Joe “Mr. Piano” Henderson

b. 2 Might 1920, Glasgow, Scotland, d. 4 Might 1980, London, Britain. A pianist and composer, Henderson shaped his own music group to try out at college dances before turning professional at age 13. In the first 50s he offered as accompanist for previous child celebrity and vocalist Petula Clark, who presented frequently in the united kingdom charts, and consequently recorded many of her ex-pianist’s compositions. Henderson himself became popular on the united kingdom range circuit, alongside additional solo piano functions, such as for example Winifred Atwell, Russ Conway and – very much later on – Bobby Crush. He survived the radical adjustments in well-known music that started to happen in the 50s, but still maintained an viewers. He also presented in Bumper Package on Radio Luxembourg, and got his own tv series Sing Along With Joe and Mr. Piano Takes on. Henderson’s first strikes arrived in 1955 with ‘Sing It With Joe’ and ‘Sing It Once again With Joe’. These contains brief piano medleys of jolly specifications, such as for example ‘Margie’ and ‘Someone Stole My Gal’. In 1958 he previously another UK Best 20 strike with ‘Trudie’, followed from the Beryl Stott Chorus. It had been the best-known of his mainly shiny, catchy compositions, and earned an Ivor Novello Honor for The 12 months’s TOP SELLING & MOST Performed Item. He gained another Ivor the next 12 months for the film title track ‘Jazzboat’, The 12 months’s Most Exceptional Structure In The ‘Jazz’ Or ‘Defeat’ Idiom. Jazzboat was among three movies that Henderson obtained that starred Anthony Newley. Others had been Idle On Parade, the film that released Newley’s singing profession (he co-wrote a number of the tunes) and Allow’s Get Wedded. Henderson’s additional compositions, released by his personal organization, included ‘Why Don’t They Understand?’ (a All of us and UK graph hit for nation singer George Hamilton IV), ‘Chick’, ‘Treble Opportunity’ (his last Best 30 access, in 1959), ‘Dear Daddy’ (with lyrics by Jack port Fishman, featured about Ruby Murray Successes), ‘Matchbox Samba’, ‘Espresso Pub Jive’, ‘What EACH DAY We’ll Have got’, ‘We’d Have QUITE A DISTANCE To Go’, ‘When You’re Apart’, ‘Desire Of Heaven’, ‘1st Theme’, ‘We Need to have You’, ‘Somebody’ and ‘Crinoline Waltz’. His additional recordings included Charles Chaplin’s ‘Smile’, Leroy Anderson’s ‘Overlooked Dreams’, ‘The Theme From your Threepenny Opera (Moritat)’ and a energetic version from the novelty ‘Don’t Ring-A Da Bell’. Around the second option he performed harpsichord, as the vocal was from the English celebrity Shani Wallis, who continued to try out Nancy in the film of Lionel Bart’s Oliver! An extremely likeable and genial character, Henderson continuing to entertain for quite some time after the strikes dried up, especially in the seaside summer months, at top locations such as for example Blackpool and Bournemouth.