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About me: my first post!

I was born in England and raised in West Africa and North America; my mother referred to the family as being of ‘Colonial’ nationality.

My singing career began in 1959 with one-nighters, college dates, and the occasional radio show. As fame increased, I began to- and fro-ing across the Atlantic, between the UK and Canada, charming capacity audiences in clubs and theatres. My individual style and heartfelt rendering of ballads, and the contrast of my wild Rock ‘n Roll were inspired from the hope and energy of West Africa. As the ’60’s developed I began to shun the glare of celebrity. Studios, clubs and stages pulsed with drugs, and a tragic mass entertainment of messed-up so-called music was becoming mainstream. After a long absence from the stage, I completed contractual obligations in Niagara, Canada, and Southampton, England, and faded into obscurity.

In 2000 my daughter and I visited Canada. It was a kind of odyssey to the past. Our poignant journey encompassed the Brant Inn location in Burlington, Ontario. Decades before, as an enterprising teenager from England, I stepped into the limelight of this fabulous nightclub where truly learned my craft. In that golden era a host of glamorous stars entertained the Brant’s sophisticated audiences. I had fronted the Guy Lombardo Band, duetted with the sheer genius Danny Kaye, and had been ‘mothered’ by the beautiful Jayne Mansfield: when the old-timers were mean to me, she provided sympathetic company where I could escape at will and complain. The Brant Inn was tragically torn down in around 1970, but as my daughter and I stood on the shore of Lake Ontario (near Maple Avenue), we could easily imagine the melodies that had floated out across the lake: sometimes reality is not permitted to be an intruder!

I was then MD of several innovative companies in the West of England for 21 years, and now spend my time writing.