Robert Earl (born Monty Leigh, 17 November 1926) was an English singer of

traditional pop music Traditional pop (also known as classic pop and pre-rock and roll pop) is Western pop music that generally pre-dates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The most popular and enduring songs from this era of music are known as pop standards ...

in the United Kingdom in the 1950s and 1960s, whose style was

operatic Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libretti ...

, like fellow

crooner Crooner is a term used to describe primarily male singers who performed using a smooth style made possible by better microphones which picked up quieter sounds and a wider range of frequencies, allowing the singer to access a more dynamic range ...

David Whitfield David Whitfield (2 February 1925 – 15 January 1980) was a popular British male tenor vocalist from Hull. He became the first British artist to have a UK No.1 single in the UK and in the United States with " Cara Mia", featuring Mantovani an ...

David Hughes David Hughes may refer to: Arts *Dave Hughes (born 1970), Australian comedian *Dave Hughes (producer), American television producer and editor *David Hughes (illustrator), British illustrator *David Hughes (Emmerdale), fictional character in the I ...

and

Edmund Hockridge Edmund James Arthur Hockridge (9 August 1919 – 15 March 2009) was a Canadian baritone and actor who had an active performance career in musicals, operas, concerts, plays and on radio. According to his obituary in ''The Guardian'', his life ...

. He is the father of the businessman

Robert Earl Robert Earl (born 29 May 1951) is an English-American businessman who is the founder and CEO of Planet Hollywood, Chairman of the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, and host of ''Robert Earl's Be My Guest'' television program whic ...

Career

He began his singing career at local functions around London's

East End The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

, and soon progressed to singing with some of the top

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s an ...

s of the day such as those of Sidney Lipton,

Nat Temple Nat Temple (18 July 1913 – 30 May 2008)
- accessed May 2011 was an English

In 1953, he auditioned for

Norman Newell Norman Newell (25 January 1919 – 1 December 2004) was an English record producer, who was mainly active in the 1950s and 1960s. He was also the songwriter, co-writer of many notable songs. As an A&R manager for EMI, he worked with musicians su ...

Philips Records Philips Records is a record label founded by the Dutch electronics company Philips. It was founded as Philips Phonographische Industrie in 1950. In 1946, Philips acquired the company which pressed records for British Decca's Dutch outlet in A ...

and was offered a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...

. In 1957, he had a contract with George Baines and Will Hammer and starred in "Big Splash", an Aqua Show at The Derby Baths,

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

, for the summer season. He enjoyed three

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album se ...

during this period, while signed to Philips: "

I May Never Pass This Way Again "I May Never Pass This Way Again" is a popular song, written by Murray Wizell and Irving Melsher. Perry Como performed the song on his TV show in November 1957, but it was first a hit for Robert Earl in the UK, where it reached No. 14 in 1958. ...

" (No. 14) and "More Than Ever" ("Come prima") (No. 26) in 1958 and "The Wonderful Secret of Love" (No. 17) in 1959. His

agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuranc ...

was Michael Sullivan, who also represented

Shirley Bassey Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey (; born 8 January 1937) is a Welsh singer. Best known for her career longevity, powerful voice and recording the theme songs to three James Bond films, Bassey is widely regarded as one of the most popular vocalists ...

. After a 20-year career as a professional singer he retired in 1970, and then devoted much of his time to the

Grand Order of Water Rats The Grand Order of Water Rats is a British entertainment industry fraternity and charitable organisation based in London. Founded in 1889 by the music hall comedians Joe Elvin and Jack Lotto, the order is known for its high-profile membership a ...

, a

showbusiness Show business, sometimes shortened to show biz or showbiz (since 1945), is a vernacular term for all aspects of the entertainment industry.''Oxford English Dictionary'' 2nd Ed. (1989) From the business side (including managers, agents, produce ...

charitable organization A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...

. He now lives in the United States. There are currently two CD of his recordings available, ''The Magic of Robert Earl'' (Spectrum) 2004 – 22 tracks; and ''If You Can Dream'' released in 2013 by

Vocalion Records Vocalion Records is an American record company and label. History The label was founded in 1916 by the Aeolian Company, a maker of pianos and organs, as Aeolian-Vocalion; the company also sold phonographs under the Vocalion name. "Aeolian" was ...

– with 30 tracks from the first 17 singles 953 to 1958- listed in the #Singles Discography below. It is a mark of the esteem in which he was held by his peers that, in July 1989, some nineteen years after he retired, Earl sang "

You'll Never Walk Alone "You'll Never Walk Alone" is a show tune from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical ''Carousel''. In the second act of the musical, Nettie Fowler, the cousin of the protagonist Julie Jordan, sings "You'll Never Walk Alone" to comfort and enco ...

", at the funeral service of his fellow Londoner,

Tommy Trinder Thomas Edward Trinder CBE (24 March 1909 – 10 July 1989) was an English stage, screen and radio comedian whose catchphrase was "You lucky people!". Described by cultural historian Matthew Sweet as "a cocky, front-of-cloth variety turn", he was ...

Singles discography

*"If You Love Me" / "

Crying in the Chapel "Crying in the Chapel" is a song written by Artie Glenn and recorded by his son Darrell Glenn. The song was released in 1953 and reached number six on the ''Billboard'' chart. The song has also been recorded by many artists including the Oriole ...

" – Philips PB185 – September 1953 *"You Alone" / "Timber" – PB228 – January 1954 *"The Book" / "Yiddisher Tears" – PB238 – February 1954 *"

My Son, My Son "My Son, My Son" is a traditional popular music song written by Gordon Melville Rees, Bob Howard and Eddie Calvert in 1954. A recording of the song by Vera Lynn reached number one in the UK Singles Chart in November that year. It was Lynn's only ...

" / "Far Away" – PB331 – September 1954 *"Face Of An Angel" / "Time After Time" – PB406 – February 1955 *"My Loving Hands" / "I Wonder" – PB433 – April 1955 *"Three Galleons" / "Till The Last Rose Has Faded" – PB481 – July 1955 *"He" / "With Your Love" – PB517 – October 1955 *" My September Love" / "Now And Forever" – PB552 – February 1956 *"Believe In Me" / "If You Can Dream" – PB593 – June 1956 *"More" / "Your Home Can Be A Castle" – PB622 – September 1956 *"I'm Free" / "The Golden Key" – PB657 – January 1957 *"

All All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All al ...

" / "You Alone" – PB684 – April 1957 *"Fascination" / "Song Of The Valley" – PB730 – September 1957 *"My Special Angel" / "There's Only You" – PB767 – November 1957 *"

" / "Someone" – PB805 – March 1958 (UK No. 14) *"More Than Ever (Come Prima)" / "No-one But You" – PB867 – September 1958 (UK No. 26) *"The Wonderful Secret Of Love" / "The Boulevard of Broken Dreams" – PB891 – January 1959 (UK No. 17) *"Anything" / "Every Day's A Wonderful Day" – PB927 – 1959 *"The Key" / "The Test of Time" – PB960 – 1959 *"Oh So Wunderbar" / "I'm Rich" – PB986 – 1960 *"A Strange and Wonderful Feeling" / "A Place in The Sun" – PB1015 – 1960 *"Wanderlust" / "One Of The Lucky Ones" – PB1077 – 1960 *"Love Me" / "April Serenade" – PB1129 – 1961 *"Lonely" / "Time Will Tell" – 326556BF – 1962 *"Shalom" / "When You're In Love" – PB1209 – 1962 *" Falling in Love with Love" / "Give Me My Chance" – BF1289 – 1963 *" Walk Hand in Hand" / "Never" – BF1379 – 1964

References

External links

Biography of Robert Earl
{{DEFAULTSORT:Earl, Robert 1926 births Possibly living people English male singers Traditional pop music singers English crooners English Jews