Steve Conway (singer) facts for kids

Steve Conway (born Walter James Groom; October 24, 1920 – April 19, 1952) was a famous British singer. He became very popular in the 1940s, right after World War II. Steve Conway was known for singing romantic songs called ballads.

He recorded many songs for the Columbia record label. He was also often heard on BBC Radio and performed all over the UK. Sadly, his career ended early when he died at age 31 from a heart problem. People have said he was "Britain's first post-war male heart-throb." He was known for his clear singing and honest style.

Early Life

Steve Conway was born Walter James Groom in Bethnal Green, east London, in 1920. His friends and family called him Jimmy. He was the oldest of five children. His family didn't have much money, and his father was a worker. Every summer, their family holiday was going hop picking in Kent.

Jimmy's family faced sadness when he was young. His twin brothers died as babies, and his sister died at age five from a serious illness. Jimmy himself had rheumatic fever, a serious illness, when he was five years old.

When he finished school at 14, Jimmy took jobs that didn't pay much. First, he delivered things for an embroidery company using a tricycle. Then, he worked in a shoe factory. He often sang while working, which his boss didn't like. After an argument, Jimmy lost his job. He also worked at Billingsgate Fish Market, helping to carry fish.

A big change in Jimmy's life happened when he was a teenager. He met Lilian Butcher, a girl from his local East End area. She worked in a textile factory nearby. People said that Lilian "inspired profound devotion in him." She also helped his singing become very romantic and powerful.

During World War II, Lilian worked in a factory making weapons. Jimmy tried to join the Royal Navy, but he couldn't. Doctors found he had a heart problem. This problem came from his childhood rheumatic fever, which had damaged his heart valves. He wasn't told to get treatment and kept working.

Becoming a Singer

From Hobby to Job

Jimmy always loved to sing, but he never sang in a school or church choir. He also didn't have any official music lessons. However, he had a great ear for music. He could perfectly sing a tune after hearing it just once. He could even hum a whole musical score after seeing it for the first time.

Jimmy was a "modest, unassuming man." It was only because his girlfriend, Lilian, encouraged him that he started entering talent shows. When he was 16, he was convinced to enter a contest at a Bethnal Green cinema. He won first prize, which was a biscuit barrel. He entered more talent shows between 1936 and 1938. During World War II, he started getting booked for shows around London. These were mostly amateur shows performed between movies at cinemas.

Jimmy's first paid performance was at the Trocadero in Commercial Road, east London. In 1943, he performed in a Sunday afternoon show. This was at the Gaumont State Theatre in Kilburn, north London. This led to him performing for two weeks at the Trocadero cinema in Elephant and Castle, south London. He was even asked to come back twice.

In January 1944, he returned to the Trocadero for a third time. There, a manager named Reg Morgan heard him sing. Reg Morgan ran the Victory Music Publishing Company with comedian Charlie Chester. Both of them thought Jimmy could become a star. They convinced him to try out for the BBC.

The BBC talent scout, Cecil Madden, put Jimmy in a radio show called Variety Bandbox. Jimmy made his first radio broadcast on January 23, 1945. He was called Gordon James at the time. Jimmy appeared with Reg Morgan in a part of the show called "Meet the Composer."

At that time, Jimmy worked for a brewing company, cleaning large vats. Reg Morgan told him he wouldn't become famous if he kept that job. Morgan offered Jimmy a contract for £6 a week if he left the brewery. Jimmy agreed and quit his job.

Morgan started working to make Jimmy a star. First, this meant changing his voice and his name. Since Jimmy was from the East End of London, he had a strong Cockney accent. He took lessons to change how he spoke. On the advice of Charlie Chester, Jimmy changed his stage name to Steve Conway. On April 12, 1945, Steve Conway made his first BBC broadcast under his new name. This was for a radio show called Navy Mixture.

Becoming Famous

Steve Conway was still quite new to performing on stage. He toured Mecca dance halls. In late 1945, he sang with the famous bandleader Ambrose at Ciro's nightclub in London's West End. While Steve was there, Princess Marina, the Duchess of Kent, visited the club. She asked him to sing the song "Laura." He also sang with bands led by other well-known musicians like Joe Loss, Lew Stone, and Maurice Winnick. In 1945, a poll by Melody Maker magazine showed Steve Conway as the 13th most popular male singer.

After the war ended that year, Steve Conway started recording songs for EMI's Columbia Records. He signed a contract with them. At the Abbey Road Studios, when he was 24, he sang "The Gypsy" and "I Could Never Tell." These songs were released as a single record in November 1945.

Steve Conway kept appearing on the radio. He was in shows like I'll Play To You and Sleepy Serenade with organist Sandy MacPherson. Steve Conway also had his own radio series called Steve Conway in Romantic Mood with MacPherson. He also performed with bandleaders Ted Heath and Billy Ternent. A very successful radio show for Steve was Sweet Serenade. This was a Sunday afternoon series with Peter Yorke and his Concert Orchestra. By January 1948, Steve Conway had become the main singer for this show. People even joked that many women were burning their Sunday lunches because they were so busy listening to Steve Conway on the radio!

In February 1948, Steve Conway started a big tour of variety theatres. He was joined by guitarist Bert Weedon. By this time, Steve Conway was the main act. He received a huge amount of fan mail, and he spent one day a week answering it. During this time, he was earning £300 a week. This would be like earning £11,150 today. In December 1948, Steve Conway made his first appearance on BBC Television. This was in a variety show called Melody and Mirth. He continued to appear on television. However, radio was still the most important way to reach people back then. By the end of 1949, Steve Conway had made over 200 radio broadcasts.

Recording His Music

In September 1951, Steve Conway's song "At the End of the Day" was released. It featured the Hastings Girls Choir. This recording was used by Radio Luxembourg for over 30 years to end their evening broadcasts. In total, Steve Conway recorded almost 100 songs. He worked with a new producer named Norman Newell. They had a big hit with Newell's own song, "My Thanks To You."

The UK Singles Chart (a list of best-selling songs) didn't start until November 1952. This was after Steve Conway had stopped recording. However, research from 2013 shows that 23 of his records would have sold enough to be on a Top 30 chart. His best-selling songs are said to be "I Can't Begin to Tell You" and "Good Luck, Good Health, God Bless You." The second song was with the Hastings Girls Choir. Both of these songs would have reached No. 3 on the weekly charts.

During Steve Conway's career, the only music charts in Britain listed sales of sheet music. Many songs that were popular on this chart were recorded by Steve Conway. These included "April Showers", "I'll Make Up For Everything", "When You Were Sweet Sixteen", "The Wedding of Lilli Marlene", "My Foolish Heart", "Daddy's Little Girl", "Mona Lisa" (with The Stargazers), "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes", "Autumn Leaves", and "Too Young". Steve Conway was also the only British artist to record "Time After Time" when it was new. This song has since become a famous jazz standard.

Other well-known songs Steve Conway recorded included "Bless This House" and "Look For The Silver Lining". In the studio, he worked with many musicians. These included Roberto Inglez, Peter Yorke, Jack Byfield, Arthur Young, Jackie Brown, and Philip Green. He was also the main singer on several recordings released under Peter Yorke's name. Steve Conway's last recordings were made on October 6, 1951. He was joined by Ray Martin and His Orchestra. These songs, "With All My Heart and Soul" and "Chez Moi," were released in December 1951.

How People Saw His Music

Steve Conway was described as "a ballad singer with a smooth, straightforward delivery." His voice was often compared to Al Bowlly, another singer who had died in 1941. Lew Stone, whose band Bowlly used to sing for, thought about hiring Steve Conway. Steve's wife said that neither she nor her husband had heard of Bowlly. This was until Steve received a fan letter saying, "you must be Al Bowlly's ghost." Memory Lane magazine later wrote about Steve Conway. They said, "His mellow voice had a wonderful and effortless range. His smooth yet thrilling voice was warm, rich and relaxed with perfect pitch and depth."

Steve Conway was also called "Britain's answer to Bing Crosby." Famous people were his fans. Playwright Noël Coward said Steve Conway was his favorite singer. American stars Doris Day and Bob Hope also admired him. Steve Conway wanted to record swing songs. But his managers wanted him to stick to romantic songs, so he did.

Personal Life and Health

Steve Conway married Lilian Butcher in Hackney on April 12, 1941. In February 1944, they had a daughter named Janice. Steve and Lilian's first home was a house in Hackney. His manager convinced him to move his family to a bigger house in Ickenham, Middlesex, in December 1950.

Steve Conway was described as "unassuming, friendly and generous." He was reportedly "astonished" by his own fame. He would often say, "I'm only a singer." Even with all his success, his personality didn't change. His daughter Janice said, "When he got back from a recording session, he would often play football with the kids in the street. His best friend was the milkman."

His Illness

By 1950, Steve Conway's health problems started to show. That year, he was on a River Thames boat trip with friends and family. His boat got caught in a strong current. He struggled to get it to safety, which put a lot of strain on his heart. This left him feeling "exhausted." For the next few days, he remained tired and unwell. After this, he continued to perform and record, but his health got worse. Lilian later remembered, "From that day, he was never the same."

While on stage at the Bradford Alhambra in May 1951, Steve Conway collapsed. But he recovered and kept working. However, his condition got worse, and his theatre shows were sometimes cancelled very quickly. In December 1951, Steve Conway collapsed on stage at the Hull Palace. He was taken to Hull Royal Infirmary. His theatre dates were cancelled. After leaving the hospital, he was sent home to London by train. At King's Cross station, an ambulance met him and took him home on a stretcher.

Steve Conway saw a specialist doctor on Harley Street, Sir Russell Brock. Sir Russell was the surgeon for King George VI. Brock said that Steve Conway's rheumatic fever from childhood had not been treated correctly. This caused a condition called mitral stenosis. This is when a valve in the heart becomes too narrow. Steve Conway became too ill to stay at home. After Christmas 1951, he was admitted to Charing Cross Hospital. Sir Russell Brock suggested surgery to try and fix Steve Conway's heart valves. Today, this is a common surgery, but in the early 1950s, it was very risky. Lilian was warned about the dangers.

The operation gave Steve Conway a 50-50 chance of getting better. He was moved to Guy's Hospital for the surgery. News that he was there caused fans to crowd the hospital. The day before his operation, producer Norman Newell and orchestra leader Ray Martin visited him. They were from his record label, Columbia. He laughed and joked with them. He talked about new ideas for the records he would make soon.

Death and Funeral

Steve Conway had his operation on April 10, 1952. He woke up after the anesthesia and was visited by Lilian. But Steve Conway had problems after the surgery. He died at Guy's Hospital in London on April 19, 1952, at age 31. After he died, it was shared that Steve hated to let down his audience or break a contract. For the last few weeks of his final tour, he spent 20 out of 24 hours a day in bed. He would only get to the theatre just in time for his performance.

Steve Conway's death was widely reported in music news and national newspapers. On Friday, April 25, at 2:30 PM, he was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium. About 100 people attended. This included "bandleaders, vocalists, musicians, recording executives, music publishers, song writers, artistes, agents, managers and reporters," a reporter remembered. "There were about 75 floral tributes," the reporter added. These ranged "from simple little bouquets from fans, to elaborate wreaths from wealthy stars. The most touching came from his heartbroken daughter." It was a small chair that said "Daddy's Little Girl," a sad reminder of his hit song. At the time of his death, Steve Conway's daughter Janice was eight years old.

Legacy

Several years after Steve Conway died, his producer, Norman Newell, gave a new name to a pianist named Trevor Stanford. He called him Russ Conway to honor Steve. Russ Conway became very successful in the 1950s and 60s.

Since the early 1960s, many collections of Steve Conway's recordings have been released. These have been on LP records and CDs. New collections continued to be released even into the 2010s.

See also

• British dance band
• British popular music