Career
He had an excellent technique and ability to exploit the full capabilities of his instrument, particularly the double keyboards with his use of counterpoint, rich harmonies, tricky embellishments and improvisation. During his lifetime he was fairly well known for his ability and he played in many prestigious and famous venues throughout the United Kingdom as well as on British Broadcasting Corporation radio"s Variety Bandbox programme. He began performing in public in the 1920s and continued through to the 1960s.
Herbert Greene came from humble beginnings, born in Edmonton, North London in 1907.
He grew up during the First World War and left school at the age of fourteen. They played together for many years at live events all over the United Kingdom, entertaining the troops with ENSA during the Second World War and at the same time raising four children, some of whom also later performed with them on stage.
They appeared in shows with many well known performers of the day including. Joyce Grenfell, Ivor Novello, Norman Wisdom, Bransby Williams, Kate Carney and Bea Lillie.
Mrs Green died in 1962.
Herbert Greene also played live on British Broadcasting Corporation radio and provided background music for The Magic Box (1951), although this was largely edited out in the final release, and Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951) in which a little more of his music can be heard. Inspired by his admiration for Sir Charles Wheatstone, Herbert Green went on invent the "Concordeon" (a unique musical instrument constructed from part concertina and part accordion) and later an electronic organ that was connected to the keys of his concertina and able to produce many different sounds and effects. He also wrote detailed memoirs about his life and career as an entertainer although these are currently unpublished.
Towards the end of his life he became disappointed by the decline in popularity of the concertina in the United Kingdom and disillusioned with the direction in which the entertainment industry was heading, feeling that true musical skill and talent were not respected or appreciated as they should be.
