#1: Knock Knock Who’s There by Mary Hopkin

City: Fort St. John, BC
Radio Station: CKNL
Peak Month: February 1973
Peak Position in Fort St. John: #8
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #92
YouTube: “Knock Knock Who’s There”
Lyrics: “Knock Knock Who’s There”

Mary Hopkin was born in May 1950 in Pontardawe, Wales. She took weekly singing lessons as a child and began her musical career as a folk singer with a local group called the Selby Set and Mary. She released an EP of Welsh-language songs for a local record label called Cambrian, based in her hometown, before signing to the Beatles’ Apple Records. The model Twiggy saw Hopkin winning the ITV television talent show Opportunity Knocks and recommended her to Paul McCartney. Her debut single, “Those Were the Days”, produced by McCartney, was released in the UK on August 30, 1968. Hopkin had competition from well-established star Sandie Shaw, whose own single version of the song was  released that fall. But Shaw’s recording stalled at #51 on the UK chart. Meanwhile, Mary Hopkin’s “Those Were the Days” became a number-one hit in Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, USA, and West Germany. Hopkins smash hit also climbed to #2 in Argentina, Australia, Austria, and South Africa.

Next, she released two singles in Welsh, and one in French. Her next released in English was “Goodbye”. In 1969, “Goodbye” topped the pop charts in Ireland, the Netherlands and Portugal. It climbed to #2 in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK, #3 in Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Norway and Sweden, #4 in Finland, and Poland, #5 in Israel, #7 in Argentina and Belgium, and #9 in France.

At the start of 1970, Mary Hopkins third English-language single release was “Temma Harbour”, about an inlet in Tasmania. It included a steel band. The song climbed to number-one in Singapore, #3 in Ireland and New Zealand, #4 in Malaysia, and #6 in Australia and the UK.

On March 7, 1970, Mary Hopkin sang six songs at the UK National Final, A Song for Europe, which was aired on the television series It’s Cliff Richard! Hopkin was chosen by the BBC to be the United Kingdom’s representative for that year. The winner of a postal vote would determine which of the six songs would progress with her to the finals in Amsterdam. “Knock Knock Who’s There”, the sixth and final song performed that evening, won the postal vote with over 120,000 supporters.

At Amsterdam, the song was performed seventh on the night, after France’s Guy Bonnet with “Marie-Blanche”, and before Luxembourg’s David Alexandre Winter with “Je suie tombe du ciel”. At the end of judging that evening, “Knock, Knock Who’s There?” took the second-place slot with 26 points after Ireland’s “All Kinds of Everything”, performed by Dana. The UK received points from nine out of a possible eleven voting juries.

“Knock Knock Who’s There” charted in both Ireland, the UK, and Australia, in the fall and winter of 1970. It became a hit in other nations in Europe, New Zealand and southeast Asia into 1971. In North America, the single appeared on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 1972, but stalled at #92.

In “Knock Knock Who’s There” the singer looks through the rain on their window pane. The singer expresses a long-held optimism at the prospect of love finally finding her. At the exact point that said optimism has faded, and she has resigned herself to not finding love and companionship, and watches rain fall. Just then she hears a “knock, knock”, which signifies love finally becoming attainable for her. Excited, she beckons love to “come inside” and into her life.

The song was written by Geoff Stephens and John Carter. Geoffrey “Geoff” Stephens was born in 1934 in North London, UK. After graduating from school he began his career in amateur theatricals. He worked as a teacher, a printer and air traffic controller alongside his interest in music and drama. In 1964, the BBC accepted several of his comedy sketches for their Monday Night at Home program. The same year he co-wrote “Tell Me When” for the Applejacks, Stephens helped “discover” Donovan, producing his first hit single “Catch The Wind”. He also wrote “Crying Game”, a song that was a #5 UK hit in 1964 for Dave Barry. It was later covered by Brenda Lee in 1965 and Boy George in 1992.

In 1966 Geoff Stephens formed The New Vaudeville Band and recorded “Winchester Cathedral”. The song, with vocals by John Carter (later of Kincade) climbed to #1 in the USA and on CKLG in Vancouver (BC) in November 1966. Stephens co-wrote “There’s A Kind Of Hush” by Herman’s Hermits, “Daddy Don’t You Walk So Fast” for Wayne Newton in 1972 . He also penned “Doctor’s Orders”, a pioneering disco hit recorded by Carol Douglas in 1974. In the early 1980’s Geoff Stephens co-wrote two musicals that appeared on London stages. In 2015 he helped produce the Don Black musical Bonnie & Clyde. Stephens died in late 2020 of pneumonia at the age of 86.

John Carter (born John Shakespeare) was born in Birmingham, England, in 1942. Around 1961, he and songwriter and musician Ken Lewis formed Carter-Lewis and the Southerners that released over a half dozen singles between 1961 and 1964. In 1962, they wrote Mike Sarne’s Top 20 UK hit “Will I What?” As part of the Ivy League, Carter composed and sang the pop trio’s first Top Ten hit in the UK in 1964 titled “Funny How Love Can Be”. In 1964, the Ivy League provided backing vocals for The Who’s “I Can’t Explain”. Carter cowrote “Is It True?” for Brenda Lee. In 1965, Carter and Lewis co-wrote “Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat”, a Top Ten hit for Herman’s Hermits in Canada and the USA. Carter and Lewis were two parts of the trio The Ivy League, who had a #3 hit in the UK titled “Tossing and Turning” (same title but different song from the 1961 Bobby Lewis hit).

In 1967, Carter co-wrote “Let’s Go to San Francisco”, an international Top Ten hit for the Flowerpot Men. That year Carter and Lewis cowrote “A Little Bit O’ Soul” for the Music Explosion, which reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number-one in Canada. Another composition was “My World Fell Down” which was a minor hit for Sagittarius in 1967. In 1974, John Carter and Gillian Shakespeare penned a number-one hit in Canada for First Class titled “Beach Baby”. He also wrote “Dreams Are Ten A Penny” for Kincade.

In the mid-eighties, John Carter served on the Council of the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters and the council as a writer-member of the Performing Right Society. He has run, with his wife Gill, their own publishing company and record production company. It concentrates on compiling and promoting his enormous back-catalogue of songs and records.

“Knock, Knock Who’s There” peaked at #8 in Fort St. John (BC), Dayton (OH), and Port Huron (MI), #9 in Cadillac (MI), #11 in Manchester (NH), and #17 in Little Rock (AR), Ottawa, and Richmond (IN) and #23 in Windsor (ON).

Internationally, “Knock, Knock Who’s There?” peaked at #1 in New Zealand, #2 in Ireland, Malaysia, South Africa and the UK, #3 in Belgium, the Netherlands, Poland and Yugoslavia, #4 in Austria, #5 in Australia, and #12 in West Germany. In addition to Mary Hopkin charting to #5 in Australia, in 1970, Australian pop singer Liv Maessen covered the song reaching #2 nationally.

Between the fall of 1968 and the spring of 1970, barely 20-year-old Mary Hopkin had four international Top Ten hits to her credit. And three of these had topped the pop charts in at least one country.

Next, Hopkin released a cover of the 1956 Doris Day hit “Que Sera Sera (Whatever Will Be Will Be)”. She cracked the Top Ten with her version in New Zealand, and the Top 20 in Japan. But that was pretty much it. One exception is Hopkin’s cover of the Jamies 1958 hit “Summertime, Summertime”. People in the Netherlands snapped up copies of her version and sent it to #5 on the Dutch pop chart.

Mary Hopkin got married in 1971 to her producer, Tony Visconti, taking the name Mary Visconti. She largely withdrew from the pop-music scene to have a family, giving birth to a girl and a boy. Though she travelled to Australia with her new husband in January 1972. She performed at a large outdoor rock festival in South Australia, in addition to giving concerts in several major cities.

Ahead of December 1972, she released the single “Mary Had a Baby” / “Cherry Tree Carol”. Mary Visconti appeared a number of times on the Cilla Black variety show. She later sang backing vocals variously credited as Mary Hopkin-Visconti, and finally Mary Hopkin. Among her backing vocal credits are for recordings by David Bowie, Elaine Paige, Thin Lizzy, Oasis, the Strawbs, Tom Paxton, Linda McCartney, Dolly Parton and Marc Bolan.

However, in 1981 her marriage dissolved. In 2023, Mary Hopkin released her twelfth studio album singing duets with her daughter Jessica Lee Morgan. Mary Hopkin is 74 as of January 2025.

March 29, 2025
Ray McGinnis

References:
“What Exactly Happened To Mary Hopkin? Bio, Net Worth, Husband, Children, 7 Quick Facts,” Juke Bugs, July 5, 2023.
Ben Beaumont-Thomas, “Geoff Stephens, chart-topping pop songwriter, dies aged 86,” Guardian, January 4, 2021.
Joe Marchese, “Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat: Cherry Red, Grapefruit Anthologize Songwriter John Carter’s Career on “My World Fell Down”,” The Second Disc, June 9, 2022.

CKNL 560-AM Fort St. John (BC) Top 20 | February 19, 1973