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Artist News
Vera Lynn dies
By CMU Editorial | Published on Friday 19 June 2020
Singer Vera Lynn has died, aged 103. In a statement, her family confirmed that she had passed away yesterday morning, surrounded by loved ones.
A statement from her record label – Universal’s Decca – on her official Facebook page says: “Dame Vera Lynn, forever known as ‘The Forces’ Sweetheart’, was one of Britain’s best-loved and most enduring entertainers. We thank Dame Vera for her invaluable contribution to the world, and for the joy and warmth she has spread to so many through her music and the charitable causes she has championed. Keep smiling and keep singing”.
Lynn’s career began in the 1930s, releasing her first solo single, ‘Up The Wooden Hill To Bedfordshire’, on Crown Records in 1936. The label merged with Decca two years later and she remained there for the remainder of her long career.
It was during the Second World War, performing to frontline troops in various countries, that she got her nickname ‘The Forces’ Sweetheart’. And songs such as ‘We’ll Meet Again’ and ‘The White Cliffs Of Dover’ made her famous back at home too, long after the war ended.
In 1952, she became the first British singer to top the US singles chart, with ‘Auf Wiedersehen, Sweetheart’. Two years later, she scored her only UK number one single with ‘My Son, My Son’.
She made her final official public performance in Hyde Park in 1995 as part of a concert to mark the 50th anniversary of VE Day. However, she continued to have chart success. In 2009, she became the oldest artist ever to have a UK number one album, aged 92. A record she scored again just last month, when her 2017 greatest hits compilation ‘100’ topped the chart, following the most recent VE Day celebrations.
