Eve Boswell
Eve Boswell | |
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![]() Eve Boswell (1964) | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Éva Keleti |
Born | Budapest, Kingdom of Hungary | 11 May 1922
Died | 14 August 1998 Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa | (aged 76)
Genres | Traditional pop |
Years active | 1950s |
Eve Boswell (born Éva Keleti; 11 May 1922 – 14 August 1998), was a Hungarian born South African pop singer.[1] With the outbreak of the Second World War, Eva's family moved to South Africa, where they worked with the Boswell Circus. After a few years in South Africa during which she got married, Eve was offered a temporary contract to work with a band in the United Kingdom. Eve's success with that contract eventually led to her becoming a popular solo singer in Britain in the 1950s.
Career
[edit]Éva Keleti was born in Hungary to professional musician parents who toured worldwide.[1] Educated in Switzerland, she studied piano before joining her parents on tour as the juggling act, Three Hugos.[1] When the Second World War was declared, the family left Britain with the Boswell Circus. She married, and as Eve Boswell became a popular singing star in South Africa.[1]
In 1949, she was heard by bandleader Geraldo (Gerald Bright), who persuaded her to return to Britain as a singer in his band, which was widely heard on BBC Radio.[1] Boswell was the singing voice of Vera-Ellen in the 1951 British film Happy Go Lovely. She parted with Geraldo in 1951, and launched a solo career.[1] Her first hit record came the following year with "Sugar Bush", partly sung in Afrikaans.[1] Starting in March 1952, she toured for several months with comedian Derek Roy in a musical revue "Happy-Go-Lucky", before flying to Korea to entertain the armed forces.[2] In 1953, she was with Harry Secombe in "Show of Shows" at Blackpool Opera House.[3] She was given her own radio show on the BBC's Light programme called "Time to Dream" in October, 1953,[4] and she appeared in the 1953 Royal Variety Performance at the London Coliseum.[1] Boswell played alongside Tommy Cooper in "Happy and Glorious" and later with him in pantomime in 1954 in "Humpty Dumpty" at the Dudley Hippodrome.[5]
Her major chart hit came with "Pickin' a Chicken", a South African tune with new words,[1] which rose to No. 9 on the UK Singles Chart[6] at the start of 1956. Her first LP, Sugar and Spice, on which she sang 10 songs in nine different languages, followed later in the year.[1] A continuous programme of radio and TV work[7] and tours followed, leading to more than one mental breakdown. She faded from public view as public tastes for pop music changed through the late 1950s and 1960s.[1] Her husband died in 1970, and she opened her own singing studio in London called “Studio 9” in 1974.[8] Some years she later she returned to South Africa, where she married the radio producer Henry Holloway, who produced her last LP, It's a Breeze, made in 1979.[9]
Discography
[edit]Albums
[edit]- 1956 Sugar and Spice (Parlophone)
- 1957 Sentimental Eve (Parlophone, with the Reg Owen Orchestra)
- 1958 The War Years (Capitol Records, with the Reg Owen Orchestra)
- 1959 Following the Sun Around (Parlophone)
- 1961 At the Mediterranean (South Africa) (Continental Records)
- 1962 Goeie Nuus! Good News (South Africa) (Brigadiers)
- 1976 Sugar Bush '76 (EMI Records)
- 1979 It's a Breeze (Sugarbush Records)
Singles
[edit]- 1949 "Confidentially" (with Geraldo and his orchestra)
- 1950 "Dear Hearts and Gentle People" (with Geraldo and his orchestra)
- 1950 "I Can Dream, Can't I?" / "Mamma Knows Best"
- 1950 "Bewitched" / If I Loved You
- 1950 "Your Heart and My Heart" / "I Remember the Cornfields"
- 1950 "Beloved, Be Faithful" / "Yes! I'll Be There"
- 1950 "All My Love"
- 1951 "My Heart Cries for You" / "All My Life"
- 1951 "Transatlantic Lullaby" /" "Broken Heart"
- 1951 "Would You" / "I'm in Love Again"
- 1951 "I'll Be Around" / "The Way That the Wind Blows"
- 1952 "We Won't Live in a Castle" / "Paradise"
- 1952 "Please, Mr. Sun" / "Love's Last Word Is Spoken"
- 1952 "Sugar Bush" / "I'm Yours"
- 1952 "Here in My Heart" / "I Ain't Gonna Marry"
- 1952 "Old Johnnie Goggabee" / "Your Mother and Mine"
- 1953 "Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo" / "Everything I Have Is Yours"
- 1953 "I Believe" / "Tell Me You're Mine"
- 1953 "If You Love Me (I Won't Care)" / Why?
- 1953 "A Million Stars" / "Don't Ever Leave Me"
- 1954 "Crystal Ball" / "Romany Violin"
- 1954 "Bewitched" / "Playing with Fire"
- 1954 "Du Bist Mein Liebchen" / "The Little Shoemaker"
- 1954 "Skokiaan" / "On the Waterfront"
- 1955 "These Are the Things We'll Share" /
- 1955 "Ready, Willing, and Able" / "Pam-Poo-Dey"
- 1955 "The Heart You Break" / "Tika Tika Tok"
- 1955 "Pickin' A-Chicken" / "Blue Star (The "Medic" Theme)"
- 1956 "Young and Foolish" / "Where You Are"
- 1956 "It's Almost Tomorrow" / "Cookie"
- 1956 "Keeping Cool with Lemonade" / "Down By the Sugar Cane"
- 1956 "Saries Marais" / "Come Back My Love"
- 1956 "True Love" / "Where in the World Is Billy?"
- 1957 "Rock Bobbin' Boats" / "Tra La La"
- 1957 "Chantez, Chantez" / "She Said"
- 1957 "With All My Heart" / "Sugar Candy"
- 1957 "Stop Whistlin' Wolf" / "The Gypsy in My Soul"
- 1957 "Swedish Polka" / Tell My Love
- 1958 "Bobby" / "(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons"
- 1958 "I Do" / "Love Me Again"
- 1958 "Voom - Ba - Voom" / "Left Right Out of My Heart"
- 1958 "More Than Ever" / "I Know Why"
- 1958 "The Christmas Tree" / "Christmas Lullaby"
- 1959 "Piccaninny" / "If I Had a Talking Picture of You"
- 1959 "Wimoweh Cha Cha" / "Beogoeberg Se Dam"
- 1959 "Once Again" / "You Are Never Far Away from Me"
- 1959 "Turnabout Heart" / "Misty"
- 1962 "Love Me" / "You're My Thrill"
- 1963 "Never Too Late" / "Let's Get Away"
- 1969 "This Is My Love" / "Lonely in a Crowd"
- 1974 "One God" / "Love Song"
- 1976 "Sugar Bush '76" / "This Time"
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Colin Larkin, ed. (2002). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Fifties Music (Third ed.). Virgin Books. p. 46. ISBN 1-85227-937-0.
- ^ "Daily Herald". Daily Herald: 7. 25 November 1952.
- ^ "The Stage". The Stage: 35. 20 August 1998.
- ^ "Daily Herald". Daily Herald: 6. 2 October 1953.
- ^ "Birmingham Daily Post". Birmingham Daily Post: 10. 24 December 1954.
- ^ "EVE BOSWELL | Official Charts Company". Officialcharts.com. Retrieved 21 October 2019.
- ^ "Internet Movie Database". imdb.com. Retrieved 6 March 2022.
- ^ "The Stage". The Stage: 17. 22 August 1974.
- ^ "Discogs.com". Discogs.com. Retrieved 5 March 2022.