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List Of British Dance Band Leaders
This article is a list of people who led their own British dance band (distinct from British big band leaders, who played big band music). It includes those performers who were not British, but led a band based in Britain. A * Harry Acres * Bert Ambrose B * Carl Barriteau * Ivy Benson * Harry Bidgood * Stanley Black * Josephine Bradley * Teddy Brown C * Billy Cotton D * Joe Daniels * Herman Darewski E * Fred Elizalde * George Elrick * George Evans F * Bert Firman * John Firman * Sid Firman * Reginald Foresythe * Roy Fox * Ben Frankel G * Freddy Gardner * Geraldo * Carroll Gibbons * Nat Gonella * Phil Green H * Henry Hall (BBC Dance Orchestra) * Fred Hartley * Ted Heath * Jack Hylton * Mrs Jack Hylton * Leslie "Jiver" Hutchinson J * Jack Jackson * Austen Croom-Johnson * Ken "Snakehips" Johnson * Archibald Joyce * Teddy Joyce K * Dave Kaye * Ivor Kirchin * Charlie Kunz * Sydney Kyte L * Brian Lawrance * Harry Leader * Jack Leon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Dance Band
British dance band is a genre of popular jazz and dance music that developed in British dance halls and hotel ballrooms during the 1920s and 1930s, often called a Golden Age of British music, prior to the Second World War. Thousands of miles away from the origins of jazz in the United States, British dance bands of this era typically played melodic, good-time music that had jazz and big band influences but also maintained a peculiarly British sense of rhythm and style which came from the music hall tradition. Often comedians of the day or music hall personalities would sing novelty recordings backed by well-known British dance band leaders. Some of the British dance band leaders and musicians went on to fame in the United States in the swing era. Thanks to Britain's continuing ballroom dancing tradition and its recording copyright laws, British dance music of the pre-swing era still attracts a modest audience, which American dance music of the same period does not. Notable ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bert Firman
Bert Firman (born Herbert Feuerman; 3 February 1906 – 9 April 1999) was an English bandleader of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. He was born in London. His mother was of Polish stock and his father was a professional musician who had settled in Britain from Austria-Hungary in the late 1880s. His three elder brothers were also musicians. He took up the violin at an early age and won a scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music. Firman’s first job, at the age of thirteen, was at the Playhouse Theatre, London, where he was part of a quintet playing entr'acte music. A year later his father negotiated a position for him in the orchestra at the Victoria Hotel in Northumberland Avenue. After only three months in this job he secured the part of Sascha, a gypsy violinist in the musical ''Sally'' at the Winter Garden Theatre, Drury Lane. The production opened on 10 September 1921, running for 383 performances. During this run, at the suggestion of the producer, George Grossmith J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jiver Hutchinson
Leslie George "Jiver" Hutchinson (6 March 1906 – 22 November 1959) was a Jamaican jazz trumpeter and bandleader. Hutchinson played in the band of Bertie King in Jamaica in the 1930s, then moved to England, where he played with Happy Blake's Cuba Club Band. In 1936, he played in Leslie Thompson (musician), Leslie Thompson's Emperors of Jazz and in 1938 with Ken "Snakehips" Johnson, then joined Geraldo (bandleader), Geraldo's band in 1939. He led his own ensemble from 1944 to 1950, featuring many of the musicians from Thompson's band. His ensemble toured the UK and Europe, and did concerts in India in 1945. He also recorded with the ensemble in 1947. He returned to play with Geraldo after the group's dissolution, and recorded with Mary Lou Williams in 1952. Hutchinson was killed in a car crash in Weeting, Norfolk in 1959 aged 53 while on tour with his band. His daughter is the singer Elaine Delmar. References Other sources *Howard Rye & John Cowley, "Jiver Hutchinson". ''Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Hylton
Jack Hylton (born John Greenhalgh Hilton; 2 July 1892 – 29 January 1965) was an English pianist, composer, band leader and impresario. Hylton rose to prominence during the British dance band era, being referred as the "British King of Jazz" and "The Ambassador of British Dance Music" by the musical press, not only because of his popularity which extended throughout the world, but also for his use of unusually large ensembles for the time and his polished arrangements. He mostly retired from the music industry after 1940, becoming a successful theatrical businessman until his death. Early life and career He was born John Greenhalgh Hilton in Great Lever near Bolton, Lancashire, the son of George Hilton, a cotton yarn twister. His father was an amateur singer at the local Labour Club and Hylton learned piano to accompany him on the stage. Hylton later sang to the customers when his father bought a pub in nearby Little Lever, becoming known as the "Singing Mill-Boy". He also perf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ted Heath (band Leader)
George Edward Heath (30 March 1902 – 18 November 1969) was a British musician and big band leader. Heath led what is widely considered Britain's greatest post-war big band, recording more than 100 albums, which sold over 20 million copies. The most successful band in Britain during the 1950s, it remained in existence as a ghost band long after Heath died, surviving in such a form until 2000."Ted Heath" Jazz Professional, from the Internet Archive/Wayback Machine Musical beginnings After playing tenor horn at the age of six, encouraged by his father Bert, a trumpeter and the leader of the Wandsworth Town Brass Band, Heath later switched to trombone.Moira Heath, ''I Haven't Said Thanks: The Story of Ted and Moira Heath'' < ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fred Hartley
Fred Hartley (1905–1980) was a Scottish pianist, conductor and composer of light music best known for his waltz ''Rouge et Noir''. He sometimes composed music under the pseudonym Iris Taylor.Philip Scowcrof76th Garland Retrieved 17 September 2010 Hartley was born in Dundee in 1905, where he attended Harris Academy. He later attained a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. He made his first public broadcast as a solo pianist in 1925 and in 1931 went on to form his "Novelty Quintet", which regularly made broadcasts on the BBC. In 1946, he was made Head of BBC Light Music.Fred Hartley piano solos Celtic Music. Retrieved 17 September 2010 He composed mainly in the light music genre and his compositions were often featured ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Hall (bandleader)
Henry Robert Hall, CBE (2 May 1898 – 28 October 1989) was an English bandleader who performed regularly on BBC Radio during the British dance band era of the 1920s and 1930s, through to the 1960s. Early life and career Henry Hall was born in Peckham, South London, England. He won a scholarship to Trinity College of Music where he studied trumpet, piano, harmony and counterpoint. His first job was as copyist at the head office of the Salvation Army for which he wrote several marches. During World War I, Hall served with the Royal Field Artillery, and played trumpet and piano in the regimental band. Hall's musical career was slow to start but eventually he was engaged by the London Midland and Scottish Railway to take charge of music throughout their then large chain of hotels, including Gleneagles Hotel, where he had previously led the band. Hall describes in his autobiography, ''Here's to the Next Time'', that on a Thursday in October 1923 he met a young woman, Margery Hark ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philip Green (composer)
Philip Green (19 July 1911 – 6 October 1982), sometimes credited as Harry Philip Green or Phil Green, was a British film and television composer and conductor, and also a pianist and accordion player. He made his name in the 1930s playing in and conducting dance bands, performed with leading classical musicians, went on to score up to 150 films, wrote radio and television theme tunes and library music, and finally turned to church music at the end of his life in Ireland, a song from which proved so popular that it reached No 3 in the Irish charts in 1973. Early life and career Green was born on 19 July 1911 in Whitechapel, London. His father was Philip Green, a boot clicker, and his mother was Elizabeth Vogel. He began learning the piano at the age of seven, and went on to study at Trinity College of Music in London, aged just 13. After college he played in various orchestras, and then became conductor at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London. He signed as a recording artist t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nat Gonella
Nathaniel Charles Gonella (7 March 1908 – 6 August 1998) was an English jazz trumpeter, bandleader, vocalist, and mellophonist. He founded the big band The Georgians, during the British dance band era. Early life and career Gonella was born in Islington, North London, where he attended St Mary's Guardian School, an institution for underprivileged children, where he started playing cornet. After a short spell as a furrier's apprentice, his professional career began in 1924 when he joined Archie Pitt's Busby Boy's Band, a small pit orchestra and touring review band. During his four years with the band, he discovered the music of Louis Armstrong and dixieland jazz. He transcribed Armstrong's solos and learned them by heart. Beginning in 1928, Gonella spent a year in Bob Bryden's Louisville Band before working with Archie Alexander and Billy Cotton. Cotton's band allowed him to record his first solos and to explore scat singing. The 1930s He played briefly with Roy Fox in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carroll Gibbons
Carroll Richard Gibbons (January 4, 1903 – May 10, 1954) was an American-born pianist, bandleader and popular composer who made his career primarily in England during the British dance band era. Image of Gibbons from the W.D. & H.O. Wills ''Radio Celebrities'' cigarette card series">cigarette_card.html" ;"title="W.D. & H.O. Wills ''Radio Celebrities'' cigarette card">W.D. & H.O. Wills ''Radio Celebrities'' cigarette card series Early life and career He was born and raised in Clinton, Massachusetts, United States, one of three children of Peter and Mary Gibbons. In his late teens he travelled to London to study at the Royal Academy of Music. In 1924, he returned to London as a relief pianist with the Boston Orchestra for an engagement at the Savoy Hotel in the Strand. He liked Britain so much that he settled there, and later became the co-leader (with Howie Jacobs) of the Savoy Orpheans and the bandleader of the New MayFair Orchestra, which recorded for the Gramophon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geraldo (bandleader)
Gerald Walcan Bright (10 August 1904 – 4 May 1974), better known as Geraldo, was an English bandleader. He adopted the name "Geraldo" in 1930, and became one of the most popular British dance band leaders of the 1930s with his "sweet music" and his "Gaucho Tango Orchestra". During the 1940s, he modernised his style and continued to enjoy great success. Biography Bright was born in London, where he played piano and organ and studied at the Royal Academy of Music. He started his career as a pianist playing for silent films. Geraldo became a major figure on the British entertainment scene for four decades, having fronted just about every kind of ensemble and influenced the successful careers of numerous top singers. For his broadcasts he varied the style of his orchestra quite considerably, and a particular series ''Tip Top Tunes'' (employing a full string section alongside the usual dance band) enjoyed great popularity. Several commercial recordings were made, spotlighting the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Freddy Gardner
Frederick James Gardner (23 December 1910 – 26 July 1950) was a British jazz and dance band saxophonist during the 1930s and 1940s. Early life His father sold artist's materials, while his mother was a dressmaker. He took up the saxophone at 15 to help to alleviate asthma. After minimal coaching he formed the semi-professional New Colorado Band in 1928, and a year later, while working as an office clerk, entered the band in a contest at Chelsea Town Hall and won. He was spotted by the founding editor of ''Melody Maker'' magazine who was distributing the prizes, and a year later secured his first professional position. Early career In 1933, Gardner was taken under the wing of Ray Noble and recorded with the New Mayfair Orchestra.''Freddy Gardner with Peter Yorke's Orchestra'' (T 10296) album cover, Capitol Records He played in London clubs when working with Sidney Lipton's Orchestra and at the Mayfair Hotel with Bert Firman's band and with Billy Bissett. Gardner became a prolific ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
