Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Ruby Murray & Irish ballads.

Ruby Murray ~ Let Him Go, Let Him Tarry


Ruby Murray - When Irish Eyes Are Smiling {with Lyrics}


Ruby Murray - Galway Bay


From Wikipedia

Child star[edit]

Ruby Florence Murray was born on the Donegall Road in south Belfast, Northern Ireland.[4] Her voice's distinctive sound was partly the result of an operation on her throat in early childhood.[5] She toured as a child singer and first appeared ontelevision at the age of 12, having been spotted by producer Richard Afton.[1] Owing to laws governing children performing, Murray had to delay her start in the entertainment industry.[1] She returned to Belfast and full-time education until she was 14.

Chart success[edit]

Again spotted by Afton, Murray was signed to Columbia and her first single, "Heartbeat", reached No. 3 in the UK Singles Chart in December 1954.[3] Afton had offered her the position of resident singer on the BBC's Quite Contrary televisionshow, to replace Joan Regan.[6] "Softly, Softly", her second single, reached number one in early 1955.[3] That same year Murray set a pop-chart record by having five hits in the Top Twenty in one week, a feat unmatched for many years.[1][2]
The 1950s was a busy period for Murray, during which she had her own television show, starred at the London Palladiumwith Norman Wisdom, appeared in a Royal Command Performance (1955),[7] and toured the world.[1] In a period of 52 weeks, starting in 1955, Murray constantly had at least one single in the UK charts — this at a time when only a Top 20 was listed.
Murray appeared with Frankie Howerd and Dennis Price, in her only film role, as "Ruby" in a 1956 farce, A Touch of the Sun.[1] A couple of hits followed later in the decade; "Goodbye Jimmy, Goodbye", a No. 10 hit in 1959, was her final appearance in the charts.[1] EMI put together a compilation album of her hits on CD in 1989, including songs that regularly featured in her act; "Mr. Wonderful", "Scarlet Ribbons" and "It's the Irish in Me".[1] They updated this with the release of EMI Presents The Magic Of Ruby Murray in 1997 and a triple album, Anthology — The Golden Anniversary Collection, in 2005, the 50th anniversary of her peak successes on the charts.[1]
The name "Ruby Murray" lives on in rhyming slang, quite often in Only Fools And Horses, as the rhyme for "curry".[8]
A play about Murray's life, Ruby, written by the Belfast playwright Marie Jones, opened at the Group Theatre in Belfast in April 2000.[1]

Personal life[edit]

In 1957, while working in Blackpool, Murray met Bernie Burgess, a member of a successful Television and Recording Vocal Quartet The 4 Jones Boys. Shortly afterwards she left Northern Ireland to marry him and live with him in England.[1] Burgess contrary to press reports didn't become her manager, his role was that of a supporting husband. The couple included a song and dance segment in Ruby's act during the 1960s. After their marriage failed in 1974, she was granted a divorce in 1976. She married an old friend, Ray Lamar, in 1993 and lived in Torquay, Devon. She had two children from her marriage to Burgess.[1]
Although her days as a major star gradually diminished, Murray continued performing until close to the end of her life. She died of liver cancer, aged 61, in December 1996 in Torquay after a long struggle with alcoholism.[1]

Spending her last couple of years in Aspreys Nursing Home, she often delighted her carers with a song and was visited by her special friend, Max Bygraves.

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