Thread: Al Bowlly

Al Bowlly
''Say, Don't You Remember? They Called Me Al''

With enduring hits like Goodnight Sweetheart; The Very Thought Of You; Brother, Can You Spare A Dime? and Love Is The Sweetest Thing, Al Bowlly was a big star. A very highly skilled and respected singer, he had a particular sincerity with lyrics that endeared him to everyone. He would tour, entertain troops, do radio broadcasts and cut records with his musician friends. In March 1941, one of these friends was killed when a bomb fell through the roof of a café they played in. Al was devastated.

On April 16th 1941, the residents of the London flats where Al Bowlly was living, were quickly making their way to the air-raid shelter. A very heavy raid was said to be approaching, but Al decided to stay at home in his flat. He'd been performing that night, and was tired. He lay in bed, reading a book. In the early hours of Thursday 17th April 1941, a German parachute mine dropped outside Al's flat. He was killed instantly by the blast, hit in the head by the bedroom door which had blown off its hinges.

In his 14 year recording career, he cut a staggering 1,070 recordings, some of which have never been issued or re-issued. Spookily, the very last song he ever recorded was a version of “When That Man Is Dead And Gone”, written by Irving Berlin about Adolf Hitler..

In a rare film, Al can be seen here performing “ The Very Thought Of You”.

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What a sad way to go, i can imagine this type of death happening quite often due to the ammount of times people went to the shelters only to return to thier house still fully intact, it then gives them "It will not happen to me syndrone" Thats War!!

Even sadder to learn that Al was offered accomodation at the venue he had played in that night, but turned it down.

Just a note on "parachute mines" which I haven't heard of before. At the time. apparently, they were called just "land mines". They are called this in some of the accounts of Al's death.
Anyway, it seems they packed a punch. This is part of the Waterloo dock in Liverpool, destroyed by a parachute mine, December 1940.

Aye very powerful ammo was this type of bomb, i have some info about these bombs somewhere. I just added it to my "To do list".

[QUOTE=Dave;2042]Even sadder to learn that Al was offered accomodation at the venue he had played in that night, but turned it down.

Just a note on "parachute mines" which I haven't heard of before. At the time. apparently, they were called just "land mines". They are called this in some of the accounts of Al's death.
Anyway, it seems they packed a punch. This is part of the Waterloo dock in Liverpool, destroyed by a parachute mine, December 1940.

Just the One? Unbelieveable....