Shaw had released a couple of singles in the late 1970s on the CBS label, but did not show a serious interest in making additional material until the early 1980s, when new husband Nik Powell (co-founder of the Virgin Group) introduced her to the B.E.F.

Shaw recorded an updated version of the Burt Bacharach/Hal David classic "Anyone Who Had a Heart" for their Music of Quality and Distinction album, which was subsequently released as a single.

In 1983, Shaw wrote and recorded a new original album entitled Choose Life, 1,000 promotional copies of which were released in support of the World Peace Exposition.

Though wary at first, Shaw agreed to meet Morrissey and continued to receive letters from him via Geoff Travis of Rough Trade Records (the label to which the band was signed), a personal friend of Powell's.

In the end, Shaw secured a deal with Rough Trade to make the Hello Angel album (the title of which was inspired by a postcard from Morrissey), and it was released in 1988.

Seven of the eleven tracks were co-written by Shaw herself, four of which alongside Chris Andrews, who had written the vast majority of her 1960s hit singles.

Shaw had lost confidence in herself after her initial fame and had spent much of the 1970s poor after her divorce from bankrupt fashion designer Jeff Banks.

As mentioned previously, Shaw later came to realise that she had influenced other people, and this song talks about her perception of herself and how she was seen by others in a more positive light.

"Strange Bedfellows", by Shaw and Kevin Armstrong is one of the more eccentric tracks on the album, telling the story of a married couple engaged in some sort of gender-swapping role-play.

She finished writing the lyrics on the day he died, and it was recorded in the studio in the middle of the night with some friends present.