Noeleen Batley

Batley was born in Sydney on Christmas Day, 1944, and began singing at the age of five with her mother's encouragement. As a child, she sang on radio shows such as 2UE's Youth Parade, 2UW's Amateur Hour and the ABC's Rockville Junction.[1] She entered numerous talent competitions, and eventually won her first recording contract, with Festival Records, in 1960 as a prize in a singing competition.[2]

Batley's first record "Starry Eyed" was released in February 1960, but was not a success.[3] However her next record, released in October of the same year, reached the Top 5 in all Australian mainland capital cities.[2] It was a recording of Barefoot Boy, a song written by the then 16-year-old Helene Grover.[1][4] It remained in the charts for sixteen weeks.[1] With its success, Batley became the first Australian female pop singer to have a national hit song, and began to appear on TV shows such as Youth Show, Bandstand and Six O'Clock Rock.[2]

In 1961, Batley was voted Australia's Top Female Singer.[1] Her mother became her manager and together they completed a two-week tour of New Zealand in 1964.[3] She continued to record for Festival until 1969, when she went on a tour of Europe and England. She eventually settled in England, in 1970, and continued to perform there.[1] Her last recording, Seabird, was released in 1972.[1]

Batley married in 1975 and had a child in 1976. The family lived first in Essex, England, and then in Miami, Florida.[2]