Steve
Conway (12 October,1920 – 19 April,1952) One of the finest British ballad
singers of his generation, Steve Conway’s death at an early age robbed the
musical world of a first-class talent that was only just coming into bloom.
A native of London, Steve Conway was born
Walter James Groom in Bethnal Green, East London on 12 October 1920. Throughout
his life friends and family called him Jimmy. he was born into a very poor
family, his father, Walter Groom being a labourer. As a child, his life was blighted
by illness. A severe attack of rheumatic fever left him with the weak heart,
which was to dog him for the rest of his life. Despite this debilitating
handicap, young Steve was determined to make his way in music.
When
the Second World War broke out Conway wanted to enlist but failed the medical.
He began to make his name as a singer. The venues for which he was engaged were
far from glamorous, but years spent performing in bars, clubs and ballrooms
established his reputation as a rising talent. It was during his mid-teens that
he
reached one of the crucial turning points of his life, when he met a local
East End girl called Lilian Butcher, who worked in a textile factory near his
home. Lilian was to become the great love of his life. She was the woman who
inspired profound devotion in him and infused his singing with such romantic
power. They married in 1941.
During
the war, Lilian worked in a munitions factory, but Jimmy had a shock when he
tried to enlist for military service. He was declared unfit due to a heart
condition, a legacy of childhood rheumatic fever, which had damaged his
coronary valves. Unfortunately, Jimmy was never told to seek treatment, a
failure that would ultimately have disastrous consequences for him.
1945
was a key year in Steve’s rise to the top of the tree. He made his broadcasting
debut on the Variety bandbox Show and was a guest singer with Ambrose and Lew
Stone. The composer, arranger and conductor Peter Yorke, was impressed with his
singing and invited him to appear in a regular series of programmes with his
concert orchestra. He acted as a mentor to Conway and was to play a part in his
subsequent recording career.
Steve
signed with the UK Columbia label in 1945 and made nearly one hundred sides for
the company over the following six years. He could sing almost anything to
great effect. No sooner than Steve Conway had begun to realise his dream of
stardom, his health began to deteriorate. He toured the large UK variety
circuit, but found the hours on the road hard to endure. He was a strong,
determined character who kept going for as long as he could, but in the end he
was forced to admit defeat. A collapse on stage in December 1951 effectively
signalled the end of his working life.
The
last few months of Steve Conway’s life were spent going in and out of hospital
as his heart condition became progressively more serious. In the spring of 1952
he was admitted for surgery to Guys Hospital in London, where he died on 19
April, only six months short of his thirty-second birthday.
He
was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium on the 25th April following a service
at 2:30PM. A congregation of about 100 attended which included bandleaders,
vocalists, musicians, recording executives, music publishers, song writers,
artistes, agents, managers and reporters. Amongst the many wreaths from fans
and stars alike was one from his daughter and was in the shape of a miniature
chair inscribed "Daddy's Little Girl", a poignant memory of his hit
song.
What
was so remarkable about Conway’s all-too-brief spell of fame was that he had no
musical training whatsoever. He never sang in a school or church choir as a
youth; nor did he ever learn to read music. But he always had an extraordinary,
natural ear for music, which meant that he could repeat the notes of a tune to
perfection after just one hearing. When he had seen a musical for the first
time, he could hum the entire score immediately afterwards. This ability was
combined with his instinctive gifts both for interpreting a melody and for
bringing sincerity to a lyric, all factors that made him such a compelling
singer.
Given
a longer life span it is highly probable that a singer of his quality would
have gone on to become an international star. His abrupt and premature end was
a cruel injustice, which denied his reputation the lasting greatness that his
talent deserved. As it was, his contribution to the music of post-war Britain
was enormous. He is one of those artists who will always be remembered with
immense pleasure by those who appreciate first-rate music. With mournful appropriateness, the last song
that Steve Conway recorded was entitled With All My Heart and Soul. It was a
sad twist of fate that the man who made romance the enriching central theme of
his life, both on and off the stage, should have died of damaged heart.
(Info
edited from Tony Watts & The Independent article “Ode to Steve Conway “and
various sources )
4 comments:
For Steve Conway – I poured My Heart Into A Song go here:
http://uptobox.com/62goqcn1ih8f
1. I Poured My Heart into a Song 3:13
2. The Gypsy 3:07
3. I Can't Begin to Tell You 3:28
4. Promises 3:21
5. The Stars Will Remember, So Will I 3:34
6. April Showers 3:19
7. May I Call You Sweetheart? 2:51
8. Guilty 3:32 .
9. Time After Time 3:05
10. I Wish I Didn't Love You So 3:17
11. Happy-Go-Lucky You and Broken-Hearted Me 3:17
12. I Never Loved Anyone 3:11
13. How Little We Know 3:04
14. When You Were Sweet Sixteen Stve Conway 2:59
15. After All 2:49
16. Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? 2:53
17. Look for the Silver Lining 3:07
18. My Thanks to You 3:19
19. My Foolish Heart 3:22
20. Daddy's Little Girl 3:00
21. Mona Lisa 3:04
22. Autumn Leaves 3:01
23. Good Luck, Good Health, God Bless You 3:10
24. Too Young 3:11
25. At the End of the Day Stee Conway 2:57
Here's a few comments from my original Multiply post
Val Dunmore said...
beautiful singer, thank you.
18 January 2011 04:11
Barry Herbaut said...
My mothers favourite singer and songs "My Thanks to You" "Take care my Foolish Heart" So many thanks for posting.
16 June 2011 11:12
Jim Prendergast said...
In the early sixties I was a guitarist with an Irish show band and my father played trumpet.
He was a fan of Steve Conway and introduced me to his music which I quickly grew to love.
We used to listen to the Luxemburg signing off tune every night
Jim Prendergast
22 August 2011 09:19
Hi Bob,
I just discovered Steve Conwway. Could you please reup this collection. Thank you.
Hello HP, Here's Steve...................
https://www.imagenetz.de/csp92
Bob,
Steve Conway has such a beautiful voice, singing his versions of so many huge American hits of the 1940s and early 1950s:
"The Gypsy" - The Ink Spots, 1946; "I Can't Begin To Tell You" - Bing Crosby, 1946;
"April Showers" - Al Jolson, 1947; "Guilty" - Margaret Whiting, 1947; "I Wish I Didn't Love You So" - Vaughn Monroe, 1947; "When You Were Sweet Sixteen" - Perry Como, 1947; "My Foolish Heart" - Gordon Jenkins, 1950; "Daddy's Little Girl" - The Mills Brothers, 1950; "Mona Lisa" - Nat (King) Cole, 1950 and "Too Young" - Nat (King) Cole, 1951.
However, the producers of the album leff off five big hits that he did release as singles:
"Temptation" - Perry Como, 1945; "Along The Navago Trail" - Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters, 1946; Maybe It's Because" - Dick Haymes, 1949; "Sentimental Me" - The Ames Brothers, 1950 and "Would I Love You (Love You, Love You)" - Patti Page, 1950.
If you could find these five songs and then add then to a revised album, we would then have the proper album to remember such a wonderful singer, Steve Conway.
Thank you for all the music all these years :-)
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