OLIVER! Star Shani Wallis Releases Retrospective Collection of Early Recordings

A new collection of recordings is now available from Shani Wallis, who starred as Nancy in the 1968 film adaptation of Oliver! Released by Stage Door Records, Shani Wallis The Singles Collection 1954-1961 is the first retrospective CD spotlighting early recordings from the performer. To order the new CD, visit here.

Wallis rose to stardom after playing Nancy in 1968’s Oliver! Before her widely seen turn in the film, Wallis worked across Britain’s post-war entertainment scene in musical theatre, variety, on radio and television, and on disc. The new collection brings together, for the first time on CD, Shani Wallis’ debut singles from the early part of her career, now restored.

Wallis’s earliest recordings were closely linked to her stage career, featuring her vocals on the London cast albums of Call Me Madam and Wish You Were Here. She also began developing a solo pop career in the 1950s, recording melodic, orchestral-backed songs, including her 1954 debut on Philips Records featuring “Bell Bottom Blues” and her 1960 EP Shani!

Wallis recently returned to the spotlight with a performance of the musical number “As Long as He Needs Me” on Britain’s Got Talent. At 92 years old, she impressed the judges with her performance of the song, which she sang in the 1968 film.

Now largely retired from performing, Wallis made her professional debut in Call Me Madam at the London Coliseum in 1952. Subsequent U.K. credits include Wish You Were Here, Wonderful Down, and Bells Are Ringing, among others. She made her Broadway debut in 1966 in A Time for Singing. 

In addition to playing the role of Nancy in Oliver!, other screen credits include Charlie Chaplin’s A King in New York, Lady Larken in the 1964 TV version of Once Upon a Mattress, Murder, She Wrote, and voiceover roles in the animated films The Great Mouse Detective and The Pebble and the Penguin.