Dame Janet Baker, born Yorkshire, 1933, retired mezzo-soprano who specialised in the works of Elgar, Mahler, and Britten, as well as sacred music, and Classical and pre-Classical opera, but who was also a surpassing interpreter of French melodies, the songs of Berlioz, Faure, Duparc, Chausson, Debussy, Ravel, being surely among the - if not the - most perfect ever composed.
Al Bowlly (1899-1941), born Mozambique of Greek and Lebanese parentage, and raised in South Africa, Albion's first great vocal stylist. Very much England's answer to Bing Crosby and other seminal American crooners, he possessed a truly beautiful and charming soft-baritone voice, which, matched by the Mediterranean good looks of a matinee idol caused him to be known as The Swoon of the Thirties, adored and pursued in equal measure. He made his London debut as a singer in 1931, and was killed ten years later at the height of the London Blitz by the explosion of a parachute mine outside his apartment.
Gary Clark, born Dundee, Scotland, 1961, singer-songwriter with a crooner-style baritone voice - one of the finest in Rock history - that is arguably every inch the equal of Scott Walker's, and former leader of the desperately undervalued trio, Danny Wilson, who produced two hyper-melodic masterpieces in Meet Danny Wilson (1987) and Bebop Moptop (1989), before dissolving at the height of their artistic powers. Whereupon Clark embarked upon a career as a solo artist, and songwriter and music producer for other artists.
Nicky Holland, born Hertfordshire, 1965, pianist, composer and singer-songwriter who studied at the Royal Academy of Music, and who, after co-writing songs with Roland Orzabal for '80s superstars Tears for Fears' final album, Seeds of Love (1989), and for American Soul singer Oleta Adams' Circle of One (1990), released her self-titled first album, a beautiful work whose mournful and passionate songs of endless romantic desideration demonstrated a very rare creative gift, in 1991. Her second, Sense and Sensuality, being released six years later in 1997.
Paddy McAloon, born County Durham, 1957, front man and kingpin of Prefab Sprout, the legendary Indie band that achieved so much so soon, with five albums in just a little over six and a half years, namely Swoon from '84, Steve McQueen, '85, From Langley Park to Memphis, '88, Protest Songs, '89 and Jordan: The Comeback, '90, all of which gave testament to a compositional gift that place him among the greatest songwriters Albion ever sired. A further five, including the largely instrumental McAloon solo work, I Trawl the Megahertz, and late-flowering masterpiece, Crimson/Red, being released in the succeeding quarter century or so.
Ken Moule (1926-1987), born Barking, east London, pianist, composer, conductor, and arranger, whose works include Jazz at Toad Hall from 1958, and Adam's Rib Suite, an innovative yet shockingly overlooked Jazz suite by Moule and the London Jazz Chamber group from 1970, featuring the Patrick Halling String Quartet, and Jazz Legends Kenny Wheeler, Roy Willox, Louis Stewart, Lennie Bush, and Ronnie Stephenson, and characterised by infectiously rhythmical Smooth Jazz pieces alternating with slower semi-classical passages of a melodic richness reminiscent of Debussy or Ravel.
Gilbert O'Sullivan, born Raymond O'Sullivan in Waterford, Ireland, 1947, but raised from the age of 11 in the highly urbanised Wiltshire town of Swindon, brilliantly original singer-songwriter, discovered playing in a wine bar by impresario Gordon Mills of Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck renown. Massive worldwide success ensued, including in the US, with such exemplars of the songwriting craft as Alone Again (Naturally), Clair, and Out of the Question, as well as the albums, notably his masterly debut, Himself, and while his superstar status may have ultimately faltered, the songs never did, neither in quantity, nor quality.
Brian Protheroe, born Salisbury, Wiltshire, 1944, actor and singer-songwriter, who secured a UK hit record in 1974 with the haunting and languorous Pinball, taken from the flawless masterwork of the same name, the first of several albums bespeaking quite transcendent melodic and lyrical gifts.
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), England's greatest ever composer, and yet still undervalued compared to other Romantic and late Romantic composers. A simple man of a genially rustic demeanour, he was far too self-effacingly English to value his own work, which had a detrimental effect on his reputation as a great composer. Renowned for exquisite pastoral music based on English folk songs, including Fantasia on Greensleeves, and the sublime The Lark Ascending, but there was far more to his genius than those supremely English pieces: he composed nine symphonies that are still under-appreciated, as well as oratorios, operas, concertos, chamber music, songs etc. Yet, Albion's own beloved Vaughan Williams was recently voted number 30 on the list of the 100 Greatest Classical Composers.
Jack Wild (1952-2006), born Royton, Greater Manchester, cherub-faced actor and singer. Played Jack Dawkins the Artful Dodger to absolute perfection in the 1968 film version of Lionel Bart's Oliver based on Dickens' Oliver Twist, arguably the greatest film musical of the last five decades, before becoming a millionaire superstar and teen idol through the cult comedy series, H.R. Pufnstuf. With immense and touching fortitude, he successfully battled both alcoholism and cancer, to become a happily married Born Again Christian man in his early 50s, only to succumb to mouth cancer aged just 52.
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From Dame Janet Baker to Eric Liddell: Twenty Four Treasures of Albion
Non-FictionTaken from forthcoming volume, "Something I Tried Too Hard to Do" (working title).
