[2][3] She took weekly singing lessons as a child and began her musical career as a folk singer with a local group called the Selby Set and Mary.

[4] The model Twiggy saw her winning the ITV television talent show Opportunity Knocks and recommended her to Paul McCartney.

[8] In December that year, the NME music magazine reported that Hopkin was considering a lead acting role in Stanley Baker's planned film Rape of the Fair Country, which was to be based on Alexander Cordell's book of the same name.

[12] Hopkin said she interpreted "Goodbye" as McCartney pledging to stop "micromanaging" her career, since she was uncomfortable with his positioning of her as a pop chanteuse.

[17] Along with Donovan and Billy Preston, Hopkin was one of the chorus singers on the Radha Krishna Temple's 1970 hit single "Govinda", produced by George Harrison for Apple Records.

[citation needed] Hopkin's final big hit was "Think About Your Children", released in October 1970, which reached number 19 in the UK.

It was produced by Tony Visconti, whom Hopkin had met earlier for a Welsh recording of "Sparrow".

The album was produced by Visconti and included cover versions of songs written by Cat Stevens, Gallagher and Lyle and Ralph McTell, as well as the two title tracks by Liz Thorsen.

Created by Eric Merriman, each episode featured Hopkin looking at a different aspect of storytelling through music and dance.

With Visconti's assistance, she released the 1972 Christmas single "Mary Had a Baby" / "Cherry Tree Carol" on Regal Zonophone Records.

[31] Although no other singles or albums came out in her name until 1976, she sang on numerous recordings that her husband produced, such as those featuring Tom Paxton, Ralph McTell, David Bowie (Low), Bert Jansch, the Radiators from Space, Thin Lizzy, Carmen, the Sarstedt Brothers, Osibisa, Sparks, Hazel O'Connor and Elaine Paige.

[1] Two members of Steeleye Span (Bob Johnson and Pete Knight) chose Hopkin to play "Princess Lirazel" on their concept album The King of Elfland's Daughter.

Hopkin's first project in the 1980s was a well-reviewed stint playing the Virgin Mary in Rock Nativity at the Hexagon Theatre in Reading, Berkshire.

[4] Their only single, "What's Love", allowed them to tour the UK with Dr. Hook but Hopkin quickly left the group, dissatisfied with the gigs.

"What's Love" proved very popular in South Africa, albeit the only territory where it charted, peaking at number 10 in April 1982.

Around 1984, Peter Skellern asked her to join him and Julian Lloyd Webber in a group called Oasis.

She played the character Rosie Probert and performed a piece called "Love Duet" with Freddie Jones as Captain Cat.

This was released on the Trax label and is a collection of light classical songs and featured the single "Ave Maria".

Early in 1990, Hopkin sang with the Chieftains at the London Palladium in a charity show and later joined them on a tour of the UK.

She continued to do projects of her choosing, working with people such as Julian Colbeck; she wrote the lyrics and performed a song on his CD Back to Bach.

She worked again with old friends, the guitarist Brian Willoughby and Dave Cousins (of Strawbs) on their CD The Bridge.

In 1999, she again joined the Chieftains on their UK tour and, later that year, performed concerts in Scotland with Benny Gallagher and Jim Diamond.

[8] She made a guest appearance on the Crocketts' album The Great Brain Robbery, sang the theme song for Billy Connolly's BBC TV series World Tour of England, Ireland and Wales and re-recorded "Those Were The Days" with Robin Williams rapping.

In September 2005, she released a retrospective album on the Mary Hopkin Music a label run by her daughter entitled Live at the Royal Festival Hall 1972.

Featuring newly written material and covers from the Bangles to Dire Straits, it was released on 3 May 2023, Hopkin's 73rd birthday.