Albert Allick Bowlly (7 January 1899 – 17 April 1941) was a British vocalist, crooner, and dance band guitarist who was Britain's most popular singer for most of the 1930s. He recorded upwards of 1,000 songs that were listened to by millions in Britain and other English speaking countries, seeing further success in the United States.

Early life

He was born in 1899 in Lourenço Marques (today Maputo) in the Portuguese colony of Mozambique. His father, Alick, was a Greek Orthodox Christian from the island of Rhodes. His mother, Miriam Ayoub-NeeJame, was a Lebanese Catholic, though Bowlly was raised Greek Orthodox. They met en route to Australia and moved to British South Africa. Bowlly was brought up in Johannesburg. The family's original surname was Pauli, which was misspelt as Bowlly; Alick was only able to speak and read Greek, so the mistake went unnoticed and the name became permanent.

Career

After a series of odd jobs in Colesberg, South Africa, including barber and jockey, he sang in a dance band led by Edgar Adeler on a tour of South Africa, Rhodesia, India and the Dutch East Indies during the early to mid-1920s. His main role was as guitarist. He was fired from the band in Soerabaja, Dutch East Indies.

Jimmy Lequime hired Bowlly to sing with his band in India and Singapore at Raffles Hotel. His body appeared unmarked. Although the explosion had not disfigured him, it had blown his bedroom door off its hinges, and the impact against his head was fatal. He 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.

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".

Legacy

Bowlly's cover songs have been widely included in other forms of media. The Caretaker, who sampled Bowlly's music for his Everywhere at the End of Time series of albums from 2016 to 2019, has said the public believed that if Bowlly had not died during the war, he would have been "bigger than Bing Crosby," and that "he had a better voice."

Dennis Potter's television play Moonlight on the Highway, first broadcast in the UK on 12 April 1969, focused on a young Al Bowlly fanatic attempting to blot out memories of sexual abuse via his fixation with the singer. Potter later featured Bowlly's music in Pennies from Heaven (1978).

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

Bowlly's rendition of "Midnight, the Stars and You" has been particularly used and referenced throughout varied films, appearing in The Shining, Toy Story 4, and Ready Player One. Some commentators specifically highlight its use in The Shinings ending scene, with HeadStuffs Luka Vukos calling it "haunting" and Screen Rant praising it as "one of the most unforgettable final shots in film history." Bowlly's "It's All Forgotten Now" was also featured in The Shining ballroom scene.

Bowlly's 1931 recording of "Hang Out the Stars in Indiana" with Ray Noble & The New Mayfair Dance Orchestra, featured in Bruce Robinson's 1987 British comedy film, Withnail and I.

Richard Thompson wrote a song entitled "Al Bowlly's In Heaven", sung from the perspective of a homeless British Second World War veteran reminiscing of his times as a soldier and the pleasures of Bowlly's music, drawing a contrast with his difficulties in adjusting to postwar life afterward. The song was included on Thompson's 1985 album Daring Adventures. The song has been a staple of his live set ever since and is included on many of his live releases.

A sample of "My Woman", recorded by Bowlly with Lew Stone in November 1932, appeared on White Town's UK chart topper "Your Woman" (1997).

Bowlly's rendition of the song "Guilty" was used in the Jean-Pierre Jeunet film Amélie (2001).

Bowlly's work particularly lives on in the Everywhere at the End of Time community, where several fan albums, such as The Overlook's Colorado Lounge Section, feature many songs by Bowlly. The analog horror community also uses many of Bowlly's songs, such as The Walten Files and Battington's Harmony and Horror series.

Partial discography

{| class="wikitable"

|-

!scope="col"| Song

!scope="col"| Year

|-

!scope="row"| "Soho Blues"

| 1926

|-

!scope="row"| "Blue Skies"

| 1927

|-

!scope="row"| "Muddy Water"

| 1927

|-

!scope="row"| "Are You Happy?"

| 1927

|-

!scope="row"| "If I Had You"

| 1928

|-

!scope="row"| "Misery Farm"

| 1928

|-

!scope="row"| "Singapore Sorrows"

| 1929

|-

!scope="row"| "Dancing With Tears in My Eyes"

| 1930

|-

!scope="row"| "I'm Telling the World She's Mine"

| 1930

|-

!scope="row"| "Time on My Hands"

| 1931

|-

!scope="row"| "Goodnight, Sweetheart"

| 1931

|-

!scope="row"| "Really Mine"

| 1931

|-

!scope="row"| "Heartaches"

| 1931

|-

!scope="row"| "Guilty"

| 1931

|-

!scope="row"| "Hang Out the Stars in Indiana"

| 1931

|-

!scope="row"| "By the Fireside"

| 1932

|-

!scope="row"| "If Anything Happened to You"

| 1932

|-

!scope="row"| "Lullaby of the Leaves"

| 1932

|-

!scope="row"| "Looking on the Bright Side of Life"

| 1932

|-

!scope="row"| "Love Is The Sweetest Thing"

| 1932

|-

!scope="row"| "My Woman"

| 1932

|-

!scope="row"| "What More Can I Ask?"

| 1932

|-

!scope="row"| "Hustlin' and Bustlin' for Baby"

| 1933

|-

!scope="row"| "If You'll Say 'Yes' Cherie"

| 1933

|-

!scope="row"| "Isn't it Heavenly?"

| 1933

|-

!scope="row"| "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?"

| 1933

|-

!scope="row"| "Close Your Eyes"

| 1933

|-

!scope="row"| "Midnight, the Stars and You"

| 1934

|-

!scope="row"| "True"

| 1934

|-

!scope="row"| "The Very Thought of You"

| 1934

|-

!scope="row"| "I Love You Truly"

| 1934

|-

!scope="row"| "Easy Come, Easy Go"

| 1934

|-

!scope="row"| "It's All Forgotten Now"

| 1934

|-

!scope="row"| "Isle of Capri"

| 1934

|-

!scope="row"| "Be Still My Heart!"

| 1934

|-

!scope="row"| "Blue Moon"

| 1935

|-

!scope="row"| "My Melancholy Baby"

| 1935

|-

!scope="row"| "Roll Along, Prairie Moon"

| 1935

|-

!scope="row"| "Dinner for One Please, James"

| 1935

|-

!scope="row"| "The Touch of Your Lips"

| 1936

|-

!scope="row"| "There's Something in the Air"

| 1936

|-

!scope="row"| "I've Got You Under My Skin"

| 1936

|-

!scope="row"| "Smile When You Say Goodbye"

| 1937

|-

!scope="row"| "I Can Dream, Can't I?"

| 1937

|-

!scope="row"| "I Double Dare You"

| 1938

|-

!scope="row"| "Moonlight on the Highway"

| 1938

|-

!scope="row"| "You Couldn't Be Cuter"

| 1938

|-

!scope="row"| "Penny Serenade"

| 1938

|-

!scope="row"| "Jeepers Creepers"

| 1939

|-

!scope="row"| "I'm Madly in Love with You"

| 1939

|-

!scope="row"| "A Man and His Dream"

| 1939

|-

!scope="row"| "It's a Lovely Day Tomorrow"

| 1940

|-

!scope="row"| "Dreaming"

| 1940

|-

!scope="row"| "When That Man is Dead and Gone"

| 1941

|-

|}

References

Further reading

  • Al Bowlly, Modern Style Singing ("Crooning") (Henri Selmer & Co, 1934)
  • Sid Colin and Tony Staveacre, Al Bowlly (H. Hamilton, 1979)
  • Ray Pallett, Good-Night, Sweetheart: Life and Times of Al Bowlly (Spellmount, 1986)
  • Ray Pallett, They Called Him Al: The Musical Life of Al Bowlly (BearManor Media, 2010)
  • Al Bowlly recordings at the Discography of American Historical Recordings.