VERA LYNN
Vera Lynn (born Vera Margaret Welch; 20 March 1917), widely known as “The Forces’ Sweetheart”, is an English singer, songwriter, and actress whose musical recordings and performances were enormously popular during the Second World War. The songs most associated with her are “We’ll Meet Again”, “The White Cliffs of Dover”, “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square”, and “There’ll Always Be an England”. She remained popular after the war, appearing on radio and television in the UK and the United States and recording such hits as “Auf Wiederseh’n Sweetheart” and her UK Number one single “My Son, My Son”. She is still held in great affection by veterans of the Second World War and was named the Briton who best exemplified the spirit of the 20th century in 2000. (More from Wikipedia)
All I knew about Vera Lynn, an enormously popular English singer during World War II was the reference to her in the song “Vera” from the 1979 Pink Floyd album, The Wall. Thus, I was astounded (along with rest of the world, I think including Vera Lynn herself) when a retrospective of her work that was released in 2009, We’ll Meet Again: The Very Best of Vera Lynn reached the top of the British charts. At age 92, she is the oldest person ever to achieve that feat in Great Britain.
(October 2013)
