From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Aneka
Image:Anekajapaneseboy.jpg Japanese Boy album cover
Background information
Birth name	Mary Sandeman
Born	November 20, 1954
Origin	Scotland
Genre(s)	Pop Scottish folk
Occupation(s)	Singer
Years active	1981–1982
Label(s)	Hansa International

Aneka (born Mary Sandeman, November 20, 1954) is a Scottish singer, who hit number one in the UK singles chart in August 1981 with her one hit wonder song, "Japanese Boy".

Contents 1 Career 2 Singles 2.1 UK singles 2.2 Germany singles 2.3 Swiss singles 2.4 Sweden singles 2.5 Austrian singles 2.6 Norway singles 3 Album 3.1 Swiss Charts 4 Songs performed by Aneka 4.1 From her Album 4.2 B-Sides 4.3 Singles Not Put Onto An Album 5 References

The song only lasted a week at the top spot, but stayed in the chart for 12 weeks. This success was nearly mirrored by the song "Ooh Shooby Doo Doo Lang", that had certain references to the song "Japanese Boy" in it.

Aneka's other songs include "Little Lady", "Put Out The Light" and "Heart to Beat". Aneka has had a modest revival since "Japanese Boy" was featured in the videogame Grand Theft Auto: Vice City on Flash FM.

Under her own name, Mary Sandeman has achieved some success as a traditional Scottish folk singer/instrumentalist. Nevertheless, her moment of glory earned her alter-ego the unwanted label of a one-hit wonder.

Mary featured in a 2006 Channel 4 documentary titled 'Bring Back The One Hit Wonders'. Justin Lee Collins attempted to organise a one-off performance of as many 'one hit wonders' as possible but despite getting in touch with Mary, she declined to take part as she didn't want to travel to London (from her home in Scotland) and had 'no desire' to perform the hit that made her place in pop history. She revealed though that Japanese Boy sold 5 Million copies around the world.

• (August 4, 1981) "Japanese Boy", Chart Run: 60-19-4-1-2-3-6-13-21-34-49-62->12 wks, #1 peak; #57 (Australia)
• (November 3, 1981) "Little Lady", Chart Run: 64-50-59-70->4 wks, #50 peak

• (September 24, 1981) "Japanese Boy", #3 Peak
• (December 31, 1981) "Little Lady", #10 Peak
• (June 03, 1982) "Oh Shooby Doo Doo Lang", #18 Peak

• (October 11, 1981) "Japanese Boy", #1 Peak

• (September 25, 1981) "Japanese Boy", #1 Peak
• (January 12, 1982) "Little Lady", #14 Peak

• (November 1, 1981) "Japanese Boy", #4 Peak
• (February 1, 1982) "Little Lady", #7 Peak
• (May 15, 1982) "Ohh Shooby Doo Doo Lang", #8 Peak

• (May, 1981) "Japanese Boy", #4 Peak

• (February 9, 1982) #19 peak (3 Weeks in Charts)

• "Ooh Shooby Doo Doo Lang" (Released as Single)
• "Tuwhit Tuwhoo"
• "Japanese Boy" (UK #1) (Canada #43) (US Dance #15)
• "Put Out The Light"
• "Come Back To Me"
• "Ahriman"
• "It'll Be Alright"
• "I Was Free" (Released as Single)
• "Be My Only Karma"
• "Little Lady" (Released as Single)
• "Japanese Boy - Longer version"
• "Are Fond Kiss"

• "Alister McColl"
• "Starshine"
• "Could It Last A Little Longer"
• "Chasing Dreams"

• "Heart To Beat"
• "Rose, Rose I Love You"
• "Good Time Fanny"

• Germany Singles http://www.c6-magazin.de/kultur/musik/charts/a/aneka/
• Swiss Singles http://austriancharts.at/showitem.asp?interpret=Aneka&titel=Little+Lady&cat=s
• Sweden Singles http://swedishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Aneka&titel=Little+Lady&cat=s

Preceded by "Green Door" by Shakin' Stevens

UK number one single ("Japanese Boy") August 23, 1981

Succeeded by "Tainted Love" by Soft Cell