Esther Coleman (8 October 1900 – 28 February 1989), who also performed under the stage name Diana Clare, was a British singer who appeared in numerous radio shows including ''

Band Waggon ''Band Waggon'' was a comedy radio show broadcast by the BBC from 1938 to 1940. The first series featured Arthur Askey and Richard "Stinker" Murdoch. In the second series, Askey and Murdoch were joined by Syd Walker, and the third series added ...

''. She sang with a

contralto A contralto () is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest female voice type. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare; similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor, typica ...

voice. She used the name Diana Clare for her performances of blues songs. She performed with

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 his orchestra, and had her own radio show, ''Come to Sunday Afternoon at Diana Clare's'', broadcast on

Radio Luxembourg Radio Luxembourg was a multilingual commercial broadcaster in Luxembourg. It is known in most non-English languages as RTL (for Radio Television Luxembourg). The English-language service of Radio Luxembourg began in 1933 as one of the earlies ...

, sponsored by Lux Toilet Soap. She also appeared on television, and took part in some of the earliest tests of British television.

References

British contraltos 1900 births 1989 deaths {{UK-bio-stub