Ruby Florence Murray (29 March 1935 – 17 December 1996) was a Northern Irish singer from Belfast. One of the most popular performers in Britain and Ireland in the 1950s, she scored ten hits in the UK Singles Chart between 1954 and 1959, including a no. 1 with Softly, Softly. She also made pop chart history in March 1955 by having five hits in the Top Twenty in a single week. Frank Sinatra told her that he was her "greatest fan".

Child star

Ruby Florence Murray was born in Moltke Street, in the "Village" area of the Donegall Road in south Belfast. She was the youngest child in a Protestant family and had a Scottish father. She underwent surgery at six weeks of age due to swollen glands and, as a result, had a very husky voice. Entering a public speaking contest run by Eglinton Young Farmers Club, Derry in March 1947, she won a special prize for the youngest competitor under 18. A performance at the Ballymena Variety Theatre in February 1948 received a positive reception and she then toured in Northern Ireland as a child singer. Murray first appeared on television at the age of 12, having been spotted by producer Richard Afton. Of her voice, Murray joked: "I have to gargle with razor blades to get this effect".

Chart success

Murray kept busy on the variety stage in Northern Ireland in the early 1950s, including performing at the bandstand on the Newcastle seafront, and in 1954 she joined a touring revue called "Yankee Doodle Blarney" which gave her very useful exposure on the English variety stages. Richard Afton offered her the position of resident singer on the BBC's Quite Contrary television show, to replace Joan Regan. After being again spotted by Ray Martin on the first Quite Contrary show, Murray was signed to Columbia and her first single, "Heartbeat", reached No. 3 in the UK Singles Chart in December 1954. "Softly, Softly", her second single, reached number one in early 1955.

The 1950s was a busy period for Murray, during which she had her own television show, starred at the London Palladium with Norman Wisdom, appeared in a Royal Command Performance (1955) and toured the world.

Murray appeared as "Ruby" in her only film role, A Touch of the Sun, a 1956 farce with Frankie Howerd and Dennis Price.

Legacy

Murray had a shy, girl next door persona, with her appeal to audiences everywhere lying in her "Irish sense of humour and her naturalness". The phrase "have a ruby" appears in various episodes of the BBC TV comedy series Only Fools and Horses. It also appeared in another BBC sitcom series, The Royle Family.

A play about Murray's life, Ruby, written by the Belfast playwright Marie Jones, opened at the Group Theatre in Belfast in April 2000.

Virgin Atlantic G-VYUM, a Boeing 787-9, is named the "Ruby Murray" in her honour.

In February 2019, the Ulster History Circle erected a blue plaque in her honour near to where she had been born. Murray met Bernie Burgess, a member of a successful television and recording vocal quartet, the Four Jones Boys. Shortly afterwards she left Northern Ireland to marry him (within six weeks) and live in Northampton; They married in 1991 and spent the evening with a small party of friends and family at an Italian restaurant in Babbacombe.

Murray had two children from her marriage to Burgess, Julie (b. 1960) and Tim (b. 1965).

She spent her last years in Asprey's Nursing Home, having given up alcohol. Burgess died on 19 July 2024 aged 95.

Singles discography

  • "Heartbeat" (1954) – UK number 3
  • "Softly, Softly" (1955) – UK number 1
  • "Happy Days and Lonely Nights" (1955) – UK number 6
  • "Let Me Go Lover" (1955) – UK number 5
  • "If Anyone Finds This, I Love You" (1955) – UK number 4 †
  • "Evermore" (1955) – UK number 3
  • "I'll Come When You Call" (1955) – UK number 6
  • "The Very First Christmas of All" (1955) – UK number 9 (Record Mirror)
  • "You are My First Love" (1956) – UK number 16
  • "Real Love" (1958) – UK number 18
  • "Goodbye Jimmy, Goodbye" (1959) – UK number 10

† Ruby Murray with Anne Warren

See also

  • List of artists who reached number one on the UK Singles Chart
  • List of Northern Irish people
  • Culture of Northern Ireland
  • List of Belfast people

References

  • Official website
  • Short biography 45rpm.org.uk