Al Bowlly – “Have You Ever Been In Heaven”? (1938) “Guilty” “Midnight, The Stars And You”

Albert Allick “Al” Bowlly (7 January 1899 — 17 April 1941) was a popular Jazz singer and crooner in the United Kingdom during the 1930s, making more than 1000 recordings between 1927 and 1941. Bowlly showcased a diverse range of material unsurpassed by any contemporary other than perhaps Bing Crosby. He was also a truly international recording artist. He was killed by the explosion of a parachute mine outside his flat in Jermyn Street, London during the Blitz. Bowlly was born in Lourenço Marques (now Maputo), in the then Portuguese colony of Mozambique, to Greek and Lebanese parents who met en route to Australia and moved to South Africa. In the 1930s, he was to sign two contracts which were to change his fortunes — one in May 1931 with Roy Fox, singing in his live band for the Monseigneur Restaurant in London, the other a record contract with Ray Noble’s orchestra in November 1930. In December 1931, Bowlly married Freda Roberts, but Bowlly discovered his new wife in bed with another man on their wedding night. The couple separated after two weeks, and sought a rapid divorce. He remarried in December 1934, this time to Marjie Fairless, the marriage lasting until his death. A visit to New York in 1934 with Noble resulted in more success and their recordings first achieved popularity in the USA; he appeared at the head of an orchestra hand-picked for him and Noble by Glenn Miller (the band included Claude Thornhill, Charlie Spivak, and Bud Freeman, among others). The …