Clive Lythgoe
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Clive Lythgoe | |
---|---|
Born | Colchester, Essex, England | 9 April 1927
Died | 4 September 2006 | (aged 79)
Occupation(s) | Classical pianist and TV broadcaster |
Clive Lythgoe (9 April 1927 – 4 September 2006), was a leading British classical pianist of the 1950s and 1960s, popular in the UK and the United States, where he was considered to be "Britain's answer to Liberace"[1]
Early life
He was born in Colchester, Essex, on 9 April 1927, the son of a Royal Army Medical Corps sergeant major. He grew up at Wimbledon, where he sang in the church choir, and disappointed his parents by shunning a career in law or accountancy. At seven years of age he was entranced by the piano player in a Carmen Miranda film. Some years later, he won a piano scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, which marked the start of his musical career. Towards the end of World War II, he joined the RAF. By the 1950s, he had become a regular fixture on the concert circuit.[1]
UK career
Lythgoe was a protégé of Myra Hess, for whom he turned pages. His career breakthrough was under
In the 1960s, he was the first classical pianist to abandon formal concert attire. The stylish collarless suit which Pierre Cardin designed for him attracted the attention of Brian Epstein, who asked if the Beatles could adopt the same style. [citation needed]
He owned a six-bedroom house in Surrey, a hand-built
US career
His 1973
Later life
Lythgoe increasingly felt his true mission was to bring music to those not privileged enough to attend concert halls. When he settled in New York City, he became director of Horizon Concerts in New York City, a non-profit organisation, and using talented young musicians he gave short concerts mixed with anecdotes to audiences in homeless centres, nursing homes, hospices and schools. He was also the director of the Roosa School of Music, a community music school located on Willow Place in Brooklyn Heights for several years, after which it was merged into another school.
He lived alone in a simple one-bedroom co-op apartment in Jackson Heights, Queens.[2] In 2000, a profile in The New York Times led to renewed media interest and a career revival.
Recordings
His first Gershwin recording, Music For Pleasure, scaled the pop charts, and won the British "Record Of The Year Award", an award he shared with Sir Georg Solti and The Beatles. His acclaimed recordings of American piano music were added to the permanent collection of the White House Library by President Jimmy Carter[3]
Television and radio
In England, his TV series, The Lythgoe Touch, ran for 85 weeks, consecutively followed by a 52-week BBC radio series, My Piano and I, and a 26-week television series for London's ITN. Celebrity guests included Gracie Fields, who became a close friend and took him with her to perform in New York. In the US, he hosted a TV series, A Touch Of Lythgoe for PBS.
References
- ^ a b "Clive Lythgoe, 79, a 'Liberace' Who Quit for Charity". The New York Sun. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
- ^ Blumenthal, Ralph. "Most of His Audience Is Homeless; Clive Lythgoe, a Piano Virtuoso, Now Likes Life at a Different Tempo", The New York Times, 9 October 2000. Accessed 28 May 2009. "Mr. Lythgoe's life these days is a far cry from his glamorous existence as a fast-rising star. Instead of a six-bedroom manor in Sussex, he lives alone in a simple one-bedroom co-op apartment in Jackson Heights, Queens."
- ^ "Lythgoe profile at www.ngrartists.com". ngrartists.com. Archived from the original on 31 March 2012. Retrieved 1 August 2017.