Jill Day born 5 December 1930

Jill Day (5 December 1930- 16 November 1990, Kingston-Upon-Thames, England) was a successful pop singer and actress in Britain in the 1950s and early 60s.She was called “the Golden Girl of Song” and sometimes “the sapphire blonde with the diamond-bright personality”. 

She was born Yvonne Page in Brighton, Sussex, England, eldest of three children of a Brighton bookmaker, William Page, and his wife, Phyllis James. Her parents wanted her to go to secretarial college, but Yvonne set her heart on a singing career. In April 1945, she auditioned for Harry Roy, and toured for five months in variety as the vocalist in his band, using the name Jill Page. After understudying in two West End shows, Follow the Girls and Piccadilly Hayride, she returned to Brighton in 1948 to join the revue, Limelight, in which she was seen by bandleader Syd Dean, who was so impressed by her voice and personality that he invited her to become the vocalist with his orchestra at the Regent Ballroom, Brighton, in 1949. 

In November of that year, still as Jill Page, she made her recording debut with Dean’s band on the Columbia label with the song “Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday” She also made her mark on the radio in the series, May We Come In?. In 1950, Jill became the toast of Paris at the Club Champs Elysees, singing with Bernard Hilda’s orchestra. Back in Britain in June 1951, she returned to the stage to tour as Pansy Pinns in The Belle of New York, now using the name, Jill Day, chosen for her by the bandleader Geraldo, on whose radio series, Tip Top Tunes, she became a regular guest. In 1952, when Eve Boswell left as Geraldo’s vocalist, Jill replaced her. 

                                   

In 1953, she made her film debut in the comedy, Always A Bride, and in March 1954, she was voted into third place behind Lita Roza and Cleo Laine in the Melody Maker poll of Britain’s most popular female vocalists. Leaving Geraldo, she went solo in 1954, launching her first hit for Parlophone, “Little Johnny Rainbow”, in October of that year, which was one of ten songs she recorded in the next eight months. On television she was in constant demand, appearing in I’ll Be Seeing You, Puzzle Corner, Starlight, Off The Record, and with the legendary Jessie Matthews in Dreamer’s Highway. Jill was well known for her long slim dresses with stiff petticoat under the below-the-knee hem which she wore in numerous television appearances. 

In the boom year of 1955, Jill starred in the West End revue, The Talk of the Town, with Jimmy Edwards and Tony Hancock, looked stunning in the title-roll of the Rank Organization’s colour film, All for Mary, and expertly dubbed the singing voice of Brigitte Bardot, in another film, Doctor at Sea. She ended the year playing Prince Charming in BBC Television’s Pantomania with Eric Sykes and Sylvia Peters. 1956 brought her most popular recording “Happiness Street”, which seemed to personify her infectious charm and vitality. She appeared with Dave King in the first of three Blackpool summer seasons. The others were Rocking with Laughter, with Ken Dodd and in 1957 The Big Show of 1959 with Jimmy Jewel and Ben Warris. 

Jill reached the peak of her career in 1957 with her own BBC television series, The Jill Day Show, which she also wrote, and the lead in the West End comedy, The Lovebirds, at the Adelphi Theatre, in which her performance won critical acclaim. She competed in the heats of the contest to represent the United Kingdom in the 1957 Eurovision Song Contest, eventually losing out to Patricia Bredin. She also married the great alto-saxophonist Douglas Robinson on May 14th that year.

Five smash-hit seasons of West End cabaret followed at the Society Restaurant, top-of-the-bill stage tours, and further television triumphs, including Beat Up the Town, Hit the Headlines, Hi Summer!, the title roll in Cinderella, and Sunday Night at the London Palladium. In 1961, she joined Kenneth Horne and Kenneth Williams in the radio series, Beyond Our Ken. But Jill's singing style faded out of failure with the coming of the 1960s and she struggled to maintain her profile, although in 1965 she released one of her most popular singles, reviving two classic standards “I’ve Got My Love To Keep Me Warm” and “I’m Old Fashioned”. 

Tragedy struck in 1967 when her son Buster died from leukemia at the age of only seven. Some believed she never entirely recovered from this blow. Her last recordings were released in 1970. After that she preferred to stay at home with her family at their magnificent house in Kinston-Upon-Thames, concentrating on her business interests which included an Earl’s Court gymnasium, a theatrical agency and a child’s clothing company. In 1990, during a routine medical test, cancer was discovered, and she died suddenly on November 15 that same year at the New Victoria Hospital, Kingston, at the age of only 59.   

(Edited mainly from Michael Thornton’s liner notes)