Mary Hopkin, who went from recording Welsh-language songs for a local label to the top of the UK charts with Those Were The Days, is to receive one of Welsh music’s highest honours tonight.
The Pontardawe-raised singer has been named the winner of the Welsh Music Inspiration Award, 58 years after the single that made her a star.
Hopkin said: “I’m very grateful for this honour. I don’t feel worthy at all of achieving it, but thank you, everyone. It’s wonderful.”
Her daughter Jessica Lee Morgan, with whom she recorded the 2023 duets album Two Hearts, will accept the award on her behalf.
The Welsh Music Prize says the award recognises people whose impact goes beyond record sales and chart success: those who have shaped Welsh culture, championed creativity and left a lasting mark on the generations that followed.
It will be presented at tonight’s ceremony at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff, hosted by Siân Eleri and broadcast live on BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Cymru, with performances from the shortlisted artists Adjua, Gwenifer Raymond, Local and Dafydd Owain.
From Opportunity Knocks to Apple Records
Hopkin’s break came on ITV’s Opportunity Knocks in 1968, where the model Twiggy spotted her and recommended her to Paul McCartney. She became one of the first artists signed to Apple Records, the label founded by The Beatles.
McCartney produced her debut single. Those Were The Days topped the UK charts, reached number two in the United States and has sold more than eight million copies worldwide, according to the Welsh Music Prize.
The only record standing between it and the top of the American chart was The Beatles’ own Hey Jude. Jimi Hendrix, Brian Wilson and Eric Clapton were among the guests when her McCartney-produced debut album Postcard was launched in 1969.
She represented the United Kingdom at the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest with Knock Knock, Who’s There?, finishing second, sang backing vocals on David Bowie’s Low and provided vocals for Vangelis’s soundtrack to Blade Runner in 1982. Organisers also cite a Grammy nomination.
‘Her voice gives a gravitas to every thing she sings’
Ralph McTell, who toured with Hopkin in 1972, said her gift went beyond technique. “It’s not just her tonality and musical accuracy, it’s also her ability to understand and get to the emotional heart of the song,” he said.
He added: “Her voice gives a gravitas to every thing she sings and she gives everything a personal commitment, as if she wrote the song herself. She richly deserves this honour.”
Yusuf/Cat Stevens, whose song The Wind Hopkin covered, said: “Mary has one of those rare voices that carries a natural purity and innocence. Her voice has affected people’s lives. It is good to see her remarkable contribution to music recognised and celebrated.”
A family affair
Hopkin has kept writing and recording through the decades, often with her son Morgan Visconti and her daughter.
Jessica Lee Morgan said: “Our mother has raised us with the highest respect for music, a quality which she took for granted in her Welsh upbringing. She even inspired our American father, Tony Visconti, to learn Welsh.”
She added: “It’s never been about the fame, image or business, only the music. I’m delighted to be invited to represent her and accept this award on her behalf.”
Previous winners include bassist Pino Palladino (2025), hip hop pioneers Eric Martin and DJ Jaffa (2024), folk protest singer Dafydd Iwan (2023), The Alarm’s Mike Peters (2022), David R. Edwards and Pat Morgan of Datblygu (2021), folk music historians Meredydd Evans and Phylis Kinney (2019) and Welsh-language singer-songwriter Meic Stevens (2018).
The Welsh Music Prize is supported by the Welsh Government through Creative Wales and by Cardiff Council, and tonight’s ceremony opens Llais Festival as part of Cardiff Music City Festival.
Related stories from Swansea Bay News
‘Those Were The Days’ Welsh singer Mary Hopkin to release album of duets with daughter
Two Hearts, the 2023 album Hopkin wrote and recorded with Jessica Lee Morgan.
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