In the 1960's she worked as a hairdresser and sang at both pubs and clubs in the evenings (she also worked as a waitress at various pubs).  Sally achieved her greatest popularity in the early 1970's as the lead singer of the Scottish pop band Middle of the Road.

Formed by Sally Carr (vocals), Ian McCredie (guitar), Eric McCredie (bass), and drummer Ken Andrew in 1970. The group had been playing together since 1967, but under the monikers of ”Part Four” and as “Los Caracus” who won the UK TV talent show Opportunity Knocks.

Middle of the Road had trouble finding success until they uprooted from the United Kingdom and settled in Italy. There they met the Italian music producer Giacomo Tosti, who gave the band their distinctive sound and gave them their international break.

1971 would see the release of their first single, the mega hit " Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep " as well as an album of the same name. The song would reach the upper echelons of charts all over the continent and propel the once unknown Scots into the pop consciousness almost overnight. The single was their first to reach #1 in the UK Singles Chart in June 1971 and keep it for four more weeks.

In all, Middle of the Road had five hit singles in the UK during 1971-1972. Four of their singles sold over one million copies each, and received a gold disc. The tracks were "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep" (which went on to sell over 10 million), "Sacramento", "Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum" and "Soley Soley". By early 1972 the group had sold over five million records.

                             

The band had especially strong success in Germany, where they achieved eleven Top 40 hits in 1971-1974. As an example of this, Frank Valdor was fast to adapt Sacramento as his "party records". Songs like Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep and Sacramento were played a lot on Scandinavian radio.

In 1974 early Bay City Rollers member Neil Henderson joined the band on guitar. He wrote and co-wrote songs for Middle of the Road (including the singles "Rockin' Soul" and "Everybody Loves A Winner" and 1974 albums, You Pays Yer Money And You Takes Yer Chance and Postcard, all released in Germany via Ariola like their first German LP, Music Music), but their commercial success could not keep pace with that of earlier songs.

More singles followed, as well as a handful of albums, but by 1976 the musical landscape had changed and Middle of the Road eventually called it a day. The band would make a return on the retro circuit performing well into the 21st century, albeit under the aegis of Middle of the Road featuring Sally Carr.

In 1978, Carr married journalist Chick Young. They had a son, Keith, in 1980 but they separated in 1984 but didn't divorce and remained friends. On 18 January 2001, Keith was killed in a motorbike accident

In May 2012 Sally collapsed at her Renfrewshire home, due to a brain haemorrhage with doctors giving her little chance of survival. Carr was left with 38 staples in her head after surgery and has flashbacks. She has been left with almost no obvious symptoms from her brain trauma, but has to practise writing and has ongoing problems with her peripheral vision.

(Info edited mainly from All Music & Wikipedia plus numerous sources)

Sally is now able to begin the hard work to retrain her voice and get fit for performing again. This a short message from her to all Middle of the Road fans who have helped her to get to this stage in her recovery.

And here's a great video of Chirpy chirpy Cheap Cheap