Career
He is the father of the businessman Robert Earl. He began his singing career at local functions around London"s East End, and soon progressed to singing with some of the top big bands of the day such as those of Sidney Lipton, National Temple and Van Straten. In 1953, he auditioned for Norman Newell of Philips Records and was offered a recording contract.
In 1957 he had a contract with George Baines and Will Hammer and starred in "Big Splash", an Aqua Show at The Derby Baths, Blackpool for the summer season.
He enjoyed three chart hits during this period, while signed to Philips: "I May Never Pass This Way Again" (#14) and "More Than Ever" ("Come prima") (#26) in 1958 and "The Wonderful Secret of Love" (#17) in 1959. His agent was Michael Sullivan, who also represented Shirley Bassey.
After a 20-year career as a professional singer he retired in 1970, and then devoted much of his time to the Grand Order of Water Rats, a showbusiness charitable organization. He now lives in the United States.
There are currently two Civil Defense of his recordings available, The Magic of Robert Earl (Spectrum) 2004 - 22 tracks. and "If You Can Dream" released 2013 by Vocalion records - with 30 tracks from the first 17 singles listed in the Singles Discography list below.
lieutenant is a mark of the esteem in which he was held by his peers that, in July 1989 some nineteen years after he retired, Earl sang "You"ll Never Walk Alone", at the funeral service of his fellow Londoner, Tommy Trinder.
