Vera Lynn

Dame Vera Margaret Lynn (; 20 March 191718 June 2020) was an English singer and entertainer whose musical recordings and performances were very popular during World War II. She is honorifically known as the " Forces' Sweetheart", having given outdoor concerts for the troops in Egypt, India and Burma during the war as part of the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA). The songs most associated with her include "We'll Meet Again", " (There'll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover", "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" and "There'll Always Be an England".

She remained popular after the war, appearing on radio and television in the United Kingdom and the United States, and recording such hits as "Auf Wiederseh'n, Sweetheart" and her UK number-one single "My Son, My Son". Her last single, "I Love This Land", was released to mark the end of the Falklands War. In 2009, at the age of 92, she became the oldest living artist to top the UK Albums Chart with the compilation album '' We'll Meet Again: The Very Best of Vera Lynn''. In 2014, she released the collection ''Vera Lynn: National Treasure'' and in 2017, she released ''Vera Lynn 100'', a compilation album of hits to commemorate her centenary—it was a No. 3 hit, making her the first centenarian performer to have a Top 10 album in the charts. By the time of her death in 2020 she had been active in the music industry for 96 years.

Lynn devoted much time and energy to charity work connected with ex-servicemen, disabled children and breast cancer. She was held in great affection by Second World War veterans and in 2000 was named the Briton who best exemplified the spirit of the 20th century.

Early life

Vera Margaret Welch was born in East Ham, Essex, now part of the London Borough of Newham, on 20 March 1917. She was the daughter of plumber Bertram Samuel Welch (1883–1955) and wife dressmaker Anne "Annie" Martin (1889–1975), who had married in 1913. In 1919, when Lynn was two years old, she fell ill with diphtheritic croup and nearly died. She was sent to an isolation unit and was discharged after three months there. As a result of her hospitalisation, her mother was very protective of her and did not allow her to visit friends or play in the street for a long time afterwards. Lynn recalled her mother was not as strict with her elder brother Roger as she was with her.

Career

She began performing publicly at the age of seven and adopted her maternal grandmother Margaret's maiden name "Lynn" as her stage name when she was eleven. Aged 11, she joined a juvenile troupe called Madame Harris's Kracker Kabaret Kids and early in 1933 she was spotted by Howard Baker who invited her to join his band. In turn, she was taken on by Billy Cotton and briefly toured with his band in 1934 before returning to Howard Baker.

It was with Baker that she made her first record, on 17 February 1935, with a song called "It's Home". Her first radio broadcast, with the Joe Loss Orchestra, was made on 21 August 1935. At this point she appeared on records released by dance bands including those of Loss and of Charlie Kunz.Seidenberg, Sellar, Jones, p. 132 In 1936, her first solo record was released on the Crown label, "Up the Wooden Hill to Bedfordshire". This label was absorbed by Decca Records in 1938. She supported herself by working as an administrative assistant to the head of a shipping management company in London's East End. After a short stint with Loss she stayed with Kunz for a year or so during which she recorded several standard musical pieces. She joined the Ambrose band in 1937, and remained with him until 1940, when she went solo.

Wartime career

Lynn's wartime contribution began when she would sing to people who were using London's tube station platforms as air raid shelters. She would drive there in her Austin 10 car. Between 1937 and 1940, she also toured with the aristocrat of British dance bands, Bert Ambrose as part of the Ambrose Octet; the group appeared in broadcasts for the BBC
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