1. Edmund James Arthur Hockridge was a Canadian baritone and actor who had an active performance career in musicals, operas, concerts, plays and on radio.
16 Facts About Edmund Hockridge
1. 2.
Edmund Hockridge grew up on a farm in the Vancouver area of British Columbia.
3.
Edmund Hockridge's mother was a pianist and his father and three brothers - all older than he was - loved to sing.
4.
When Edmund was 17, a Vancouver music club organised an audition with New York Metropolitan Opera star John Charles Thomas, who encouraged him to look to music as a career.
5.
Edmund Hockridge learned much of his craft as an entertainer at the radio, singing and producing 400 shows for the BBC Forces Network and, as the war ended, he was snapped up for appearances with the big names in British popular music, Gerald Bright and George Melachrino among them.
6.
Edmund Hockridge was developing a career in opera, taking leading roles in Don Giovanni, La Boheme and Peter Grimes.
7.
Edmund Hockridge went on to make two more musical roles his own - Judge Forestier, in Can-Can, and Sid Sorokin in the original London production of The Pajama Game, an instant hit with the British public.
8.
Edmund Hockridge's hit single, "Hey There", from what quickly became a hit show, ensured that his name became more well-known.
9.
Edmund Hockridge continued to perform on stage regularly, latterly with his family, until his retirement.
10.
Edmund Hockridge's first recording, "Serenade" on British Decca Records, was followed by three releases on Edmund Hockridge's Master's Voice, none of which sold well.
11.
Edmund Hockridge's second Nixa recording was a cover of Tennessee Ernie Ford's "Sixteen Tons," with a version of Dean Martin's "Young and Foolish" on the flip side.
12.
Whilst Ford's version of "Sixteen Tons" outdid Edmund Hockridge's, the latter's version of "Young and Foolish" was a Top 10 hit on the UK Singles Chart.
13.
Edmund Hockridge followed this record with "No Other Love," which was another hit.
14.
Edmund Hockridge had one final entry on the chart with "By the Fountains of Rome" in September 1957.
15.
Edmund Hockridge died on 15 March 2009, at the age of 89, in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire.
16.
Edmund Hockridge was survived by his widow Jackie, their sons Murray and Stephen, a foster son, Clifford, and Ian, his son from his first marriage to Eileen Elliott.