Jacki Bond was a secretary working for Strike records in the mid 1960s who, though without previous musical experience, had a short recording career in 1965-7. She came from South London and, with Samantha Juste

Samantha Juste

Samantha Juste , became known on British television in the mid-1960s as the “disc girl” on the BBC’s Top of the Pops. In 1968 she married Micky Dolenz of the Monkees. Their daughter is the actress Ami Dolenz....

, who co-hosted BBC television's Top of the Pops

Top of the Pops

Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...

, was one of two British female vocalists signed to Strike or (in Juste's case) its subsidiary, Go.

Recording career

Bond's first single record, My Sister's Boy, was released in 1965 by Columbia

Columbia Graphophone Company

The Columbia Graphophone Company was one of the earliest gramophone companies in the United Kingdom. Under EMI, as Columbia Records, it became a very successful label in the 1950s and 1960s...

 records, an EMI

EMI

The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...

 subsidiary, under license from Millwick Music, the publishing company from which Strike emerged. Her second, Tell Him to Go Away, which was coupled with Don't You Worry ('bout Me) (a song written by the head of Strike, Lionel Segal, and arranged by Alan Caddy, former lead guitarist of the Tornados

The Tornados

The Tornados were an English instrumental group of the 1960s that acted as backing group for many of record producer Joe Meek's productions and also for singer Billy Fury. They enjoyed several chart hits in their own right, including the UK and U.S. Number One "Telstar" , the first U.S...

 ), appeared in March 1966. It was only the second record to be released by Strike, but, although the first, Neil Christian

Neil Christian

Neil Christian, born Christopher Tidmarsh had a solo hit single in 1966, when "That's Nice" , reached Number 16 in the UK Singles Chart. He remains, however, a one-hit wonder. Follow-up singles "Oops" and "Two at a Time" never reached the charts...

's That's Nice, had been widely promoted by Radio London

Wonderful Radio London

Radio London, also known as Big L and Wonderful Radio London, was a top 40 offshore commercial station that operated from 16 December 1964 to 14 August 1967, from a ship anchored in the North Sea, three and a half miles off Frinton-on-Sea, Essex, England...

 and other "pirate

Pirate radio

Pirate radio is illegal or unregulated radio transmission. The term is most commonly used to describe illegal broadcasting for entertainment or political purposes, but is also sometimes used for illegal two-way radio operation...

" stations and reached number 14 in the British sales charts, Bond did not enjoy similar success. In fact, That's Nice proved to be Strike's only chart success.

Bond's third and final single, the highly infectious He Say, released by Strike in November 1966 and coupled with Why Can't I Love Him, was written by Pierre Tubbs

Pierre Tubbs

Pierre Tubbs is a British songwriter and music producer. One of his biggest successes is "Right Back Where We Started From" recorded by Maxine Nightingale. He also co-wrote the J.J...

 and Bond herself and recorded with an orchestra conducted by Ken Woodman. It has been described as "an irresistibly uptempo slab of New York-style girl-pop", but, though popular on the Northern soul

Northern soul

Northern soul is a music and dance movement that emerged from the British mod scene, initially in northern England in the late 1960s. Northern soul mainly consists of a particular style of black American soul music based on the heavy beat and fast tempo of the mid-1960s Tamla Motown sound...

 circuit, Strike lacked the promotional machinery to help make it a commercial success. (Even Samantha Juste's No One Needs My Love Today, issued in the same month, which she performed on Top of the Pops, made little impact.)

Demise of Strike records

In 1967 Bond recorded Lionel Bart

Lionel Bart

Lionel Bart was a writer and composer of British pop music and musicals, best known for creating the book, music and lyrics for Oliver!-Early life:...

's Reviewing the Situation from the musical Oliver!

Oliver!

Oliver! is a British musical, with script, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens....

, but Strike folded before it could be released; the company's final single, Our Plastic Dream's vaguely psychedelic

Psychedelic

The term psychedelic is derived from the Greek words ψυχή and δηλοῦν , translating to "soul-manifesting". A psychedelic experience is characterized by the striking perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly...

 A Little Bit of Shangrila, was released by Go in August 1967 as the "Summer of Love

Summer of Love

The Summer of Love was a social phenomenon that occurred during the summer of 1967, when as many as 100,000 people converged on the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco, creating a cultural and political rebellion...

" was reaching its climax. Reviewing the Situation was released 36 years later on a compilation album.

A note on images

According to Pierre Tubbs, Bond was short, with long hair. Photographs of her during her brief recording career, if they exist, are elusive. None has appeared with re-releases of Strike recordings. There is a photo of her on a single from 1966 released by Strike, entitled Don't you worry/Tell him to go away

Bond went on to sign with Larry Page of Page one records under the name of Judi Scott where she released a song dedicated to George Best.

Recordings by Jacki Bond

Date of release	Songs	Label
1965	My Sister's Boy c/w Now I Know	Columbia
March 1966	Tell Him To Go Away c/w Don't You Worry ('bout Me)	Strike
November 1966	He Say c/w Why Can't I Love Him	Strike
2003	Reviewing the Situation [recorded 1967] (Dream Babes: Volume 4)	RPM