{"id":32908,"date":"2023-09-12T14:56:25","date_gmt":"2023-09-12T12:56:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/?p=188283"},"modified":"2023-09-12T15:41:18","modified_gmt":"2023-09-12T13:41:18","slug":"vera-lynn-who-was-the-popular-wartime-singer-known-as-the-forces-sweetheart","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/vera-lynn-who-was-the-popular-wartime-singer-known-as-the-forces-sweetheart\/","title":{"rendered":"Vera Lynn: who was the popular wartime singer known as the \u2018Forces\u2019 Sweetheart\u2019?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Her performances and recordings during World War II made her something of a national treasure. But who was Vera Lynn and what are her best-known songs? <\/p>

By Steve Wright\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 12 September 2023 at 12:56 PM<\/p>

\n\n

Her performances and recordings of uplifting songs during the darkest days of World War II made her hugely popular with soldiers and civilians alike, and earned her the nickname \u2018the Forces\u2019 Sweetheart\u2019. She was the voice behind some of the most popular songs of World War II<\/strong><\/a>. But just who was Vera Lynn?<\/p>\n

Who was Vera Lynn?<\/h2>\n
Vera Lynn was a singer and entertainer whose popularity peaked during World War II, when she recorded a series of uplifting and patriotic songs that helped to maintain morale both for Britons at home and for soldiers on the frontline.<\/p>\n
Her most famous songs include \u2018We\u2019ll Meet Again\u2019, \u2018(There\u2019ll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover\u2019, \u2018A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square\u2019 and \u2018There\u2019ll Always Be an England\u2019.<\/p>\n\n<h2>When was Vera Lynn born?<\/h2>\n<p>Vera Lynn was born Vera Margaret Welch in East Ham (then Essex, now London) on 20 March 1917. Her parents, Bertram Samuel Welch (1883-1955) and dressmaker Anne Martin (1889-1975), were a plumber and dressmaker respectively.<\/p>\n<h3>Was Vera Lynn ill as a child?<\/h3>\n<p>Yes. In 1919, aged just two, she fell ill with diphtheritic croup and nearly died. The young Vera Welch spent three months in a hospital isolation unit.<\/p>\n<p>From then on, Vera\u2019s mother was extremely protective of her: she was not allowed to play with other children for some time afterwards.<\/p>\n<h3>When did Vera Lynn first become famous?<\/h3>\n<p>The young Vera was something of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/six-best-musical-child-prodigies\/\"><strong>musical prodigy<\/strong><\/a>: she started performing in public at the age of just seven. Just four years later, aged 11, she took her maternal grandmother Margaret\u2019s maiden name \u2018Lynn\u2019 as her stage name. Also aged 11, Vera Lynn joined a young performing troupe, Madame Harris\u2019s Kracker Kabaret Kids. Later, in 1933, she joined the band of bandleader Howard Baker.<\/p>\n<h2>What was Vera Lynn\u2019s first record?<\/h2>\n<p>Aged almost 18, the young Vera made her first record with Baker\u2019s band, \u2018It\u2019s Home\u2019, on 17 February 1935. Her first solo record, \u2018Up the Wooden Hill to Bedfordshire\u2019, followed in 1936.<\/p>\n<h2>What did Vera Lynn do during World War II?<\/h2>\n<p>Vera Lynn started the Second World War singing to Londoners who were using Underground stations as air raid shelters.<\/p>\n<p>Early on in the war, British servicemen were asked to name their favourite musical performers. Vera Lynn topped the list, earning herself the nickname \u2018the Forces\u2019 Sweetheart\u2019.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a class=\"standard-card-new__article-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/articles\/what-happened-to-classical-musicians-during-world-war-2\/\">What happened to classical musicians during World War 2?<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As the war progressed, Lyn began presenting a weekly 30-minute radio programme, Sincerely Yours, featuring messages to British troops serving abroad. Lynn and her accompanying quartet also performed song requests for soldiers. Later in the war, Vera Lynn presented another regular show, \u2018It\u2019s Time for Vera Lynn\u2019 on the BBC\u2019s Forces programme.<\/p>\n<iframe title=\"Vera Lynn - A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square 1940\" width=\"200\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xTeiYN_Vq6E?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\n<p>Lynn also toured Egypt, India and Burma with the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA), giving outdoor concerts for British troops. Notably, she sang at Shamshernagar airfield in Bengal, to entertain the troops before the Battle of Kohima in March 1944. She also entertained British guerrilla units in Japanese-occupied Burma, for which she later received the Burma Star.<\/p>\n<p>Somehow, Lynn also found time to appear in three war-themed films during WW2. 1943\u2019s <em>We\u2019ll Meet Again<\/em> was based on her own life story; in <em>Rhythm Serenade<\/em> she played a school teacher who tries to join up but ends up organising a nursery for a munitions factory; and 1944\u2019s <em>One Exciting Night<\/em> (also known as <em>You Can\u2019t Do Without Love<\/em>) was a dramatic musical comedy in which she helps thwart a gang of art thieves.<\/p>\n<h2>What was Vera Lynn\u2019s nickname?<\/h2>\n<p>Vera Lynn was known as the \u2018Forces\u2019 Sweetheart\u2019 in recognition of the huge role she played in maintaining morale among serving troops during World War II, and the great affection that both the armed forces and Britons at home felt for her and her recordings and performances.<\/p>\n<h2>What were Vera Lynn\u2019s most famous songs?<\/h2>\n<p>Her best-known songs include \u2018(There\u2019ll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover\u2019, \u2018A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square\u2019 and \u2018There\u2019ll Always Be an England\u2019.<\/p>\n<iframe title=\"The White Cliffs of Dover - Vera Lynn (1942)\" width=\"200\" height=\"113\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WAaxkAgVkHQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.co.uk\/Very-Best-Vera-Lynn\/dp\/B002HRFOBY\/ref=sr_1_2?crid=3U15NZW4G4QL1&keywords=vera+lynn&qid=1694522968&sprefix=vera+lynn%2Caps%2C63&sr=8-2&tag=classicalm05c-21&ascsubtag=classicalmusic-0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"sponsored noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Buy The Very Best of Vera Lynn on Amazon<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>What is Vera Lynn most famous for?<\/h3>\n<p>Lynn is best known, however, for singing \u2018We\u2019ll Meet Again\u2019, with its nostalgic lyrics that provided such comfort to civilians and military personnel alike:<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We\u2019ll meet again, don\u2019t know where, don\u2019t know when \/\u00a0But I know we\u2019ll meet again some sunny day\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u2018We\u2019ll Meet Again\u2019 was recorded in 1939 with Arthur Young, and then again in 1953, this time accompanied by servicemen from the British Armed Forces.<\/p>\n<h2>When did Vera Lynn die?<\/h2>\n<p>Vera Lynn died on 18 June 2020, aged 103, at her home in Ditchling, East Sussex. Ahead of her funeral, the White Cliffs of Dover had images of Lynn projected onto them, and her iconic song \u2018We\u2019ll Meet Again\u2019 was broadcast out across the English Channel.<\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> Her performances and recordings during World War II made her something of a national treasure. 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