V.A. Love Hit Me! - Decca beat Girls 1963-1970

For British girl-pop, 1960s Decca is a goldmine. The label had its A&R hounds sniffing into every nook and cranny of the British Isles, signing up Midlands schoolgirls (the Orchids), London folk club denizens (Dana Gillespie, Beverley), former child actresses (Adrienne Poster, Sandra Barry), Liverpudlian girl groups (the Vernons Girls, the Satin Bells), soulful northerners (Elkie Brooks, Truly Smith) and Scots (Lulu, Barry St John), well-connected Chelsea girls (Louise Cordet, Twinkle, Marianne Faithfull), Merseybeat wannabes (Beryl Marsden), talent show winners (Billie Davis, Babbity Blue, Jean Martin) and even transient Americans (Goldie & the Gingerbreads).

Decca’s female roster was largely placed in the skilled hands of producers, arrangers and writers such as Mike Leander, Andrew Loog Oldham, Shel Talmy, Charles Blackwell and Tony Meehan, who sourced a steady supply of homemade and American soul, folk-rock, beat and pop.