Steve Conway (singer)

Steve Conway (born Walter James Groom; 24 October 1920 – 19 April 1952) was a British singer who rose to fame in the post-war era. Known for romantic ballads, he made dozens of recordings for EMI's Columbia label, appeared regularly on BBC Radio and toured the UK, before his career was interrupted by his untimely death at the age of 31 from a heart condition. He has been described as "Britain's first post-war male heart-throb, a masculine equivalent of Vera Lynn in his sincerity and clear diction."

Early life

Conway was born in Bethnal Green, then part of the Metropolitan Borough of Hackney in east London, in 1920, and named Walter James Groom; he was known as Jimmy to friends and relatives. The eldest son of five children born to a labourer, Groom's family were poor, and their annual holiday was going hop picking in Kent every summer. The family experienced loss whilst Groom was still young: his twin brothers did not survive infancy, while his sister died at the age of five from meningitis. Groom himself suffered with rheumatic fever when he was five years old.

Upon leaving school aged 14, Groom undertook poorly-paid manual work, initially making deliveries on a tricycle for an embroidery firm. He then worked at a shoe factory as a machinist, where his habit of singing on the shop floor made him unpopular with the foreman. Following an argument over this, Groom was sacked when he punched the foreman. Groom also worked as a porter at Billingsgate Fish Market.

Whilst still a teenager, a turning point in Groom's life came when he met Lilian Butcher, a local East End girl who worked in a textile factory near where he was living. It has been said that Butcher "was the woman who inspired profound devotion in him and infused his singing with such romantic power." During World War II, Butcher worked in a munitions factory; however, when Groom attempted to enlist in the Royal Navy, he was declared unfit for service, owing to a heart condition which had developed from his earlier rheumatic fever, and damaged his coronary valves. He was not told to seek treatment, and continued working.

Performing career

From amateur to professional

Groom had always enjoyed singing, but never sang in a school or church choir, and received no formal musical training. However, his ear for music meant that he was able to repeat the notes of a tune perfectly after just one listen, and could hum the whole score of a musical after seeing it for the first time. Described as a "modest, unassuming man", it was only under pressure from his then-girlfriend Lilian that he began to enter amateur talent contests. Groom was persuaded to enter such a contest at a Bethnal Green cinema when he was 16, where he won the first prize of a biscuit barrel. He entered further talent contests between 1936 and 1938, and in the Second World War, he got bookings for stage appearances around London; these were primarily amateur shows performed between films at cinemas.

Groom's first paid performance was at the Trocadero in Commercial Road, east London. In 1943, he appeared in a Sunday afternoon show at the Gaumont State Theatre in Kilburn, north London. This in turn led to a fortnight at the Trocadero cinema in Elephant and Castle, south London, where he was invited to return twice. In January 1944, he made his third return visit to the Trocadero, where he was heard singing by the artistes' manager Reg Morgan. With comedian Charlie Chester, Morgan ran the Victory Music Publishing Company. Both thought that Groom had star potential, and persuaded him to audition for the BBC
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