The demise of the Teen Queens is probably the saddest and shortest story in the entire tragedy littered history of rock and roll. These pretty soulful girls released the definitive version of ‘Eddie My Love’ in 1956. It wasn’t the one that gained the highest chart position, a soulless whitebread cover by The Fontaine Sisters, holding that dubious honour, but it was by far the best.

Betty and Rose Collins were 16 and 14 years of age at the time of the song’s release, and that’s why they sound so young, and so plaintive, real emotion from real Teen Queens. And I don’t care what anyone says; only the very young can sing romantic pop songs, because only the very young can relate truly to teenage angst.

But ‘Eddie My Love’ was the Teen Queens one and only hit and by 1961 the career of the sisters lay in tatters, with both girls saddled with serious drug and alcohol addictions. Betty died in 1968, with her sister Rose following a few years later.

Now I could go on to berate the manipulative recording industry or the evils of drugs, but that would be futile. Their story was a short one and I find it quite apt that this article is equally short. Rock and Roll baby, right to the very bitter end!

Joe grew up in the London and left school with few qualifications, embarking on a succession of menial jobs. His work has been published in the Laura Hird Showcase, Dogmatika, Straight From the Fridge, The Paris Bitter Hearts Pit, Scarecrow, Six Sentences, The Beat, Savage Manners and others. To read a selection of Joe’s writing on the showcase section of this website, click here.