Al Bowlly

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Albert Alick "Al" Bowlly (born January 7, 1898 in Lourenço Marques , † April 17, 1941 in London ) was a South African pop and jazz singer . In the 1930s he was the most popular vocalist in Britain.

Live and act

Bowlly, whose parents came from Greece and Lebanon , was born in the capital of the then Portuguese colony Portuguese East Africa , Lourenço Marques (now Maputo (Mozambique) ). However, his parents soon emigrated to Johannesburg , South Africa , where Bowlly initially worked as a singer and guitarist in Edgar Adeler's dance orchestras in Africa and Southeast Asia and Jimmy Liquime's in India and Singapore . He recorded his first records as a singer in Germany in 1927 with Arthur Briggs , Fred Bird and under his own name (" Blue Skies "). With the orchestra of Fred Elizalde he performed in England in 1928. His song " If I Had You " was one of the first hits by an English jazz band, which also became popular in North America. At the beginning of the 1930s he recorded numerous songs, especially with the orchestras of Ray Noble and Lew Stone.

In New York in 1934 he performed with an orchestra put together by Glenn Miller , which included Claude Thornhill , Charlie Spivak and Bud Freeman . In the next few years his interpretations of "Blue Moon", "Easy to Love", " I've Got You Under My Skin " and " My Melancholy Baby " were so successful that Bowlly received a radio show on NBC and in 1936 in Hollywood ( starred with Bing Crosby ) in The Big Broadcast . In the same year he returned to England, where he appeared with his Radio City Rhythm Makers , but also with the orchestras of Sydney Lipton, Geraldo and Ken Johnson. He died in an air mine during a German air raid on London.

His life is portrayed in the musical Melancholy Baby .

literature

  • Sid Colin & Tony Staveacre, Al Bowlly (H. Hamilton, 1979)
  • Ray Pallett, Good-Night, Sweetheart: Life and Times of Al Bowlly (Spellmount, 1986)

Web links

Commons : Al Bowlly  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Al Bowlly - British Film Institute
  2. ↑ See Bowlly discography
personal data
SURNAME Bowlly, Al
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bowlly, Albert Alick (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African pop and jazz singer
DATE OF BIRTH January 7, 1898
PLACE OF BIRTH Lourenço Marques
DATE OF DEATH April 17, 1941
Place of death London