Vera Lynn sings into a microphone to entertain the troops during the war.
Gallery of Vera Lynn
1942
The singer Vera Lynn, who became so popular with British servicemen that she was known as the 'Forces Sweetheart' sings to workers during their lunch break at a factory in the south of England, circa 1942.
Gallery of Vera Lynn
1947
Dame Vera Lynn in a studio portrait.
Gallery of Vera Lynn
1951
Vera Lynn on board the Queen Mary on her way to America.
Gallery of Vera Lynn
1952
Vera Lynn
Gallery of Vera Lynn
1955
The Old Bailey, London EC4M 7EH, United Kingdom
Forces Sweetheart Vera Lynn on her way to testify as a witness at the Old Bailey.
Gallery of Vera Lynn
1955
English singer, songwriter, and actress, Vera Lynn, London, 1955.
Gallery of Vera Lynn
1956
Popular British singer Dame Vera Lynn, in action for the BBC.
Gallery of Vera Lynn
1965
British singer Vera Lynn rehearsing her new radio show.
Gallery of Vera Lynn
1965
British singer Vera Lynn rehearsing her new radio show.
Gallery of Vera Lynn
1970
Photo of Vera Lynn
Gallery of Vera Lynn
1970
Photo of Vera Lynn
Gallery of Vera Lynn
1975
Dame Vera Lynn, British singer, whose popularity during the popular during World War II led to her being known as 'The Forces' Sweetheart', circa 1975.
Gallery of Vera Lynn
1992
Vera Lynn in 1992.
Gallery of Vera Lynn
2005
London, England, United Kingdom
Vera Lynn attends the unveiling of contemporary sculpture on Victoria Embankment in central London to mark the 65th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, September 18, 2005, in London, England.
Gallery of Vera Lynn
2005
Westminster, London SW1A 1AA, United Kingdom
Dame Vera Lynn attends a lunch, hosted by HM Queen Elizabeth 11, for Second World War Veterans in the gardens of Buckingham Palace on National Commemoration Day July 10, 2005, in London. The lunch formed part of the commemorative events marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. (Photo by Anwar Hussein)
Gallery of Vera Lynn
2007
Lambeth Rd, London SE1 6HZ, United Kingdom
Dame Vera Lynn celebrates her 90th Birthday at the Imperial War Museum on March 20, 2007, in London. The Second World War 'soldiers sweetheart' was joined by Welsh singer Katherine Jenkins who herself has entertained troops in Iraq and Kosovo.
Gallery of Vera Lynn
2007
Houses of Parliament, Parliament Square, London SW1A 0PW, United Kingdom
Dame Vera Lynn at the House of Lords this evening attending a party to celebrate her 90th birthday next week.
Gallery of Vera Lynn
2009
187 Piccadilly, St. James's, London W1J 9LE, United Kingdom
Dame Ver Lynn attends a photocall and book signing at Hatchards on August 25, 2009, in London, England.
Gallery of Vera Lynn
2009
Horse Guards Parade, Whitehall, London SW1A 2AX, United Kingdom
Hayley Westenra (left) and Dame Vera Lynn during the launch of the 2009 Poppy Appeal at Horse Guards Parade in central London.
Achievements
North Yorkshire Moors Railway, England, United Kingdom
Locomotive No. 3672 Dame Vera Lynn at North Yorkshire Moors Railway.
The singer Vera Lynn, who became so popular with British servicemen that she was known as the 'Forces Sweetheart' sings to workers during their lunch break at a factory in the south of England, circa 1942.
Dame Vera Lynn, British singer, whose popularity during the popular during World War II led to her being known as 'The Forces' Sweetheart', circa 1975.
Vera Lynn attends the unveiling of contemporary sculpture on Victoria Embankment in central London to mark the 65th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, September 18, 2005, in London, England.
Dame Vera Lynn attends a lunch, hosted by HM Queen Elizabeth 11, for Second World War Veterans in the gardens of Buckingham Palace on National Commemoration Day July 10, 2005, in London. The lunch formed part of the commemorative events marking the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II. (Photo by Anwar Hussein)
Dame Vera Lynn celebrates her 90th Birthday at the Imperial War Museum on March 20, 2007, in London. The Second World War 'soldiers sweetheart' was joined by Welsh singer Katherine Jenkins who herself has entertained troops in Iraq and Kosovo.
The Lord Mayor of London, Sir Cullum Welch, and singer Vera Lynn cut the cake at the national Christmas party of the Infantile Paralysis Fellowship in London.
(A selection of timeless classics from this much-loved art...)
A selection of timeless classics from this much-loved artist, who during the Second World War became known as "The Force's Sweetheart", bringing light and hope to all with her clear voice and patriotic songs. All the songs are arranged for Piano, Voice, and Guitar, and a 7-page section with pictures and a biography is also included.
(A remarkable autobiography of the last great wartime icon...)
A remarkable autobiography of the last great wartime icon, this account depicts the life and times of Dame Vera Lynn. Dame Vera gives a vivid portrait of Britain at war and a unique story of one woman who came to symbolize a nation. Previously unpublished photographs of Dame Vera and wartime Britain from her personal archives are also included.
Dame Vera Margaret Lynn is a British singer and actress. She was popular during the Second World War when she hosted the BBC concert radio program "Sincerely Yours", addressed to British troops abroad. Broadcasts of her songs of love and longing were particularly resonant with members of the military fighting abroad, which led to her nickname, "the Forces’ Sweetheart."
Background
Vera Lynn was born on March 20, 1917, in East Ham, Essex, into a working-class family outside London. Her father was a plumber, and her natural accent, only temporarily modified while she was a star, was Cockney. Her mother was Annie Welch, a dressmaker.
Vera began singing at men’s clubs by age seven. These clubs, no longer functioning, were of great significance in the working-class neighborhoods from the later decades of the 19th century. At 11 she assumed her grandmother’s maiden name (Lynn) and joined Madame Harris’s Kracker Kabaret Kids, a singing troupe.
Education
Vera Lynn left school at age 14.
She now holds an honorary Doctorate of Laws from the Memorial University of Newfoundland.
Career
By 1933 Lynn had begun performing as a soloist. With a sweet voice, a hint of vulnerability, and an unusual un-starlike self-effacing quality, she quickly got the attention of the British public. "I was never a glamor girl. I was the girl next door," Lynn told Australia's Courier-Mail. She began to get jobs fronting top British society orchestras, genteel groups still barely touched by the spirit of jazz and Broadway song. In 1935 she made her radio debut with the Joe Loss orchestra, and two years later she landed a weekly slot on Life from Mayfair, an Ambrose Orchestra program beloved among Britons from the Prince of Wales on down.
It was no surprise when Lynn came out on top in a 1939 Daily Express poll where British servicemen were asked to name their favorite musical performers, even though Lynn later recalled that she was flabbergasted. She was dubbed the Forces' Sweetheart as a result. The bond British soldiers felt with Lynn grew stronger as World War II intensified and they were scattered across the globe.
In 1941 Lynn was given her own BBC radio show, Sincerely Yours. It was an instant success, not only in Britain but on every worldwide battleground the BBC reached via shortwave radio. Lynn performed the songs that became emblematic of World War II: "White Cliffs of Dover" and "We'll Meet Again." The latter became a wartime classic, of the sort that combines nostalgia with a looming sense of threat ("We'll meet again. Don't know where, don't know when … "). The latter song, introduced by Lynn with the Ambrose Orchestra in 1939, became the title track of one of three films she starred in during the war years. Sincerely Yours remained on the air until 1947.
In 1944, with the global war at its height, Lynn undertook a tour to entertain British troops in Egypt, India, and Burma. In later years she would express her amusement when Spice Girl Geri Halliwell demanded a refrigerator full of soymilk before performing for soldiers bound for Iraq. "She's lucky to be somewhere there is a fridge," she told the Guardian, recalling her stays in grass huts with a bucket of water for a shower. But the trip to distant Burma was worth it. "I remember one of the boys saying, 'Home can't be that far away, 'cause you're here,'" she told the Guardian. "It shortened the distance somehow."
Lynn's popularity easily survived the wartime years. After peace came, she and her husband had a daughter, Virginia, but Lynn soon returned to performing. She toured all over the British Commonwealth and appeared in a Las Vegas cabaret and on radio in the United States as a guest on the Big Show program hosted by actress Tallulah Bankhead. She gave eight command performances for the British royal family, and her most successful single recording came, not during the war, but in 1951 with "Auf Wiederseh'n," a song ironically enough with a German theme. That recording brought Lynn to the top of the charts in the United States, making her the first English performer to reach that level. Telling the Courier-Mail that "I don't live in the past even though I have never been allowed to forget it," she experimented with newer pop styles and had some success in the 1970s with a cover of Abba's "Thank You for the Music." But audiences mostly wanted to hear her wartime classics.
Moving with her family to the small town of Ditchling in England's East Sussex region, Lynn threw herself into projects of various kinds. She led an activist group that tried to restrict heavy truck traffic in the historic area, and she was a reliable choice when it came to in-person and broadcast fundraising appeals. She remained especially interested in the problems of British war veterans, working in the 1990s for Tribute and Promise, an umbrella group of 130 charities working to aid the war generation. In 1992 she founded the Dame Vera Lynn School for Parents and Handicapped Children. Two years later, a plan to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the D-Day invasion of France with such frivolous events as a Spam-cooking competition was quickly scotched after she raised her voice in protest.
And as it turned out, even in the 21st century, 70 years after she'd cut her first records, Lynn's career as a top-selling recording artist was not yet over. In September of 2009, the 92-year-old Lynn became the oldest singer ever to top the British album charts, when a new Decca collection of her World War II recordings, We'll Meet Again: The Very Best of Vera Lynn, hit the number one spot, a doubly extraordinary achievement in light of the reissue of the entire Beatles catalog that same month. It was an occasion noted by news services around the world, and spoke volumes about the love that the British hold for the singer and her music. She broke records once again six years later when she turned 100 years old in 2017 and released the 100th album in celebration of her becoming a centenarian. The record featured re-orchestrations of some of her classic songs alongside collaborations with other artists in the vocal genre, such as Aled Jones, Alfie Boe, and Alexander Armstrong.
In addition to her singing career, she was also the author of three books: Vocal Refrain (her autobiography, 1975), We'll Meet Again (co-author, 1989), and Unsung Heroines (1990), a tribute to the role of women in Britain in World War II.
Vera Lynn was a royalist from a royalist family, her sincere patriotism could not encompass an England without its monarchy.
Views
Vera Lynn is involved in philanthropic activities ranged from promoting veterans’ causes to establishing a fund for victims of cerebral palsy.
Quotations:
"I've never claimed to be a great singer but I've always given my best, and I've loved what I've done, and had a very good life."
"You hear people go on about unpopular wars, but show me a popular one. Nobody in their right mind wants to go to war, but when it happens you have to get behind your troops."
Membership
The Stars Organisation for Spastics
Personality
As a singer, Lynn was gifted with a strong, natural voice that some critics felt was more appropriate to music hall than to radio. Her approach to singing was based on an unaffected sincerity and was characterized by perfect diction, unexpected in a school drop-out from London's Cockney East End, and by a catch in her throat that became her hallmark. Light-hearted, up-beat and a genuinely pleasant personality, she brought the same warmth and sincerity to all of her appearances on television that she had to those on the radio.
Quotes from others about the person
“She was one of the few artists to do a show for Jewish refugee children, to bring them over before war broke out. She was singing with the Ambrose orchestra and took part in a charity show to raise funds to get them out of Germany. I thank her from the bottom of my heart - because I was one of those children.” - David Berglas
In 1941, Lynn met and married Harry Lewis, a clarinetist and tenor saxophonist, who served in the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the war and then became her manager. After the war ended in 1945, Lynn, like most Britishers, at last was able to set aside time for personal concerns and, taking leave of her career the following year, gave birth to her only child, a daughter, named Virginia.
Officer, appointed "for services to the Royal Air Forces Association and other charities" (1969 New Year Honours).
Dame, appointed for charitable services (1975 Birthday Honours).
Officer, appointed "for services to the Royal Air Forces Association and other charities" (1969 New Year Honours).
Dame, appointed for charitable services (1975 Birthday Honours).