Fact #167464
When:
Short story:
Aneka reaches No1 in the UK singles chart with Japanese Boy.
Full article:
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO ANEKA by Johnny Black
The cute little Japanese maiden who appeared on Top Of The Pops in August 1981 performing her one-off novelty hit, Japanese Boy, had a secret. She wasn’t Japanese.
“Aneka was actually Mary Sandeman, a well-respected Scottish Gaelic folk music performer,” explained Neil Ross of Edinburgh-based R.E.L. Records in July of 2000, “but she always had a hankering to make a pop record. So I produced some tracks for her in 1981, among which was Japanese Boy, written by the songwriter Bobby Heatlie.”
Astutely recognising that the kilt and sporran might not be the ideal image to project for a song about a lost Japanese boyfriend, Mary let her fingers do the walking through the Edinburgh phone directory until she found a suitably Oriental sounding moniker, Anika. One tactful vowel change and one make-over later, Aneka was born.
The NME reckoned the track sounded like “Neddy Seagoon with his jaws wired shut” but the masses bought it by the junk-load. Aneka followed up with, er, nothing at all and before you could say “Sino-celtic fusion” Mary was back exercising her mellifluous mezzo-soprano as a featured soloist with the 130-strong Scottish Fiddle Orchestra.
She returned briefly to the full glare of publicity in August 1992. Having split up with her husband, Dr Angus McKinnon, Mary took a holiday in a remote hideaway cottage in the Scottish Highlands with his cousin - a Catholic priest by the name of Father John McDonald. When the tabloids got hold of the story, they had a field day with the tale of his repentant pulpit confession to his Fort William congregation, in which he acknowledged his personal failings and asked for their forgiveness. Mary’s close family insisted that the pair were “ just friends” and she herself commented from her Dunblane home, “I am very upset about the story. I feel it can only damage a wonderful friendship.” Then, once more, Mary returned to the folk music she loved, singing mostly in Scottish clubs.
“Mary still records for us,” added Ross, “as part of the Fiddle Orchestra. She has several videos available, and remains in great demand for tours.”
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The cute little Japanese maiden who appeared on Top Of The Pops in August 1981 performing her one-off novelty hit, Japanese Boy, had a secret. She wasn’t Japanese.
“Aneka was actually Mary Sandeman, a well-respected Scottish Gaelic folk music performer,” explained Neil Ross of Edinburgh-based R.E.L. Records in July of 2000, “but she always had a hankering to make a pop record. So I produced some tracks for her in 1981, among which was Japanese Boy, written by the songwriter Bobby Heatlie.”
Astutely recognising that the kilt and sporran might not be the ideal image to project for a song about a lost Japanese boyfriend, Mary let her fingers do the walking through the Edinburgh phone directory until she found a suitably Oriental sounding moniker, Anika. One tactful vowel change and one make-over later, Aneka was born.
The NME reckoned the track sounded like “Neddy Seagoon with his jaws wired shut” but the masses bought it by the junk-load. Aneka followed up with, er, nothing at all and before you could say “Sino-celtic fusion” Mary was back exercising her mellifluous mezzo-soprano as a featured soloist with the 130-strong Scottish Fiddle Orchestra.
She returned briefly to the full glare of publicity in August 1992. Having split up with her husband, Dr Angus McKinnon, Mary took a holiday in a remote hideaway cottage in the Scottish Highlands with his cousin - a Catholic priest by the name of Father John McDonald. When the tabloids got hold of the story, they had a field day with the tale of his repentant pulpit confession to his Fort William congregation, in which he acknowledged his personal failings and asked for their forgiveness. Mary’s close family insisted that the pair were “ just friends” and she herself commented from her Dunblane home, “I am very upset about the story. I feel it can only damage a wonderful friendship.” Then, once more, Mary returned to the folk music she loved, singing mostly in Scottish clubs.
“Mary still records for us,” added Ross, “as part of the Fiddle Orchestra. She has several videos available, and remains in great demand for tours.”