The Vernons Girls

The Vernons Girls were originally a choir that were put together in the 1950s as part of the social activities of Vernon's Pools, the Liverpool based football pool company. They went through many changes, and the original full troupe soon disbanded after the commencement of the 1960s, ending up as a vocal trio. The smaller unit carried on, and was headed up by Maureen Kennedy, and the famous horn-rimmed glasses wearing Maggie Stredder, together with others listed here, although always as a trio. The trio of Jean Owen (aka Samantha Jones), Frances Lea, and Maureen Kennedy also appeared on film in the 1964 TV special Around The Beatles with the Beatles. After they left the group, most of the former members seem to have continued at least for a while, in show business ventures. Lynn Cornell became a successful soloist and managed a chart hit with 'Never On Sunday'- she later became one of 'the Pearls'. Vicky Haseman became Vicki Brown when she married singer/ guitarist Joe Brown and brought up singing daughter Sam Brown. Joyce Baker married Marty Wilde, and they formed a trio with Justin Hayward [later in The Moody Blues], called the 'Wilde Three'. Joyce Baker Wilde is the mother of world famous singer Kim Wilde. Most of the others seem to have banded together as duets and singing trios; these include the 'Redmond Twins', 'The Breakaways', 'The Pearls', the 'Two Tones'; the 'DeLaine Sisters' and, probably the longest surviving and best known, 'The Ladybirds'. They had some success with their singles releases in the late 1950's and early 1960's on both Parlophone [1958-1961], and Decca labels [1962-1964].