Russell Davies - 07/06/2009

Helen Carr is certainly a worthy addition to our growing list of lesser-known girl singers of the LP era and we make no apology for including three tracks by her this week. We wish we had room for another one by Betty Bennett but she'll be back soon. In the meantime, our gang of sleuths out there (you!) have been sending us plenty of further clues to follow up - suggestions for recalling yet more forgotten artists - and if we can find them, you can look forward to hearing them on 'The Song Show' soon. The achievements of Clifford Grey (January 1887 - September 1941) a songwriter whose name is hardly a household word these days, do help to make the case for our musical archaeology. Quite apart from winning bobsleigh medals, he was involved in Sometimes I'm Happy, Valencia, I'm A One-Man Girl, My Love Parade, Let The Great Big World Keep Turning and the wonderfully-named Another Little Drink Wouldn't Do Us Any Harm! His life in Hollywood, too, as a screenwriter, is worth exploring. We mention, en passant, Kay Cavendish (one of The Radio Three vocal group we heard singing Anything Goes with Lew Stone's Band). Some will recall her as "Kay On The Keys" crooning softly to her own piano accompaniment. Born Kathleen Murray, she'd earlier been one of The Six Of Us vocal group before forming The Radio Three and finally The Cavendish Three, who by 1939 were Kay, Pat Rignold & Dorothy Carless. Like Clifford Grey, she combined music with sport: in her case - golf!