Vera Lynn 100 celebrates the singer’s centenary with re-orchestrated versions of her most famous songs using her original vocals.
The record will make Vera the oldest living singer to release a new album, just three days shy of her birthday.
Dame Vera said: ”It’s truly humbling that people still enjoy these songs from so many years ago, reliving the emotions of that time.
“I was after all just doing my job as a singer – and it’s so wonderful for me to hear my songs again so beautifully presented in a completely new way.”
Born Vera Margaret Welch on March 20, 1917, she has been singing since the age of seven.
She quit school aged 11 to begin touring and released her first solo record in 1936 aged 19.
Three years later recorded what became her signature song, We’ll Meet Again.
The song became an anthem for Britons as they dealt with the harsh realities of war.
Dame Vera explained: “Everyone was separating, going to war. It spoke of hope, you know. Because you never knew what would happen, from one day to another. A bomb could hit any house, any night.”
In 1941 she began her own radio programme, Sincerely Yours, during which she would send messages to British troops serving abroad.
The same year she became known as the Forces’ Sweetheart after she topped Daily Express poll which asked soldiers to name their favourite musicians.
Throughout the war Vera toured Egypt, India and most daringly, wart-torn Burma to give performances for British soldiers.
“I was getting letters from the boys and I thought I would like to go and see who I had been singing to on the radio,” she explained to the Telegraph.
Recounting her visit to Burma, she said: “I knew I was well protected, although I did wake up one morning and find four Japanese prisoners leaning against the little grass hut that I was in.”
During the war she married Harry Lewis, a musician with the Royal Air Force’s band. The couple had one daughter, Virginia, but Harry sadly died in 1998.
Vera’s popularity endured long after the end of the war. She hit number one in the US charts with Auf Wiederseh’n, Sweetheart in 1952, and continued to release albums and perform concerts throughout the 1960s and 1970s.
In 1975 she was made a Dame, and was told by the Queen: “You’ve been waiting a long time for this.”
Her last major appearance was in 2009 when she performed We’ll Meet Again to launch the Royal British Legion’s poppy appeal.
The same year she made a return to the top of the British charts with her greatest hits collection We’ll Meet Again: The Very Best of Vera Lynn, making her the oldest living artist to have a UK number one album at 97 years old.
Vera now looks set to break her own record when her album is released on March 17.
Daily Express :: Entertainment Feed
