 Peter Dawson.
Generally recognised as one of the greatest ever baritones, Peter Dawson was born in
Australia, and studied singing in Adelaide. He began his career by singing the bass solos in the "Messiah" at
the age of seventeen. He won first prize and the gold medal at the Ballarat Festival of 1900, he was able to
come to England where he studied with Sir Charles Santley for four years. He made his first English tour in 1904,
and also made his first gramophone record. He had sold a million records before the middle of the 1930s. |
 Sir Walford Davies.
Sir Walford Davies was "Master of the King's Musick" and yet was known to children
everywhere for his music talks. He began his career as a choir boy at St. George's Chapel, Windsor, later going
on to be assistant organist (1927-31) and then organist there. He gave up the music talks in roughly 1937, but
during his series of broadcasts, he used to receive around two hundred compositions a week. He was a very good
composer himself, and maintained that most of the compositions he was sent were excellent. |
 Tessa Deane.
Tessa won a piano scholarship at the Royal College of Music in 1924, and three years later
was awarded the Chappell Gold Medal. Then she discovered she had a voice, and turned her enthusiasm towards
musical comedy. She first broadcast in 1931, and was heard on the air in variety, operetta, and as a soloist. |
 Cecil Dixon.
Popularly known in the early days of broadcasting as Aunt Sophie, the woman with the shy
voice, Miss Cecil Dixon was among the first artistes to join the BBC. As a solo pianist, official accompanist,
and Aunt, her voice and playing became very widely known. Born on a sugar plantation on the Fiji Islands,
Miss Dixon came to England in 1913. As well as working for the BBC, she was also on the teaching staff of the
Royal College of Music. |
 Reginald Dixon.
Born at Sheffield in 1904, this popular organist first went on the air as a
pianist-accompanist at Sheffield Relay Station. In 1930 he made his first broadcast as an organist, from
Blackpool. In fact Reginald Dixon was aiming at a career as a concert pianist. When he was fourteen his doctors
told him that he would have to give up either music or school. There was no contest. He gave up school. At
fifteen he was a church organist, and at twenty-two he was musical director of a cinema orchestra. |
Morton Downey.
Morton Downey Snr, born 14th November 1901 in Wallingford, Connecticut, the son of Irish
immigrant parents. He was nicknamed the Irish Nightingale. For a while, in the 1920s, he sang with the Paul
Whiteman Orchestra. His recording career began around 1923, and by 1932 he was America's "Radio Singer of the Year".
In the 1950s he transferred to television. His son, Morton Downey Junior, was a controversial American
talk-show host. Morton Senior died in Palm Beach, Florida, of a stroke, aged 83. The recording I have by Morton
is recorded on a Durium "Hit of the Week" record - see "The Durium Dance Band".
Hear Morton Downey and his Orchestra
Dream Sweetheart
Can anyone give me a picture to use here?
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The Durium Danceband.
The Durium Record Company was formed in America in late 1929 to market single sided
records made of cardboard, coated with a durable plastic invented by Dr. Hall Trueman Beans, a Physics professor
at Columbia University. The plastic was known as Durium, hence the name for the records. They were originally marketed
in "Hit of the Week" format. The studios were in the McGraw-Hill building on 42nd Street, New York, and the records
were sold by news-stands. They contained a single song for 15 cents and were released every Thursday. The company was
re-organised in June 1931 because there were problems over unpaid royalties, and in August 1931, the records were re-vamped
to contain two tunes, though the price went up to 20 cents. The final release from American Durium came in June 1932.
However, there were Durium subsidiaries in UK, France and Italy, and these survived the collapse of the parent company. The
UK branch made their own recordings, many featuring the Durium Dance Band, which in reality was simply a collection of
session musicians, and could be relied upon to be a different line-up every week. The bands were led by Sydney Kyte and
Lew Stone, among others, and some of the vocals are by Al Bowlly.
Hear the Durium Dance Band:
I Do Like to See a Game of Football
Just Humming Along
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