Dickie Valentine

Dickie Valentine ( * November 4, 1929 in London, † May 6, 1971 in Wales; actually Richard Bryce, according to other sources, Richard Brice ) was a popular British singer in the 1950s. He had in 1955 two number one hits in the UK.

Career

Valentine had already played under his birth name as an infant in several films. He suffered from chronic asthma, but he trained his voice so much that he was even able to imitate many popular singers of his time. The early 1950s, he sang in the Ted Heath band. In 1953 he was able to celebrate their first chart success under his own name, with a version of number-one hits of Stargazers, "Broken Wings". In 1954 he left the Ted Heath band and devoted himself entirely to his solo career. In his stage show he imitated among other Mario Lanza and Johnnie Ray.

The end of 1954 he married his girlfriend Elizabeth Flynn, and many were counting, that his (mostly female ) fans would let him down and it could go down with his career. But 1955 was the year in which Valentine had his greatest successes. In January rose " The Finger of Suspicion " (which he had taken with the Stargazers, who had the same producers, Dick Rowe, ) to the number-one position. After two more Top Ten hits managed Valentines Christmas song " Christmas Alphabet ", in December, three weeks to oust Bill Haley's " Rock Around the Clock" from the top. It was - in addition to "White Christmas" - one of the first big " Christmas Hits" in the British charts.

In 1956 he had his own TV series, The Dickie Valentine Show in which Peter Sellers was his Sketch partner. Both 1956 ( " Christmas Island ") and 1957 ( " Snowbound for Christmas" ) managed Valentine again to place a Christmas single in the British charts in December. From the readers of the music magazine New Musical Express, he was elected from 1952 to 1957 for six consecutive years at the best British singer. In 1957 he rented for the annual meeting of his fan club, the Royal Albert Hall.

He had his last chart hit in 1959 with "One More Sunrise", an English-language version of the German world hit "Tomorrow " by Ivo Robić. In the 1960s, he has attracted Dickie Valentine; He published more records, but with only moderate success. However, he remained a popular performer, in a car accident until he died in 1971.