Albert Allick Bowlly (7 January 1898[1] – 17 April 1941) was a British voca… Read Full Bio ↴Albert Allick Bowlly (7 January 1898[1] – 17 April 1941) was a British vocalist who was popular during the 1930s in England. He recorded more than 1,000 records. His most popular songs include "Midnight, the Stars and You", "Goodnight, Sweetheart", "The Very Thought of You", "Guilty", "Love Is the Sweetest Thing" and the English version of "Dark Eyes", the "Russian Gypsy" song by Adalgiso Ferraris as "Black Eyes" with words of Albert Mellor.
Bowlly was born in Lourenço Marques in the Portuguese colony of Mozambique. His parents were Greek and Lebanese. They met en route to Australia and moved to South Africa.
Bowlly was brought up in Johannesburg. After a series of odd jobs across South Africa in his youth, including being a barber and a jockey, he sang in a dance band led by Edgar Adeler on a tour of South Africa, Rhodesia, India and Indonesia during the mid-1920s.[citation needed] He was fired from the band in Surabaya, Indonesia.
Jimmy Liquime hired him to sing with the band in India and Singapore. 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, he worked in London, England, with the orchestra of Fred Elizalde.
The onset of the Great Depression in 1929 resulted in Bowlly being made redundant and returning to several months of busking to survive. In the 1930s, he signed two contracts—one in May 1931 with Roy Fox, singing in his live band for the Monseigneur Restaurant in London, the other a record contract 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 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 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 all 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.
He performed in England with his band, the Radio City Rhythm Makers. But by 1937 the band broke up when vocal problems were traced to a wart in his throat, which briefly caused him to lose his voice. Separated from his wife and with his band dissolved, he borrowed money from friends and traveled to New York City for surgery.
His absence from the UK in the early 1930s damaged his popularity with British audiences, despite his association with pianist Monia Liter as his accompanist. 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 never professed to be an actor. The parts he did play were often cut, and scenes that were shown were brief. Noble was offered a role in Hollywood, although the offer did not include Bowlly, as a singer had already been hired. Bowlly moved back to London with his wife Marjie in January 1937.
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 Sydney Lipton, Gerald Bright and Ken "Snakehips" Johnson. In 1940 there was a revival of interest in his career when he worked in a duo with Jimmy Messene 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. Messene had a drinking problem. When he showed up for work, he was occasionally unable to perform. Bowlly recorded his last song two weeks before his death. It was a duet with Messene on Irving Berlin's satirical song about Hitler, "When That Man is Dead and Gone".
In December 1931, Bowlly married Constance Freda Roberts (died 1967) in St Martin's District, London; the couple separated after a fortnight, and sought a rapid divorce. He remarried in December 1934, to Marjie Fairless; this marriage lasted until his death.
On 16 April 1941, Bowlly and Messene had just given a performance at the Rex Cinema in Oxford Street, High Wycombe, now demolished. Both were offered the opportunity of an overnight stay in the town, but Bowlly opted to take the last train home to his flat at 32 Duke Street, Duke's Court, St James, London. His decision proved to be fateful. He was killed by a Luftwaffe parachute mine that detonated outside his flat at ten past three in the morning.
His body appeared unmarked: although the massive explosion had not disfigured him, it had blown his bedroom door off its hinges and the impact against his head proved fatal. He was buried with other bombing victims in a mass grave at what is today known as Hanwell Cemetery, Uxbridge Road, Hanwell, where his name is given as Albert Alex Bowlly.
Bowlly is sometimes credited with inventing crooning or "The Modern Singing Style", releasing a book of the same name. He experimented with new methods of amplification, not least with his Melody Maker advert, showing him endorsing a portable vocal megaphone. With the advent of the microphone in 1931, he adapted his singing style, moving away from the Jazz singing style of the 20s, into the softer, more expressive crooning singing style used in popular music of the 1930s and 1940s.
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".
In the late 1980's, the BBC used his song 'Sweet and Lovely' as the theme tune to 'First of the Summer Wine' - the prequel to long-running comedy 'Last of the Summer Wine'. 'First of the Summer Wine' ran for two seasons of six episodes plus a pilot and, like the main series, was written by Roy Clarke.
The song "Guilty" was used by the BBC soap opera EastEnders in 2000, playing over the end credits instead of the programme's usual title music to signify the final appearance of character Ethel Skinner (Gretchen Franklin) who had persuaded her friend Dot Cotton (June Brown) to help her die.
Bowlly was born in Lourenço Marques in the Portuguese colony of Mozambique. His parents were Greek and Lebanese. They met en route to Australia and moved to South Africa.
Bowlly was brought up in Johannesburg. After a series of odd jobs across South Africa in his youth, including being a barber and a jockey, he sang in a dance band led by Edgar Adeler on a tour of South Africa, Rhodesia, India and Indonesia during the mid-1920s.[citation needed] He was fired from the band in Surabaya, Indonesia.
Jimmy Liquime hired him to sing with the band in India and Singapore. 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, he worked in London, England, with the orchestra of Fred Elizalde.
The onset of the Great Depression in 1929 resulted in Bowlly being made redundant and returning to several months of busking to survive. In the 1930s, he signed two contracts—one in May 1931 with Roy Fox, singing in his live band for the Monseigneur Restaurant in London, the other a record contract 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 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 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 all 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.
He performed in England with his band, the Radio City Rhythm Makers. But by 1937 the band broke up when vocal problems were traced to a wart in his throat, which briefly caused him to lose his voice. Separated from his wife and with his band dissolved, he borrowed money from friends and traveled to New York City for surgery.
His absence from the UK in the early 1930s damaged his popularity with British audiences, despite his association with pianist Monia Liter as his accompanist. 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 never professed to be an actor. The parts he did play were often cut, and scenes that were shown were brief. Noble was offered a role in Hollywood, although the offer did not include Bowlly, as a singer had already been hired. Bowlly moved back to London with his wife Marjie in January 1937.
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 Sydney Lipton, Gerald Bright and Ken "Snakehips" Johnson. In 1940 there was a revival of interest in his career when he worked in a duo with Jimmy Messene 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. Messene had a drinking problem. When he showed up for work, he was occasionally unable to perform. Bowlly recorded his last song two weeks before his death. It was a duet with Messene on Irving Berlin's satirical song about Hitler, "When That Man is Dead and Gone".
In December 1931, Bowlly married Constance Freda Roberts (died 1967) in St Martin's District, London; the couple separated after a fortnight, and sought a rapid divorce. He remarried in December 1934, to Marjie Fairless; this marriage lasted until his death.
On 16 April 1941, Bowlly and Messene had just given a performance at the Rex Cinema in Oxford Street, High Wycombe, now demolished. Both were offered the opportunity of an overnight stay in the town, but Bowlly opted to take the last train home to his flat at 32 Duke Street, Duke's Court, St James, London. His decision proved to be fateful. He was killed by a Luftwaffe parachute mine that detonated outside his flat at ten past three in the morning.
His body appeared unmarked: although the massive explosion had not disfigured him, it had blown his bedroom door off its hinges and the impact against his head proved fatal. He was buried with other bombing victims in a mass grave at what is today known as Hanwell Cemetery, Uxbridge Road, Hanwell, where his name is given as Albert Alex Bowlly.
Bowlly is sometimes credited with inventing crooning or "The Modern Singing Style", releasing a book of the same name. He experimented with new methods of amplification, not least with his Melody Maker advert, showing him endorsing a portable vocal megaphone. With the advent of the microphone in 1931, he adapted his singing style, moving away from the Jazz singing style of the 20s, into the softer, more expressive crooning singing style used in popular music of the 1930s and 1940s.
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".
In the late 1980's, the BBC used his song 'Sweet and Lovely' as the theme tune to 'First of the Summer Wine' - the prequel to long-running comedy 'Last of the Summer Wine'. 'First of the Summer Wine' ran for two seasons of six episodes plus a pilot and, like the main series, was written by Roy Clarke.
The song "Guilty" was used by the BBC soap opera EastEnders in 2000, playing over the end credits instead of the programme's usual title music to signify the final appearance of character Ethel Skinner (Gretchen Franklin) who had persuaded her friend Dot Cotton (June Brown) to help her die.
Very Thought of You
Al Bowlly Lyrics
I don't need your photograph to keep by my bed
Your picture is always in my head
I don't need you portrait, dear, to call you to mind
For sleeping or waking, dear, I find
The very thought of you
And I forget to do
The little ordinary things
That everyone ought to do
I'm living in a kind of daydream
I'm happy as a king
And foolish, though it may seem
Why, to me, that's everything
The mere idea of you
The longing here, for you
You'll never know
How slow the moments go
'Till I'm near to you
I see your face in every flower
Your eyes in stars above
It's just the thought of you
The very thought of you, my love
The mere idea of you
The longing here, for you
You'll never know
How slow the moments go
'Till I'm near to you
I see your face in every flower
Your eyes in stars above
It's just the thought of you
The very thought of you, my love
Your picture is always in my head
I don't need you portrait, dear, to call you to mind
For sleeping or waking, dear, I find
The very thought of you
And I forget to do
The little ordinary things
That everyone ought to do
I'm happy as a king
And foolish, though it may seem
Why, to me, that's everything
The mere idea of you
The longing here, for you
You'll never know
How slow the moments go
'Till I'm near to you
I see your face in every flower
Your eyes in stars above
It's just the thought of you
The very thought of you, my love
The mere idea of you
The longing here, for you
You'll never know
How slow the moments go
'Till I'm near to you
I see your face in every flower
Your eyes in stars above
It's just the thought of you
The very thought of you, my love
Lyrics © CONSALAD CO., Ltd., Kanjian Music, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Ray Noble
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
To comment on or correct specific content, highlight it
More Genres
No Artists Found
More Artists
Load All
No Albums Found
More Albums
Load All
No Tracks Found
Genre not found
Artist not found
Album not found
Search results not found
Song not found
@s3nsei503
The very thought of you
And I forget to do
The little ordinary things
That everyone ought to do
I'm living in a kind of daydream
I'm happy as a king
And foolish, though it may seem
Why, to me, that's everything
The mere idea of you
The longing here, for you
You'll never know
How slow the moments go
'Till I'm near to you
I see your face in every flower
Your eyes in stars above
It's just the thought of you
The very thought of you, my love
The mere idea of you
The longing here, for you
You'll never know
How slow the moments go
'Till I'm near to you
I see your face in every flower
Your eyes in stars above
It's just the thought of you
The very thought of you, my love
@lossinsauce
I'm young. I'm not old enough to know what I'm doing, I'm not old enough to know what my future holds, I'm not old enough to drink yet, I'm not old to have enough experience, and I'm not old enough to understand what it feels like to fall in love, head over heels, to be so in love that it feels as if I'm drowning.
But when I listen to this song, I just don't know.
It's perhaps an emotional connection that makes my heart sing silently.
I feel almost happy. Yet, at the same time, I feel almost sad.
I like to imagine. A lot.
Dragons, fairytales, and all.
So, perhaps, I'm pretending I'm in a bar. It's the 30s. I'm holding a drink in my hand and I swirl the cup around in small circles in my right hand. My left arm rests on the bar counter. I sit with my legs crossed. My eyes closed. This is being played or perhaps even performed.
I'm alone.
But I think of all those who I love so very dear to me.
And I'm not so alone anymore.
"The very thought of you..." so very true.
Thank you so very much for uploading this. It was truly something.
@larbirim6622
there is a big difference between this beautiful songs of 1920s and the noise of these 2020s. I prefer good oldies who is with me?
@memekinganimations6048
Me
@joline2730
Me !! 💯✔👍💚💙
@CaesarVR149
Me
@larrydewein
It was REAL MUSIC then! Since 1956 we've had screamers, pig callers and instrument bashers
@angelroxasjr
Im with you bro
@goggerator16
Having been born in 1929, this is the music of my childhood in England. I remember listening to this on the radio. In this era, music was very precious.....records were rare and this was our evening entertainment. We sat around the fireside, the whole family, listening to every note.
@goldenbagers5430
Wowie your were born in 29!?
@joefast1467
@Liv cap
@joefast1467
@Liv if you were in 20s you’d have to worry about polio segregation Great Depression small pox measles etc