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John Wesley Vivian Payne (22 August 1899 – 4 December 1969) was a British
dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded danc ...
bandleader who established his reputation during the
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 aw ...
era of the 1930s.


Early life and career

Payne was born in
Leamington Spa Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply Leamington (), is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Priors, it grew into a spa town in the 18th century following ...
,
Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...
, England, the only son of a music publisher's warehouse manager. While serving in the
Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...
, he played the piano in amateur dance bands. After the RFC became the
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
towards the end of
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, Payne led dance bands for the troops. Prior to joining the Royal Air Force, he was part of "The Allies" concert party. This voluntary group performed to wounded soldiers convalescing around
Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
. He played with visiting American
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
bands at the
Birmingham Palais The Palais de Dance or Birmingham Palais was a dance hall on Monument Road in the Ladywood district of Birmingham, England. One of the earliest jazz clubs in England, it was the only major provincial English jazz venue during the inter-war period, ...
during the early 1920s, including the
Southern Rag-a-Jazz Orchestra The Southern Rag-a-Jazz Orchestra was an early jazz band that formed in Lincoln, Nebraska by six students at the University of Nebraska, and played for a while at the Fontonelle Hotel in Omaha. In the summer of 1921 the band were one of the first ...
in 1922, before moving to London in 1925. He played in a ten-piece band which became the house band at London's Hotel Cecil in 1925. This ensemble regularly performed on the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
in the latter half of the decade. In 1928, Payne became the BBC Director of Dance Music and the leader of the BBC's first official dance band. In 1929, the band was featured in the first ever BBC television broadcast, also appearing in the short film ''Jazz Time'' that same year. His
signature tune A signature song is the one song (or, in some cases, one of a few songs) that a popular and well-established recording artist or band is most closely identified with or best known for. This is generally differentiated from a one-hit wonder in th ...
was "Say it With Music", written by
Irving Berlin Irving Berlin (born Israel Beilin; yi, ישראל ביילין; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-American composer, songwriter and lyricist. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Born in Imperial Russi ...
.


1930s and 1940s

In July 1930, a reviewer from ''
The Gramophone ''Gramophone'' is a magazine published monthly in London, devoted to classical music, particularly to reviews of recordings. It was founded in 1923 by the Scottish author Compton Mackenzie who continued to edit the magazine until 1961. It was a ...
'' magazine wrote that "Jack Payne's Band is public property. It is paid out of the wireless licence fees which you and I supply...As such its one duty is to please the masses. It has to be good musically, it has to entertain, it needn't worry about anything advanced in the way of style, and the last thing it need be is rhythmically hot. I think we must all agree that it does its job well, and that anything it may at times lack in modern rhythmic stylishness is amply compensated by other qualities more important from the public's viewpoint, such as musical ability and versatility". After leaving the BBC in 1932, when he was succeeded by Henry Hall, he returned to playing hotel venues and switched labels to
Imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * Imperial, Texa ...
, followed by Rex from 1934. Payne took his band on nationwide tours and made a film '' Say it with Music'' (1932), followed four years later by '' Sunshine Ahead''. Payne had three successful waltzes – "Blue Pacific Moonlight", "Underneath the Spanish Stars" and "Pagan Serenade", which he composed and later published in the 1930s. Payne did some
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
recording, including working with
Garland Wilson Garland Lorenzo Wilson (June 13, 1909 – May 31, 1954) was an American jazz pianist, perhaps best known for his work with Nina Mae McKinney. Wilson was a boogie-woogie and stride pianist. Life and career Garland Wilson was born in Martinsburg ...
. He toured South Africa and France in the 1930s, but also concentrated his efforts on running a theatrical agency.


1940s and 1950s

In 1941, he returned to the post of Director of Dance Music at the BBC, remaining there until 1946. He engaged two young teenagers to sing with his orchestra: they were Carole Carr and
Lizbeth Webb Betty Ethel Holton (30 January 1926 – 17 January 2013), better known by her stage name, Lizbeth Webb, was an English soprano and stage actress. Known as "the champagne soprano", she is remembered partly for originating the song "This Is My L ...
, the
star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...
of the
musical comedy Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...
'' Bless The Bride''. During this period, Art Christmas was one of the musicians who played with him. Following this, Payne became a disc jockey. In 1955, he returned to the dance music scene to present his own
BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...
programme, ''Words and Music'', which ran for three series. He also made the occasional television appearance as a panellist in ''
Juke Box Jury ''Juke Box Jury'' was a music panel show which ran on BBC Television between 1 June 1959 and 27 December 1967. The programme was based on the American show '' Jukebox Jury'', itself an offshoot of a long-running radio series. The American serie ...
'', as well as other popular music programmes of the decade, including a film appearance as himself in '' Jamboree'' (1957). During his final years, Payne ran a hotel, The Middle House, in Mayfield, East Sussex, which was not a successful financial venture.


Personal life and death

Payne was married twice, his first wife having died after sixteen years of marriage. He had an adopted daughter with his second wife, the pianist and composer Peggy Cochrane. Payne wrote two autobiographies, ''This is Jack Payne'' (1932) and ''Signature Tune'' (1947). He died in
Tonbridge Tonbridge ( ) is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Malling, it had an estimated population ...
,
Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
, on 4 December 1969, aged 70.


References


External links

* * * Jack Payneat
Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

Jack Payne – 78rpm Rex Label Discography
– 78rpm Collectors' Community. Retrieved 22 July 2013 * , recorded December 1935, vocal chorus by Billy Scott-Coomber * {{DEFAULTSORT:Payne, Jack 1899 births 1969 deaths English bandleaders Dance band bandleaders People from Leamington Spa 20th-century British conductors (music) 20th-century English musicians People from Mayfield, East Sussex