Victor Marlborough Silvester OBE (25 February 1900 – 14
August 1978) was an English dancer, author, musician and bandleader from the
British dance band era. He was a significant figure in the development of
ballroom dance during the first half of the 20th century, and his records sold
75 million copies from the 1930s through to the 1980s
The second son of a vicar in Wembley, London, Silvester
learned to dance and play the piano as a child. He studied music at the Trinity
College of Music and the London College of Music, but ran away from school and
joined the British Army just before he reached the age of 15. After some bitter
experiences during World War I, including being a member of a firing squad that
shot 12 deserters at Boulogne, he was sent home when his real age was
discovered. He returned to the Front, and was awarded the Italian Bronze Medal
for Valour.
After the War, legend has it that he attended that very
British institution, a ‘tea dance’ at Harrod’s, the ‘top people’s store’, which
revived his interest in the terpsichorean side of life. After further
involvement with the army, including a spell at Sandhurst, he decided to devote
himself to a career in dancing. For over two years he partnered Phyllis Clarke,
and they won the World’s Dancing Championship in 1922.
In the same year, he married beauty queen Dorothy Newton,
and opened a dance school (the first of a chain) in London’s Bond Street.
Frustrated by the lack of suitable dance records, he formed his first orchestra
in 1935, and persuaded EMI Records to allow him to record Al Bryan and George
M. Meyer’s ‘You’re Dancing On My Heart’, which sold 17, 000 copies, and became
his signature tune. Two years later he made the first of over 6, 500
broadcasts, the most popular of which, the BBC Dancing Club series, started in
1941.
Here's "You're Dancing on My Heart" from above album.
From 1943-44, influenced by the influx of GIs into the UK,
he directed a series of recordings made especially for ‘jive dancing’. The
seven-piece group included top musicians such as trombonist George Chisholm,
trumpeter Tommy McQuater, pianist Billy Munn (who did most of the arrangements)
and multi-instrumentalist E.O. ‘Poggy’ Pogson, who played lead saxophone
doubling clarinet, and stayed with Silvester for 26 years. On some recordings, the Ballroom Orchestra was augmented with 15 strings and woodwind, when it became "The Silver Strings".
Twenty of those early tracks were released by EMI Records on
Victor Silvester’s Jive Band, in 1985. They were a long way from the general
public’s conception of the suave, distinctive Silvester sound, prefaced by his
introduction: ‘Slow, slow, quick, quick, slow’, which accompanied the dancing
in the nation’s ballrooms and on television when the Dancing Club transferred
to the small screen in the 50s, and ran for 17 years. By the end of the run
Silvester’s failing health meant that his son, Victor Jnr. (b. 1924, d. 1999),
was sometimes leading the orchestra; in the 70s he took over full-time
direction.
A phenomenon in popular music, Silvester withstood the radical changes in dance music through the years, especially the rock ‘n’ roll 50s and the beat boom of the 60s, and survived with his high standards intact. For worldwide audiences his name was synonymous with the best in ballroom dancing, and his Record Request programme on the BBC World Service reflected this fact. He was awarded an OBE in 1961 for Services To Ballroom Dancing.
One of his books, Modern Ballroom Dancing, sold over a
million copies and went through 50 editions. He made so many albums that even
he found it difficult to remember the precise number. His affection for 30s
music was demonstrated on the 16 track The Tuneful Thirties, while, Let’s Dance
To Some More Favourite Melodies and Up Up And Away contained material from the
60s and 70s.
In 1978 his total record sales were estimated at over 75
million. Early in that year he released a rarity: a collection of old
favourites entitled The Song And Dance Men, on which his orchestra accompanied
a singer, Max Bygraves. Later in 1978 Victor Silvester died while on holiday in
the South of France. His son, Victor Jnr., continued to direct the Orchestra
until 1998. Victor, his wife, and son are memorialised at Golders Green
Crematorium, London.(Info mainly All Music Guide)
3 comments:
Go here for many recordings of Victor Silvester:
https://archive.org/details/VictorSilvester-01-44
You've forgotten to mention his Silver Strings Orchestra, which was not strict tempo dance music.
Hello Mel, thanks for the comment. I try and keep bio's relatively short. Wikipedia's was far too long so I opted for AMG which had no mention of his other orchestra. My bio is now amended.
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