Maggie Stredder
Singer who worked with both Benny Hill and Jimi Hendrix
MAGGIE STREDDER, who has died aged 82, was the most striking member of the Vernons Girls, choreographed singers recruited by the social committee of the Liverpool football pools company Vernon’s; they became fixtures on Oh Boy!, the 1950s ITV pop extravaganza.
After the ensemble broke up in 1961, Maggie Stredder formed the Ladybirds, an all-purpose trio who were heard on recordings, advertising jingles and lightentertainment television shows for decades.
Margaret Elizabeth Stredder was born at Birkenhead, Merseyside, on January 9 1936, the youngest of two children born to John Stredder, a shipbuilder, and his wife Cissie. After leaving Birkenhead High School Academy in 1952, she obtained a secretarial post with the council. Although not especially musical, she responded to a newspaper advertisement by Vernon’s seeking members for its allfemale choir, which focused chiefly on traditional material such as Now is the Month of Maying and Nymphs and Shepherds, showbiz standards and items from musicals.
The Vernons Girls’ appearances soon included performances on Come Dancing and The Eamonn Andrews Show, whose host wrote sleeve notes to the group’s eponymous album in 1958. After appearances on Six-five Special, the first national show aimed at teenagers, they were retained for Oh Boy!, which was dominated by audience displays of pop hysteria.
Maggie Stredder, who wore impressive hornrimmed spectacles before the cameras, soon became known as “the girl with the glasses”. Before Oh Boy! ended in May 1959 she had amassed her own celebrity and was therefore wellplaced to function with Jean Ryder as half of the Two Tones for bookings at US air force bases in Germany and then a Max Bygraves show.
In 1962, Maggie Stredder formed the Ladybirds. Their work included backing Eurovision Song Contest entries by Sandie Shaw and Olivia Newton-john; Jimi Hendrix’s Hey Joe on Top of the Pops; a solo album by John Entwistle of The Who; Discolongamax by Max Bygraves; and in 2005 the companion CD to Mark Wirtz’s book Love is Eggshaped. There were shots at the hit parade in their own right and a 1977 album containing arrangements of current hits.
The Ladybirds were backing vocalists on Top of the Pops for 12 years until superseded by the Maggie Stredder Singers, formed in 1967 for assignments that required a fuller sound. With Madeline Bell and Lesley Duncan, Maggie Stredder also provided the harmonies behind Dusty Springfield during her BBC television series in the mid-1960s.
The Ladybirds, however, remained her principal concern as she balanced her profession with motherhood, following her marriage in 1966 to the television scriptwriter Roy Tuvey. He had a hand in The Two Ronnies, one of many TV shows in which the Ladybirds took part. Others included Cilla, Morecambe and Wise, The Tommy Cooper Hour and The Generation Game.
Through their input to orchestral albums by Ronnie Aldrich, Benny Hill’s musical director, the Ladybirds entered the comedian’s orbit. As well as participating in more than 60 episodes of Hill’s show, they assisted him on disc, most conspicuously on the chart-topping Ernie (1971).
In 1989 Maggie Stredder and the Vernons Girls came together for The Event, a celebration at Wembley Arena of Cliff Richard’s artistic life. This prompted a more permanent reunion of the group, who were received with affection on the nostalgia circuit. There was also a latter-day career as an after-dinner speaker and a 2001 autobiography, The Girl With the Glasses.
Maggie Stredder’s first marriage was dissolved. Her second husband, Jim Kennedy, predeceased her. She is survived by a daughter and a son.