Cherry Wainer (March 2, 1935 – November 14, 2014) was a South African-born musician, best known as a member of Lord Rockingham's XI and a soloist on the Hammond organ.
Cherry Rachael Wainer was in show business almost from
infancy. Her father promoted tours by nationally renowned artistes while her
mother ensured that their daughter’s obvious musical talent was formalised. “I
was going to be a classical pianist,” she recalled. “At the age of eight, I
performed a concerto with an orchestra. I was, I suppose, considered a child
prodigy – because, in my early teens, my mother took me to London to start at
the Sadler’s Wells Ballet School.”
While she finished the course, she failed the audition to
join the associated ballet company. However, on returning to the Transvaal, her
imagination was captured by the Hammond organ, a keyboard that was becoming
increasingly more prominent in jazz, notably beneath the hands of the American
exponent Jimmy Smith. “I was entirely self-taught,” she confessed, “mostly by
applying what I knew on piano to organ. I wanted to be the female Jimmy Smith!”
Response to her performances in regional clubs was
sufficiently encouraging for Wainer to seek engagements further afield – in the
first instance in Holland, but she was too young to go on her own, so her
mother went along too. “I only knew six tunes, which I played over and over
again while trying to learn new ones,” said Cherry Wainer in later life.
Next, she collaborated with accordionist Nico Carstens on
Flying High, the first rock and roll album recorded by South Africans before
entering the orbit of Don Storer, a highly paid jobbing drummer and her future
husband. They first played together in 1958 at a private function for the billionaire
Johnny Schlesinger. With a musical chemistry that was, reckoned Wainer, “almost
telepathic”, the duo tried their luck in Britain – where Wainer’s flatmate, the
singer and actress Georgia Brown, introduced them to booking agent Tito Burns,
who found
them work on the variety circuit and in US military bases. Burns also got them booked on ITV’s Lunch Box, the lightest of light entertainment shows, which was hosted by Noele Gordon.
them work on the variety circuit and in US military bases. Burns also got them booked on ITV’s Lunch Box, the lightest of light entertainment shows, which was hosted by Noele Gordon.
It was through one such appearance that they came to the
attention of Jack Good, who had been commissioned to produce the first series
of Oh Boy! that autumn. As well as incorporating Storer and Wainer into Lord
Rockingham’s XI, he also brokered a recording contract for Wainer. Her output
was to include Money (1960), historically the first Tamla-Motown number to be
covered in the UK (and, later, a set track for many beat groups).
While chart entries proved elusive for Wainer in her own
right, a maiden Rockingham single, Fried Onions, made the US Hot 100. Hoots
Mon, the follow-up, was a domestic No 1 – and was heard on a section of Oh Boy!
featured in the 1959 Royal Command Performance. Wainer became the focal point
of the band – publicised as “the female Liberace” – with solo spots as both a
singer and instrumentalist.
“I had my Hammond customised with quilted white-leather
and diamanté studs,” she recalled. “Also, my poodle used to sit next to me. I
loved every minute of it – being recognised in the street, signing autographs
and when fans washed my pink saloon car when it was parked outside the hall in
Islington where every Oh Boy! was rehearsed.”
During live broadcasts of Oh Boy! on ITV in the late
1950s, its procession of chiefly male idols passed so swiftly before the
cameras that screaming girls scarcely had pause to draw breath. However,
screams became cheers for Cherry Wainer, seated at an upholstered Hammond organ
as part of the programme’s house band, Lord Rockingham’s XI. With her grinning
vibrancy and ping-pong eyes, Cherry was adored more as an admired elder sister.
Along with the band, Wainer played in the 1959 Royal
Variety Performance, held at the Palace Theatre, Manchester. After the final
edition of Oh Boy! in 1959, Wainer went on to star in another ITV series, Boy
Meets Girls, which was aimed at a wider audience. In 1960, she appeared as
herself in the musical Girls of the Latin Quarter
Wainer married
drummer Don Storer with whom she appeared regularly as a duo during the 1960s.
They appeared regularly in a German television series, Beat! Beat! Beat (1966-1967).
Wainer released several solo albums and singles, none of which made the UK
charts. Wainer and her husband moved to Las Vegas in 1968, working in cabaret.
She later retired from music but remained in Las Vegas and worked in a gift shop. Her husband died in 2006.
She later retired from music but remained in Las Vegas and worked in a gift shop. Her husband died in 2006.
Wainer died of natural causes on November 14, 2014 in Las
Vegas, Nevada, aged 79. (Edited mainly from The Telegraph)
14 comments:
For “Cherry Wainer and the Knightsbridge Brass
– Waltzes In Swingtime (1960)” go here:
https://pixeldrain.com/u/5qnAVG4z
1 It Happened In Monterey 2:32
2 Les Patineurs (The Skater's Waltz) 3:41
3 Whiffinpoof Song 3:22
4 Hi Lilli Hi Lo 2:52
5 Vilia 2:29
6 Together 2:21
7 Crusing Down The River 2:39
8 I'll Be With You In Apple Blossom Time 2:30
9 Marcheta 2:46
10 Charmaine 2:50
11 Mistakes 3:03
12 Loveliest Night Of The Year 3:13
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For “Cherry Wainer – Showtime in Your Club” go here:
https://mega.nz/#!yOxxwKSS!4eZvYFFxxgGdJt1kP9CLwsmWVjSuPNdqCzXapI83tAk
1. Who's Afraid Of Virginia Wolf
2. Music
3. A Taste Of Honey
4. Hello Dolly
5. Bossa Nova Selection
6. Walk On The Wild Side
7. Organ Grinders Swing
8. West Side Story Medley
9. Ray Charles Medley
Thanks to Brody @ hosts100.blog for active link.
P.S Happy birthday to me too 2 march 1955.
Happy birthday. May you have many more healthy and happy ones.
Happy Birthday ! And thanks for all your treasures !
Happy birthday Bob!
Great post. Thanks.
And many MO-O-O-O-O-R-E!
The showtime in your club album is completely on YouTube; https://youtu.be/Q-8OJ67QpNg
Here is a nearly complete playlist of all her work;https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOvucQtyZA1-obWjcQmoK0E32wkVbb56l
Complete database of her work is on archive.org, mega, and on her IMDb.
https://archive.org/details/@danwat1234?tab=uploads
https://mega.nz/folder/hs9TBZgD#1DWSsnN35aCe2w6qXR10jw
Also there's a great Cherry Wainer fan page on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100030630382524
Daniel Watkins here again. Also want to mention just about all of her work is on the Dailymotion video site!
So I think it's safe to say her talent will live on, online, forever
Hi Daniel, Thanks for all the additional information and links. Well done. Regards, Bob.
Of course! Been trying to find a color photo of her pink car. So far no luck.
The embedded Youtube video at the bottom of this blog post has been deleted
Hello Anon. I have no control over the logetivity of the videos from YouTube. Some last for years others are removed by original poster for no apparent reason. Very rarely some are removed due to copyright. Still, I had a look and found loads more to chose from, and have opted for "Happy Organ."
Anonymous no, I'm actually Daniel Watkins 'danwat1234' again. Yeah beat-club took down a lot of videos, giving account strikes, and then started uploading the videos themselves.
Another option for perhaps better longevity is to embed one of her videos from her IMDb if that's possible, or from archive.org but I don't see why beat Club would remove the video. Thanks for prompt edit. Have yet to find any footage of her performing in Las vegas. Just one ad with her holding the lever of a casino machine.
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