25 Facts About Al Bowlly

Albert Allick Bowlly was a South African-British vocalist, crooner, and dance band guitarist who was Britain's most popular singer for most of the 1930s.

Al Bowlly recorded upwards of 1,000 songs that were listened to by millions.

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

Al Bowlly was born in 1899 in Lourenco Marques in the Portuguese colony of Mozambique.

Al Bowlly's mother, born Miriam Ayoub, was a Lebanese Catholic, though Al himself was raised Greek Orthodox.

The family's original surname was Pauli, which was misspelt as Al Bowlly; Alick was only able to speak and read Greek, so the mistake went unnoticed and the name became permanent.

Al Bowlly was fired from the band in Soerabaja, Dutch East Indies.

Jimmy Lequime hired Al Bowlly to sing with his band in India and Singapore at Raffles Hotel.

In 1927 Al Bowlly made his first record, a cover version of "Blue Skies" by Irving Berlin that was recorded with Adeler in Berlin, Germany.

Al Bowlly moved to Britain, where in July 1928 he joined Fred Elizalde's band that played at the Savoy Hotel, London until 1929.

Al Bowlly 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.

For much of the year, Al 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 Al Bowlly came to America, their reputation had preceded them.

Al Bowlly was riding high in the States; he had his own NBC radio series, a magazine that featured the latest news and press interviews about Al Bowlly, his picture was on sheet music, and he even beat Bing Crosby in a nationwide popularity poll in 1936.

Al Bowlly played a few small parts in films, but the parts were often cut and scenes that were shown were brief.

Al Bowlly moved back to London with his wife Marjie in January 1937.

Al Bowlly performed in England with his band, the Radio City Rhythm Makers.

Al Bowlly 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.

Al Bowlly recorded his last song two weeks before his death.

In December 1931, Al Bowlly married Constance Freda Roberts in St Martin's Register Office, London; the couple separated after a fortnight and sought a divorce.

Al Bowlly remarried in December 1934 to Marjie Fairless; this marriage lasted until his death, although they split up in 1937, they never officially divorced.

Al Bowlly was killed by a Luftwaffe parachute mine that detonated outside his flat at ten past three in the morning.

Al Bowlly 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.

Al Bowlly's cover songs have been widely included in other forms of media.

Al Bowlly was mentioned, and his songs were used, throughout the first few series of the British TV comedy Goodnight Sweetheart.