Brian Lawrance (13 October 1909 - October 1983) was an
Australian-born actor and musician, known for his musical roles as 'Brian
Gates' in She Shall Have Music (1935), 'Douglas Cameron' in Fame (1936) and
'Jimmy King' in Sing as You Swing (1937).
Lawrance was perhaps better known as a crooner, bandleader
and violinist who found more fame here in the UK rather than his native
Australia. He came to England in late 1927, and sang with various dance band
and studio groups before forming his own group in 1934, which played nightly at
Quaglino's Restaurant in London's West End, and recorded some excellent jazz
sides.
In 1937 he began recording for Rex with his Lansdowne House Orchestra who were responsible
for a series of vocal music recordings largely in the second half of the '30s.
Lawrance had several attributes that came in handy for a bandleader; both instrumental and vocal talent, swinging pleasingly on the violin and singing with comfortable ease if not stylistic
innovation. Probably of even
more importance were his good looks. Some backers thought Lawrance could become
a matinee idol, at the very least an Ozzie Nelson type.
He played the lead male part in a pair of musical films but
seems to have dropped out of both acting and performing with the changing of
entertainment fashions following the Second World War.
He returned to Australia where his band played at famous
places like the Trocadero in Sydney. He later went on to work for the
Australian Broadcasting Network. He died in October 1983.
(As you can see Info very scarce. Edited mainly from IMDB & AMG)
