Vera Lynn, the Forces' Sweetheart, dies aged 103
Dame Vera Lynn has died at the age of 103, her family have confirmed.
A statement said: "The family are deeply saddened to announce the passing of one of Britain's best-loved entertainers at the age of 103.
"Dame Vera Lynn, who lived in Ditchling, East Sussex, passed away earlier today, 18 June 2020, surrounded by her close family."
The singer and actress, dubbed the Forces’ Sweetheart, rose to fame during World War Two, boosting the nation's morale during the darkest days of the war with hits such as We'll Meet Again and performed for the troops in countries including India and Burma.
Lynn celebrated her 103rd birthday back in March and marked the occasion by releasing a new video for We’ll Meet Again, which enjoyed a resurgence in recent months as an anthem for many during the coronavirus lockdown.
The Queen referenced the song during her address to the nation about coronavirus in April. Calling on people to stay resilient through the crisis, she said: "We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return.
"We will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again."
The following weeks saw We'll Meet Again enter the Official Singles Chart for the first time, peaking at Number 55. A resurgence in popularity during the final months of her life continued in May, when she became the oldest person to appear on the Official UK Albums Chart Top 40 when her greatest hits collection 100 re-entered the charts. She had previously become the first centenarian to claim a Top 10 album with the same record back in 2017 when 100 debuted at Number 3.
Lynn was born Vera Margaret Welch on March 20, 1917 in London's East Ham. She performed in local clubs from the age of seven, and by 11 she had left school for a full-time career as a dancer and singer. She also created a new stage name, Vera Lynn, borrowing her grandmother's maiden name.
In 1935 she made her broadcasting debut on radio, singing with the Joe Loss Orchestra. When the war struck in 1939 she volunteered for work but was told the best thing she could do was entertain, performing for troops in various countries.
Her success continued well into the 1950s, scoring a string of hits including Forget Me Not, The Homing Waltz and Number 1 hit My Son My Son. For 67 years, Vera was the only English female artist to have had three UK Top 10 singles simultaneously, until the feat was matched by Dua Lipa in 2020.
In 2009, at the age of 92, Dame Vera became the oldest living artist to top the Official UK Albums Chart with retrospective We'll Meet Again - The Very Best Of.
View Vera Lynn's Official Chart history here
Article image: Shutterstock
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JoeNak
I'm very sad about this. RIP Vera Lynn.
MW
Mike Wilson
The oldest living person WITH the oldest hit is what was being asked....That is now Petula Clark
Velvet Android
Ah, I think you're probably right on that count, Mike.
JC
James Cook
If the singles chart was still based only on SALES, then Vera peaked at #2 in April (how streaming can change a result to keep them outside the top 40 is criminal. RIP Vera
Blank
She may yet go one better...
The 11th posthumous #1?
🧡 oliviasnoodles 🍜
Rest in peace, Dame Vera Lynn. She lived a good life, and her songs resonated with a lot of people! :(
D.
D .
So sad ...R.I.P. Vera ,we will meet again ...
thierry henon
Very sad day indeed..She gave people a lot during the War and will always be remembered...Do hope her best of will be back at number 1 this week..where it belongs....RIP my dear friend..We will miss you deeply...
Blank
With 3 hits on the very first chart week, she was the first #1 artist of all time. End of an era. The last surviving artist on the first chart.
Who is the living person with the oldest hit now?
MW
Mike Wilson
That is now Petula Clark
Velvet Android
Ooh, I think I've found it! And it's pretty obscure.
After wading through each of the earliest charts, the oldest new entry I can find for someone who is still alive today appears to be a one-off appearance of the song Why Don't You Believe Me? at no.11 on the chart dated 12th of March 1953 – i.e. some three and a half months after the UK singles chart began. It was a one-week hit for Joni James (born Giovanna Carmella Babbo, 22nd September 1930), a popular American singer from Chicago who was then 22... and who is still alive at nearly 90, sixty-seven and a quarter years after her one week of 'glory'.
It's fair to say that in the official UK charts she is a mere footnote in history: her only other week in the listings was for a no.24 hit almost 7 years later, There Must Be A Way, and nothing else ever. I'd certainly never heard of her before just now, and I've been a chart nerd since I was 13! Why Don't You Believe Me? however was a US Number One on the Billboard charts in late 1952, and Joni James continued to have hits there for the rest of the '50s. She also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
It's possible there's someone alive out there who appeared on a still earlier UK chart single hidden in a backing band or similar – but in terms of credited lead artists whom I can definitely trace right now, Joni appears to be the earliest survivor from those days back at the dawn of our singles chart's history.
Velvet Android
Pet Clark didn't have her first hit until June 1954 unfortunately! There's at least one person still alive who appeared in the charts during the year and a half before that – see above...
Blank
Great research. The charts were pretty slow moving then so I can't imagine there are many if any others before 1954 still living. I was only considering the main artists, but it's possible some obscure or uncredited people form the backing bands are still here.
Blank
I've heard of Joni James but only because I'm going though week by week organising my own record of the chart so I can collect all the hits more systematically. She stood out due to her obscurity. I think Buddy Morrow and Glenn Miller are the only other acts to have a single week at the bottom of a Top 12-era chart. And Glenn Miller had a reissue hit in the 70s and several best of albums.