The Beverley Sisters were an English female close harmony traditional pop vocal and light entertainment trio, consisting of three sisters from London. They were eldest sister Joy (born Joycelyn Victoria Barbara Chinery; 4 May 1924 – 31 August 2015), and twins Teddie (born Hazel Pamela Chinery; 5 May 1927) and Babs (born Babette Patricia Chinery; 5 May 1927 – 28 October 2018). The sisters were each appointed MBE in 2006.

The Beverley Sisters were most popular during the 1950s and 1960s, and became well-known through their radio and television appearances. Their style was loosely modelled on that of their American counterparts, The Andrews Sisters. Their notable successes included the Irving Berlin-penned "Sisters" and the Christmas songs "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus", "Little Donkey", and "Little Drummer Boy", while in the United States, they charted with a version of "Greensleeves". They met Glenn Miller who, shortly before his disappearance, offered them the opportunity to record with members of his orchestra. then followed up on BBC Radio's Variety Bandbox.

Immediately after the war they toured with Eric Winstone and his Orchestra, and began making regular appearances on the BBC's early television programmes. They also performed for NBC in the US with surviving members of the Glenn Miller Orchestra. After their return to Britain, promoter Val Parnell booked them to appear at the London Palladium with Gracie Fields, although Fields refused, without explanation, to appear with them.

The following year they performed with Danny Kaye. The BBC gave them their own television series, initially called Three Little Girls on View, but later renamed as Those Beverley Sisters, which ran for seven years and on which they gave live performances of popular songs of the day.

In 1951, they signed a recording deal with the UK Columbia record label, later moving to the Philips and Decca labels before returning to Columbia in 1960. Their biggest hits on the UK singles chart were versions of "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" (no. 6, 1953) and "Little Drummer Boy" (no. 6, 1959), which were both Christmas hits. Generally preferring live cabaret and television appearances over recording work, In January 1961, they appeared on the radio show, Desert Island Discs. They also appeared on the television show Stars on Sunday. The trio were the subjects of This Is Your Life in 1969, when they were surprised by Eamonn Andrews. In 1977, they appeared on the BBC TV's long running variety show The Good Old Days.

Their career was revitalised in the 1980s, after their children – who had begun performing together as the Foxes – invited them onstage at the London Hippodrome, encouraged by club owner Peter Stringfellow. A review in The Stage in March 1985 described the Sisters when appearing in Stringfellow's Hippodrome cabaret as "clad in shimmering pink" and said they had "acquired a glamour and universality that only time and experience can produce". The sisters began performing again for British troops, as well as in gay clubs in Britain, and they produced a new album, Sparkle.

The Beverley Sisters performed as part of the Queen's Golden Jubilee celebrations in 2002, and toured with Max Bygraves that year, the 50th anniversary of their appearance at the Royal Variety Performance. They also took part in the D-Day 60th anniversary memorial concerts in 2004. As late as 2009, the sisters appeared in concerts and matinee shows in the United Kingdom. They forged links with the Burma Star Association, as well as McCarthy & Stone, where the sisters were invited to open each new housing development designed specifically for retired people. They later fully retired and lived near each other in Barnet.

Personal lives and honours

After a brief early marriage to American musician Roger Carocari (who adopted the surname Carey), later dissolved,

Babs married Scottish dentist James Mitchell in 1963 but the marriage did not last. She suffered a cut forehead and shock when a passenger in a car accident in North Harrow on Boxing Day 1967 and was confined to a Harley Street Nursing Home for at least three weeks. Babs died on 28 October 2018, also at the age of 91, leaving no children.

Teddie was engaged to Alyn Ainsworth, but married the British waterskiing champion Peter Felix, and, subsequently, property developer Donald Cottage in 1973. She is the last surviving sister.

In the 2006 New Year Honours list the sisters were each appointed an MBE.

Discography

Robert Tredinnick, in the Gramophone Notes column of The Tatler in January 1952, opined the Beverleys were the best sister act on gramophone since the Boswell Sisters in the early 1930s and "have the gift of making their personalities apparent to an unseeing audience".

Chart singles

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See also

  • List of Decca Records artists

Notes

References

  • Portrait of the Beverley Sisters by David Wedgbury from 1960