The Beverley Sisters

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The Beverley Sisters
BornJoy: (1924-05-05)5 May 1924
Babs: (1927-05-05)5 May 1927
Teddie: (1927-05-05) 5 May 1927 (age 96)
Traditional pop
Years active1944–2000s
LabelsColumbia, Philips, Decca
Past membersJoy Beverley
Teddie Beverley
Babs Beverley

The Beverley Sisters were an English female

close harmony pop vocal and light entertainment trio, consisting of three sisters from London. They were eldest sister Joy (born Joycelyn Victoria Chinery, 5 May 1924[nb 1][2][3] – 31 August 2015), and twins Teddie (born Hazel P. Chinery, 5 May 1927) and Babs (born Babette Patricia Chinery,[4] 5 May 1927[5] – 28 October 2018). The sisters were each appointed MBE
in 2006.

The Beverley Sisters were most popular during the 1950s and 1960s, and became well-known through their radio and television appearances. Their style was loosely modelled on that of their American counterparts,

Little Drummer Boy", while in the United States they charted with a version of Greensleeves[6]
They also toured the cabaret circuit, and were known for their matching outfits, which they wore both on- and off-stage.

Early lives

The sisters were born in

Second World War and received secretarial training.[9]

Career

During the Second War, the sisters auditioned successfully to take part in an advertising campaign for the malt drink Ovaltine.[10] Jock Ware, photographer for the Ovaltine poster campaign encouraged them to audition for BBC Radio. They did so in November 1944, changing their name to the Beverley Sisters on the advice of BBC producer Cecil Madden, who became their manager.[9] They met Glenn Miller who, shortly before his disappearance, offered them the opportunity to record with members of his orchestra.[11] They first appeared in radio programmes for the Allied Expeditionary Forces, recorded in Bedford,[12][13] then followed up on BBC Radio's Variety Bandbox.[14]

Immediately after the war they toured with Eric Winstone and his Orchestra,[8] and began making regular appearances on the BBC's early television programmes. They also performed for NBC in the US with surviving members of the Glenn Miller Orchestra. After their return to Britain, promoter Val Parnell booked them to appear at the London Palladium with Gracie Fields; although Fields refused, without explanation, to appear with them,[citation needed] the following year they performed with Danny Kaye. The BBC gave them their own television series, initially called Three Little Girls on View but later renamed as Those Beverley Sisters, which ran for seven years and on which they gave live performances of popular songs of the day.[6]

In 1951 they signed a recording deal with the UK

pop chart.[7][16] Generally preferring live cabaret and television appearances over recording work,[7] the song "Sisters", written by Irving Berlin and originally recorded in 1954 by Rosemary Clooney and her sister Betty, became their theme song;[6] it has been claimed that Berlin wrote the song for the Beverley Sisters.[11]

The sisters are widely credited as having been the highest paid female entertainers in the UK for more than 20 years.[10][11] In 1952, 1958 and 1978, they appeared at the Royal Variety Performance.[17][18][19] In January 1961, they appeared on the radio show, Desert Island Discs.[20] They appeared on the television show Stars on Sunday.[21] They were the subjects of This Is Your Life in 1969 when they were surprised by Eamonn Andrews.They also appeared in 1977 on the BBC TV's long running variety show The Good Old Days.

Their career was revitalised in the 1980s, after their children – who had begun performing together as the Foxes – invited them onstage at the

Posh Spice, Victoria to David Beckham.[23]

They performed as part of the

D-Day 60th anniversary memorial concerts in 2004.[6][7][10]

The sisters entered the

McCarthy & Stone, where the sisters were invited to open each new housing development designed specifically for retired people. They later fully retired and lived near each other in Barnet.[11]

Personal lives and honours

After a brief early marriage to American musician Roger Carocari (who adopted the surname Carey), later dissolved,

Billy Wright on 28 July 1958 at Poole Register Office, a year before he retired as a player. They were married for 36 years until Wright died of cancer in September 1994. Joy died on 31 August 2015 at the age of 91.[25]

Babs married Scottish dentist James Mitchell in 1963 but the marriage did not last. She suffered a cut forehead and shock when a passenger in a car accident in North Harrow on Boxing Day 1967 and was confined to a Harley Street Nursing Home for at least three weeks.[26][27] Babs died on 28 October 2018, also at the age of 91, leaving no children.[28]

Teddie was engaged to Alyn Ainsworth,[29] but married the British waterskiing champion Peter Felix. She is the last surviving sister.[30]

In the

2006 New Year Honours list the sisters were each appointed an MBE.[10]

Discography

Robert Tredinnick, in the Gramophone Notes column of

Boswell Sisters in the early 1930s and "have the gift of making their personalities apparent to an unseeing audience".[31]

Chart singles

Year Title
UK Singles Chart[32]
 US Pop[16] Label
1953 "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" 6 - Philips
1956 "Willie Can" 23 - Decca
1956 "Greensleeves" - 41
London
1957 "I Dreamed" 24 - Decca
1959 "
Little Drummer Boy
" 		6 - Decca
1959 "Little Donkey" 14 - Decca
1960 "Green Fields" 29 - Columbia

Albums

[7][33]


See also

Notes

  1. ^ Although many sources give later years for their births, official records show 1924 and 1927, and Joy confirmed her age as 87 in a 2011 interview. All three sisters have the same birthday.[1]

References

  1. ^ Neil Bonner. "Whatever Happened to .... The Beverley Sisters". 163.photobucket.com. Retrieved 1 May 2014.
  2. ^ England & Wales, Birth Index, 1916–2005, Joycelyn V. Chinery, Ancestry.com; retrieved 24 April 2014
  3. ^ Laing, Dave (1 September 2015). "Joy Beverley obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
  4. ^ Laing, Dave (15 November 2018). "Babs Beverley obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 January 2019.
  5. ^ England & Wales, Birth Index, 1916–2005, Hazel P. Chinery, Ancestry.com; retrieved 24 April 2014.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Sharon Mawer. "The Beverley Sisters | Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
  7. ^ a b c d e f Colin Larkin, The Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Omnibus Press, 2011.
  8. ^ a b Andrews, Cyrus (20 September 1947). "Radio Who's Who (1947)". Archive.org. Pendulum Publications.
  9. ^ a b c Leigh, Spencer (1 September 2015). "Joy Beverley: One of the Beverley Sisters, obituary". The Independent. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
  10. ^ a b c d e "Beverley Sisters' years in limelight". BBC.co.uk. 31 December 2005. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
  11. ^ a b c d Sophie Kummer, "Showbiz sisters are still high-kicking", times-series.co.uk; retrieved 25 April 2014.
  12. ^ David Fowler, "The BBC in Bedford during World War II", bedford.gov.uk; retrieved 25 April 2014.
  13. ^ Roland Taylor,"Miller's mighty Service Band: the ensemble in focus", BigBandLibrary.com; retrieved 25 April 2014.
  14. ^ "Babs Beverley of the Beverley Sisters". The Sydney Morning Herald. 14 November 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
  15. ISBN 0-00-717931-6
    .
  16. ^
    ISBN 0-89820-155-1
    .
  17. ^ "Entertainment Artistes' Benevolent Fund/1952, London Palladium". EABF. 3 November 1952. Archived from the original on 9 October 2010. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
  18. ^ "Entertainment Artistes' Benevolent Fund/1958, London Coliseum". EABF. 3 November 1958. Archived from the original on 2 June 2014. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
  19. ^ "Entertainment Artistes' Benevolent Fund/1978, London Palladium". EABF. 13 November 1978. Archived from the original on 2 June 2014. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
  20. ^ "BBC Radio 4 – Desert Island Discs, Beverley Sisters". Bbc.co.uk. 16 January 1961. Retrieved 25 April 2014.
  21. ^ "Stars on Sunday". IMDb. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  22. ^ Braun, Eric (21 March 1985). "The Hippodrome - The Beverley Sisters". The Stage. p. 5. Retrieved 7 March 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  23. Birmingham Evening Mail
    . p. 26. Retrieved 8 March 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  24. ^ "Biography for The Beverley Sisters". IMDb.com. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
  25. ^ "Matches of the Day: How footballing marriages of yesterday compare to Coleen and Wayne's lavish nuptials", Thisislondon.co.uk, 11 June 2008; retrieved 3 May 2012.
  26. ^ "Sister Teddy calls on Babs". Daily Mirror. 29 December 1967. p. 10. Retrieved 7 March 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  27. ^ "(Photograph caption)". Evening Chronicle. 16 January 1968. p. 9. Retrieved 7 March 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  28. ^ Obituaries, Telegraph (13 November 2018). "Babs Beverley of the Beverley Sisters, the 1950s close-harmony trio who found fame with songs like 'I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus' – obituary". Telegraph.co.uk.
  29. ISBN 978-1-85227-937-0
    – via Internet Archive.
  30. ^ "Babs Beverley obituary". Thetimes.co.uk. 21 November 2018.
  31. ^ Tredinnick, Robert (2 January 1952). "Gramophone Notes". The Stage. p. 35. Retrieved 8 March 2024 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  32. ISBN 1-904994-10-5
    .
  33. ^ "The Beverley Sisters". Discogs.com. Retrieved 1 May 2014.

External links

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