Al Bowlly, Ray Noble Orchestra - The Prisoner's Song (1930)

Albert Allick 'Al' Bowlly (January 7, 1899 April 17, 1941) was a popular British Jazz singer in the United Kingdom during the 1930s, making more than 1,000 recordings between 1927 and 1941. Bowlly was born in Mozambique to Greek and Lebanese parents who met en route to Australia and moved to South Africa. He was brought up in Johannesburg, South Africa. He was killed by the explosion of a parachute mine outside his apartment in Jermyn Street, London during the Blitz. ............................... Ray Noble (December 17, 1903 April 3, 1978) was a British bandleader, composer, arranger and actor. Noble studied music at the Royal Academy of Music and became leader of the HMV Records studio band in 1929. The band, known as the New Mayfair Dance Orchestra, featured members of many of the top hotel orchestras of the day. The most popular vocalist with Noble's studio band was Al Bowlly. The Bowlly/Noble recordings achieved popularity in the United States. Union bans prevented Noble from taking British musicians to America so he arranged for Glenn Miller to recruit American musicians. Glenn Miller played the trombone in the Ray Noble orchestra which performed Glenn Miller's composition "Dese Dem Dose" during a performance at the Rainbow Room in 1935. The American Ray Noble band had a successful run at the Rainbow Room in New York City with Bowlly as principal vocalist. Bowlly returned to England but Noble continued to lead bands in America, moving into an acting career portraying a stereotypical upper-class English idiot. His last major successes as a bandleader came with Buddy Clark in the late 1940s. Noble wrote both lyrics and music and contributed "Love Is The Sweetest Thing", "Cherokee", "The Touch of Your Lips", "I Hadn't Anyone Till You" and "The Very Thought Of You" to popular culture. The Ray Noble composition "You're So Desirable" was recorded by Billie Holiday, Teddy Wilson, and Robert Palmer in 1990. Ray Noble was also an arranger who scored many record hits in the 1930s: "Easy to Love" (1936), "Mad About the Boy" (1932), "Paris in the Spring" (1935). Noble and Bowlly's 1934 recording of "Midnight, the Stars and You" was prominently featured on the soundtrack of Stanley Kubrick's film The Shining in 1980. Al Bowlly, Ray Noble Orchestra - The Prisoner's Song (1930)

Author: edmundusrex
Keywords: Al Bowlly Ray Noble 1930 20's 30's
Added: December 31, 2008