Al Bowlly

He also recorded the only English version of "Dark Eyes" by Adalgiso Ferraris, as "Black Eyes", with lyrics by Albert Mellor.

• Name — Al Bowlly • Birth Name — Albert Allick Bowlly • Born — 7 January 1899 • Birthplace — Lourenço Marques, Portuguese Mozambique • Died — 17 April 1941 • Place of death — London, England • Genre — Jazz, British dance band, big band • Occupation — Singer, guitarist • Years Active — 1926-1941

He was born in 1899 in Lourenço Marques (today Maputo) in the Portuguese colony of Mozambique. His father, Alick, was a Greek Orthodox Christian from the island of Rhodes. His mother, Miriam Ayoub-NeeJame, was a Lebanese Catholic, though Bowlly was raised Greek Orthodox. They met en route to Australia and moved to British South Africa. Bowlly was brought up in Johannesburg. The family's original surname was Pauli, which was misspelt as Bowlly; Alick was only able to speak and read Greek, so the mistake went unnoticed and the name became permanent.

After a series of odd jobs in Colesberg, South Africa, including barber and jockey, he sang in a dance band led by Edgar Adeler on a tour of South Africa, Rhodesia, India and the Dutch East Indies during the early to mid-1920s. His main role was as guitarist. He was fired from the band in Soerabaja, Dutch East Indies. Jimmy Lequime hired Bowlly to sing with his band in India and Singapore at Raffles Hotel. When he left Lequime, it was with the pianist Monia Liter, the two of them travelling to Germany, where they played with Arthur Briggs and his Savoy Syncopators, Fred Bird's Salon Symphonic Jazz Band, and George Carhart's New Yorkers Jazz Orchestra. In 1927 Bowlly made his first record, a cover version of "Blue Skies" by Irving Berlin that was recorded with Adeler in Berlin, Germany. During the next year, Bowlly worked in London, with the orchestra of Fred Elizalde. Bowlly moved to Britain, where in July 1928 he joined Fred Elizalde's band at the Savoy Hotel, London until 1929. He went on to play with various bands on a temporary basis, before gaining more regular employment in May 1931 with Roy Fox, singing in his live band for the Monseigneur Restaurant, a stylish restaurant on Piccadilly in London, and with bandleader Ray Noble in November 1930. During the next four years, he recorded over 500 songs. By 1933, Lew Stone had ousted Fox as the Monseigneur's bandleader and Bowlly was singing Stone's arrangements with Stone's band. After much radio exposure and a successful British tour with Stone, Bowlly was now Britain's top singer, and was inundated with demands for appearances and gigs – including undertaking a solo British tour – but continued to make most of his recordings with Noble. There was considerable competition between Noble and Stone for Bowlly's time. For much of the year, Bowlly spent the day in the recording studio with Noble's band, rehearsing and recording, then the evening with Stone's band at the Monseigneur. Many of these recordings with Noble were issued in the United States by Victor, which meant that by the time Noble and Bowlly came to America, their reputation had preceded them. • Illustration — Bowlly in the United States Once Bowlly and Noble arrived in the States in Autumn of 1934, Noble assembled a new orchestra, which included notable artists such as Charlie Spivak, Glenn Miller, Bud Freeman, and Pee Wee Erwin. Noble's Orchestra was resident in the Rainbow Room atop the Rockefeller Center in New York. Noble and Bowlly would broadcast over NBC and CBS, causing Ray Noble's Orchestra to be one of the most popular Dance Orchestras in the United States. Bowlly was also riding high in the States; he had his own NBC radio series, a magazine that featured the latest news and press interviews about Bowlly, his picture was on sheet music, and he even beat Bing Crosby in a nationwide popularity poll in 1936. Bowlly's absence from the UK in the mid-1930s damaged his popularity with British audiences, and his career began to suffer as a result of problems with his voice, which affected the frequency of his recordings. He played a few small parts in films, but the parts were often cut and scenes that were shown were brief. Noble was offered a role in Hollywood, although the offer excluded Bowlly because a singer had already been hired. Bowlly moved back to London with his wife Marjie in January 1937. He performed in England with his band, the Radio City Rhythm Makers. However, by early 1937, the band had broken up when vocal problems were traced to a wart in his throat, briefly causing him to lose his voice. Separated from his wife and with his band dissolved, he traveled to New York City for corrective surgery. With diminished success in Britain, he toured regional theatres and recorded as often as possible to make a living, moving from orchestra to orchestra, working with people like Sydney Lipton, Geraldo, and Ken "Snakehips" Johnson. Al Bowlly also started to make his own solo records and would broadcast over several popular radio stations such as Radio Luxembourg and the BBC, which helped him regain a large amount of popularity, although many claim he did not enjoy as much success as he did in his earlier days before he moved to the United States. One of his songs, "It's Time to Say Goodnight", was used as Radio Luxembourg's closing song until it temporarily shut down during World War II (a cover by Connie Francis would be used as the station's ending song during the early 1960s). In 1940, there was a revival of interest in his career when he worked in a duo with Jimmy Mesene in Radio Stars with Two Guitars on the London stage. It was his last venture before his death in April 1941. The partnership was uneasy; Mesene was an alcoholic and he was occasionally unable to perform. Bowlly recorded his last song two weeks before his death. It was a duet with Mesene of Irving Berlin's satirical song about Hitler, "When That Man is Dead and Gone". • Illustration — An English Heritage plaque stating "Al Bowlly lived here", located at 26 Charing Cross Road in London, England

In December 1931, Bowlly married Constance Freda Roberts (officially divorced in 1934) in St Martin's Register Office, London; the couple separated after a fortnight and sought a divorce. He remarried in December 1934 to Marjie Fairless. This marriage lasted until his death; although they split up in 1937, they never officially divorced. On 16 April 1941, Bowlly and Mesene had given a performance at the Rex Cinema in Oxford Street, High Wycombe. Both were offered an overnight stay in town, but Bowlly took the last train home to his flat at 32 Duke Street, Duke's Court, St James, London. He was killed by a Luftwaffe parachute mine that detonated outside his flat at 3:10 a.m. His body appeared unmarked. Although the explosion had not disfigured him, it had blown his bedroom door off its hinges, and the impact against his head was fatal. He was buried with other bombing victims in a mass grave at Hanwell Cemetery, Uxbridge Road, Hanwell, where his name is given as Albert Alex Bowlly. A blue plaque commemorating Bowlly was installed in November 2013 by English Heritage at Charing Cross Mansion, 26 Charing Cross Road, described as "his home at the pinnacle of his career".

Al Bowlly is recorded as songwriter, composer, bandleader, singer and singer-songwriter. Recorded at birth as Albert Allick Bowlly. Identity and origins. The authorities additionally record the headings Albert Alex Bowlly and Albert Allick "Al" Bowlly. His recorded language was English.