July 17: English dance-pop singer, model and Bill Wyman’s “young wife,” Mandy Smith, is 43-years-old today.

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 Amanda Louise Smith was born July 17, 1970 in London, England. In 1983, when she was 13 years old, a relationship began between her and 47-year-old Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman. Smith married Wyman in 1989; they divorced in 1991.

The press coverage that surrounded Smith's personal life largely contributed to her career as a singer. In 1986, at age 16, Smith was signed to PWL by Stock Aitken Waterman. The SAW team wrote and produced her first two singles - "I Just Can't Wait" and "Positive Reaction.”


A collaboration with Daize Washbourne produced further singles, "Boys and Girls" and "Victim of Pleasure.” Despite the lack of British chart success with these singles, an album, Mandy, was released in 1988.

Smith's songs were popular in Scandinavia, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Turkey, South Africa, and Japan, where she entered the Top 10 music charts. She was about to launch her career in the U.S. in 1989 with her single "Victim of Pleasure" released under Atlantic Records. Due to health problems, she had to cancel the promotion. The same happened with her fifth European single, a cover of The Human League hit single "Don't You Want Me?”

These events and a difficult recovery marked the end of her short musical career, though several remixes of "I Just Can't Wait" appeared in the early 1990s; her album was also re-released in Japan in 1993 and a special edition was released with bonus tracks in 2009.

She also recorded the original version of "Got to Be Certain,” which would later be the second international single release for fellow PWL act, Kylie Minogue. Smith's version remained unreleased until 2005 when it was premiered on PWL Radio and included on the 2005 release Stock Aitken Waterman Gold as a bonus track.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Smith appeared in various TV series and shows in the UK, all over Europe, and parts of Asia/Australia. She also appeared in magazines as a model.

In 1988, she was voted second most attractive female singer by the readers of German youth magazine Popcorn. Smith was named "Rear of the Year" in Britain in 1994, an award for her posterior.

In 1995, she was 72nd in FHM's list of "100 Sexiest Women in the World.” In 1994 Mandy published her autobiography, It’s All Over Now.

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For more about Mandy, visit her Website at –

http://kisspr.net/mandy.html

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