The first woman to secure a number one single in the UK
Long before Kate Bush song ‘Wuthering Heights’ became the first track penned by a woman to hit number one in 1978, other women were laying the groundwork for future generations to thrive. Just one year into UK music charting, Lita Roza became the first woman to score a number one single in the country.
Born in Liverpool, Roza was surrounded by music as a result of her father, who played the piano, accordion and concertina. After featuring in pantomimes and singing in a club in Southport, she eventually moved to London and joined the Harry Roy Orchestra. In 1953, Roza released a cover of Patti Page’s ‘(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?’, written by Funny Girl lyricist Bob Merrill in 1952, which would catapult her to chart success.
American singer Patti Page recorded the song in 1953, which hit number one in the United States. In that same year, record producer and A&R of Decca Records, Dick Rowe, asked her to cover the track with instrumentation contributed by composer Johnny Douglas.
Roza looked back on the achievement in an interview with BBC Radio Merseyside in 2002, sharing the story of how she came to cover the track. She recalled to Billy Butler, “There was this A&R man at Decca, and he brought this song to me.” Though this was the song that would make Roza famous, she couldn’t hide her own distaste for it, noting, “I can’t even say what I said about it; it was a children’s song, really.”
The singer continued to lament over the creative suppression, adding, “They never let me have free expression.” As a consequence of this, paired with her own hatred for the song, Roza would never perform the track live. In fact, she recalled only singing it once at all: “I sang it once for balance and once, and then said, ‘That’s it, I shall never sing that again.'”
Despite her hatred for the song, Roza had claimed a milestone and paved the way for women to thrive in music. Some 25 years later, Kate Bush made history when she became the first woman to secure a number one with a song she had written herself. Since then, women have seen an increasing presence on the charts, though there is still a long way to go before the playing field of the music industry is levelled.
Roza was not only the first woman to top the UK charts, but the first artist from Liverpool to gain a number one spot. Though ‘(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?’ would prove to be the height of her success, Roza set a precedent for Liverpool’s future stars to thrive. The Beatles claimed the city with a further 32 number one singles, securing Liverpool as a musical and cultural landmark.
