Tribute to Mary Marshall- by Patrick Ranasinghe

Mary Marshall Nimal Mendis & The Kandyans – Kiss Kiss Kiss  – My Island Home     

Mary Hasmall was born in Bolton to a highly musical family.Opera and Classical singing was already part of the family heritage by virtue of Italian and Welsh ancestors. In Edwardian times a grandmother and renowned beauty, had become so popular that a jealous rival waited with the fans outside the stage door and then threw acid into her face. Her grandfather a much respected businessman was very protective and after this incident insisted she gave it up. Mary was from an era when families would still gather for musical evenings around the piano. From the age of about three it was clear she had an unusually advanced ability. By four she was delighting local Italian ice cream sellers who made her sing songs from the operas in exchange for ice cream! At five, she was singing in school concerts. On one such occasion she was singing ‘Brindisi’ from ‘La Traviata’ but alas things didn’t go quite as smoothly as anticipated. Mary forgot the words and became stuck in a repetitive musical loop, just singing the line over and over until the teacher came to guide her off the stage. Despite the ordeal Mary was put forward for countless local concerts and built up a strong local following who flocked to see the little girl with the beautiful voice.

In the late 1950s Her publicist was Freddie Ross Mary’s appearances were attracting a lot of attention. Record promoter Denis Preston the man behind such talents as Cleo Laine and Lonnie Donnegon saw her performing at London’s Park Lane Hotel where she was backed by a brilliant Sri Lankan musician and Songwriter Nimal Mendis, (who would later write ‘Kiss Kiss Kiss’ for her on the single that followed). Decca was already showing a keen interest in Mary, and now Denis asked her to record a demo disc for Columbia EMI .

Mary’s studio demo was so successful that the fellow artistes present burst into spontaneous applause and so the pianist played on a second time. She was probably the only female recording artiste to be signed up at that time in the 50’s when even many established female stars were having their contracts terminated. This was a male dominated music scene and although Columbia was convinced that Mary was destined for the big time they also advised her to be aware that she would have a great struggle to face until the trend changed again. Her single, a double-A sided disc entitled “My Island Home” and “Kiss Kiss Kiss” excited musical legend and sound technician Joe Meek, who after the recording, raced down from the control room at Columbia, threw his arms around her and exclaimed delightedly “Mary, together we’re going to the top!” The single got five star reviews in the Music mags of the day such as The Melody Maker, The Record Mirror.

Patrick Ranasinghe