THE AL BOWLLY STORY - PART 9

In 1937, Al became homesick and longed to be back in London. so he and Marjie returned from the States. Al formed the "Radio City Rhythm Makers", but disbanded when he started to lose his voice. The years of smoking and working in dusty theatres and nightclubs had taken their toll. The doctor told Al that he had a wart on his vocal chords, and there was only one surgeon in the world who could perform the throat opperation at the time - in America. So, back he went and had the opperation done privately. It was a delicate opperation, one slip of the knife, and Al Bowlly would have been silent for the rest of his life.
The opperation was a success, and within just a couple of weeks whilst in New York, he formed a small orchestra and recorded 6 titles for Bluebird. Here's one of them, ''Every Day's A Holiday'' recorded, December 3rd, 1937.

In part 10, find out how history repeated itself for Al.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• AL
• BOWLLY
• 78
• RPM

[loris711]

Actually, I didn't think Al Bowlly was either a smoker (or a drinker - save for large quantities of tomato juice), that his only "vice" was women. Did he smoke, and did that contribute to his voice problems?

[jlassie]

I've always been curious about this one American session that Bowlly made for Bluebird. Any idea of the personnel of the band? I hear clarinet, tenor sax, and trumpet solos, and it's driving me nuts that I don't know who any of these people are, especially since they could be well known American jazz soloists.

[gazeitgeistmnm24]

I love this song!

[TVWriterGuy]

My favorite tune. Thanks for posting!

[bokusman]

"Operation"

[3investigators]

This retrospective history of Al is great. I am curious about the referenced to Al's smoking however. In Ray Noble's interview he mentions that "Al drank little and smoked not at all".

[Mikado69]

Interesting. This was what played over the credits in the Mae West movie of the same name. Dorothy Lamour also sang it on the Bergen and McCarthy show...otherwise, we'd never know the lyrics.

[loris711]

The 2nd reprise is an excellent reminder that although Al Bowlly could sing sweetly and with deep emotion, he could also syncopate and swing a rhythm with a bluesy style that could hold it's own against Bing Crosby's hottest licks.

[mic33george]

My god i never knew about the almost disastrous wart,nor that he had his own band in the US.Very interesting

[kspm01]

Every day's a holiday... not that I actually have the feeling, but thanks to your upload, Bowlly's recuperated golden voice almost makes me believe it.