British singer Sandie Shaw let it be known that she was retiring last month, even though the plan had been put in place earlier in the year after she was in a horrific car accident.

Talking with Britain's Independent, Shaw said that she and her husband were driving in their 4x4 earlier in the year when a car came at them driving on the wrong side of the road. In trying to avoid the accident, the car flipped a number of times and Shaw's seat belt became undone, flinging her around the inside of the car.

Shaw suffered severe cuts to both her face and head and was patched back together in the hospital, even though she still carries a scar on her face, one that she will not get fixed as she feels it represents a pivotal point in her life.

That point also became the place where she decided to retire from music. “I just took a break and I thought I’m not happy with what I’m doing, I want to change it. I decided my life needed to move on a bit, and everything that has happened since then has kind of reaffirmed that.”

Shaw was a major force in music in the U.K. during the 60's, hitting number 1 with (There's) Always Something There to Remind Me (1964), Long Live Love (1965) and Puppet on a String (1967 and the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest). Other major hits included Girl Don't Come (her biggest U.S. song, reaching number 42), I'll Stop at Nothing and Message Understood.

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