Billy Reid (British songwriter)
Billy Reid | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | William Gordon Reid |
| Born | 19 September 1902 Southampton, England |
| Died | 12 December 1974 (aged 72) Southampton, England |
| Genres | Traditional pop |
| Occupation(s) | Songwriter, bandleader, musician |
| Instrument(s) | Piano, accordion |
| Years active | 1920s–1956 |
William Gordon Reid (19 September 1902 – 12 December 1974)[1] was an English songwriter, bandleader, pianist and accordionist. He was the first British songwriter to reach the top of the US music chart, with The Ink Spots' 1946 recording of "The Gypsy", and was known for his close association with the singer Dorothy Squires, for whom he wrote that and many other songs.
Biography
Born in Coronation Terrace, Southampton, England, Reid worked as a riveter in the docks in the city.[2] He taught himself the piano and piano accordion, and played in local clubs before becoming a professional musician and forming the Ariste Dance Orchestra. He played accordion in the Noël Coward show Bitter Sweet, and his band played each week on a Radio Luxembourg programme, Stars of Luxembourg.[3] In the early 1930s, he formed a tango band with violinist Eugene Pini, and led the London Piano-Accordeon Band,[4] which became popular and recorded extensively through the 1930s for the Regal Zonophone and Decca labels, sometimes billed simply as Billy Reid and His Accordion Band.[5]
In 1938, he successfully auditioned a young Welsh singer,
Reid continued to write for Squires, and many of his songs were recorded by other singers.
His relationship with Dorothy Squires ended in 1951, after an altercation in the bar of a theatre in
He died from kidney disease in 1974, aged 72. Shortly after his death, Dorothy Squires presented a tribute to her former partner at the London Palladium.[3][4] In 2002, a plaque remembering Reid was unveiled by entertainer Danny La Rue at the site of the Southampton Hippodrome, where Reid had performed many times.[2]
References
- ^ ISBN 0-85112-939-0.
- ^ a b "Songwriter remembered by Danny", Southern Daily Echo, 1 October 2002. Retrieved 14 January 2021
- ^ ISBN 0-7232-3177-X.
- ^ a b c d Biography, AllMusic. Retrieved 14 January 2021
- ^ Edmund Whitehouse, "The Accordion Bands", This England, Accordions.com. Retrieved 13 January 2021
- ^ a b "Dorothy Squires", Dictionary of Welsh Biography. Retrieved 14 January 2021
External links
- Billy Reid at 45worlds.com
- Billy Reid discography at Discogs
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