THE bizarrest music news this week is that East Ham-born Dame Vera Lynn has become the oldest performer to top the album charts. At the age of 92, she easily usurped Bob Dylan for the title, which he held aged 68. Her album, We ll Meet Again: The Very Bes
THE bizarrest music news this week is that East Ham-born Dame Vera Lynn has become the oldest performer to top the album charts.
At the age of 92, she easily usurped Bob Dylan for the title, which he held aged 68.
Her album, We'll Meet Again: The Very Best of Very Lynn, held off competition from digitally remastered versions of all the Beatles' albums, and the Arctic Monkeys, to take the number one spot on Sunday. She last topped the charts 55 years ago.
Vera was born in Thackeray Road, before the family moved to a flat in Ladysmith Avenue. Vera's father was the MC at the East Ham Working Men's Club, where she first performed at the age of seven.
Her first radio broadcast was in 1935 with the Joe Loss Orchestra and made her first solo record, Up the Wooden Hill to Bedfordshire, on the Crown label in 1936. The label was soon bought out by Decca.
During World War Two, she became known as "the forces' sweetheart" for her uplifting songs.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here