Roy Fox was an American-born British dance bandleader who was popular in Britain during the British dance band era.
20 Facts About Roy Fox
1.
2.
Roy Fox was born in Denver, Colorado, United States in 1901.
3.
Roy Fox got a job as a bank messenger, but soon took up music full-time.
4.
Roy Fox was employed as a Music supervisor at Fox Film Studios, but soon concentrated on playing.
5.
Roy Fox developed a soft style of playing there which earned him the nickname "The Whispering Cornetist".
6.
In 1929, Roy Fox was invited to lead a band based at the Cafe de Paris in London, which he first did on September 29,1930.
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Roy Fox recorded on the BBC that year, and when his band returned to the US the following spring, Fox remained behind, recording with a new group for Decca Records and accepting an engagement at the Monseigneur restaurant in Piccadilly starting in May 1931.
8.
Roy Fox's band included Lew Stone, Bill Harty, Harry Berly, Sid Buckman, Nat Gonella and Al Bowlly.
9.
Roy Fox took out an injunction on the grounds of breach of contract against his singer, Al Bowlly, which prevented Bowlly performing with Stone's band on the first night; however, Roy Fox lost his action.
10.
Roy Fox formed a new band with Buckman as trumpeter and vocalist, secured a residency at the Cafe Anglais in Leicester Square, London, and performed in Belgium as well as at home in the UK.
11.
Roy Fox appeared in the films On the Air and Radio Pirates the following year.
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The Roy Fox band disbanded in 1938, and Fox moved to Australia, where he led the Jay Whidden Orchestra.
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Roy Fox then moved to a new club, the Riobamba, on 57th Street, at which the floor show included a young Frank Sinatra, who was making his solo nightclub debut, and told Fox that he was the worst conductor he had ever worked with.
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Roy Fox then went to the Savoy-Plaza Hotel, a venue popular with high society, which was opposite Central Park.
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Roy Fox led a band back in Britain from 1946 to 1947, with appearances at the Isle of Man and London's Potomac Club.
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Roy Fox briefly resumed recording in this period, returning to his old label, Decca, with whom he released several more 78s.
17.
Roy Fox went into semi-retirement after 1952, when he opened his own booking agency.
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Roy Fox's first wife, Dorothea, was a showgirl who appeared in the Marx Brothers' musical The Cocoanuts on Broadway.
19.
Roy Fox had a house in Highgate, north London, before moving to a flat in Chelsea, next to where the Decca studios were located at the time.
20.
Roy Fox died in Twickenham, Middlesex in 1982, aged 80.