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Evelyn Dove: Britain's black cabaret queen
Evelyn Dove embraced the worlds of jazz, musical theatre and, most importantly, cabaret, in a career spanning five decades from the 1920s through to the 1960s. A black British diva with movie star looks, she captivated audiences and admirers around the world, enjoying the same appeal as the ‘Forces Sweetheart’ Vera Lynn throughout the Second World War.

Refusing to be constrained by her race or middle–class West African and English backgrounds, she would perform for infamous Russian leader, Joseph Stalin; become a regular vocalist for the BBC and a celebrated performer across continental Europe, India and the US.

At the height of her fame in the 1930s, she worked with the pioneers of black British theatre, replacing Josephine Baker as the star attraction in a revue at the Casino de Paris and scandalizing her family by appearing on stage semi-nude.

This is a celebration of an extraordinary career punctuated with vertiginous highs and profound lows, and places Dove in historical context with artists of her time, such as Adelaide Hall, Dame Cleo Laine and Dame Shirley Bassey.

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Evelyn Dove: Britain's black cabaret queen
Evelyn Dove embraced the worlds of jazz, musical theatre and, most importantly, cabaret, in a career spanning five decades from the 1920s through to the 1960s. A black British diva with movie star looks, she captivated audiences and admirers around the world, enjoying the same appeal as the ‘Forces Sweetheart’ Vera Lynn throughout the Second World War.

Refusing to be constrained by her race or middle–class West African and English backgrounds, she would perform for infamous Russian leader, Joseph Stalin; become a regular vocalist for the BBC and a celebrated performer across continental Europe, India and the US.

At the height of her fame in the 1930s, she worked with the pioneers of black British theatre, replacing Josephine Baker as the star attraction in a revue at the Casino de Paris and scandalizing her family by appearing on stage semi-nude.

This is a celebration of an extraordinary career punctuated with vertiginous highs and profound lows, and places Dove in historical context with artists of her time, such as Adelaide Hall, Dame Cleo Laine and Dame Shirley Bassey.

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Evelyn Dove: Britain's black cabaret queen

Evelyn Dove: Britain's black cabaret queen

by Stephen Bourne
Evelyn Dove: Britain's black cabaret queen

Evelyn Dove: Britain's black cabaret queen

by Stephen Bourne

Overview

Evelyn Dove embraced the worlds of jazz, musical theatre and, most importantly, cabaret, in a career spanning five decades from the 1920s through to the 1960s. A black British diva with movie star looks, she captivated audiences and admirers around the world, enjoying the same appeal as the ‘Forces Sweetheart’ Vera Lynn throughout the Second World War.

Refusing to be constrained by her race or middle–class West African and English backgrounds, she would perform for infamous Russian leader, Joseph Stalin; become a regular vocalist for the BBC and a celebrated performer across continental Europe, India and the US.

At the height of her fame in the 1930s, she worked with the pioneers of black British theatre, replacing Josephine Baker as the star attraction in a revue at the Casino de Paris and scandalizing her family by appearing on stage semi-nude.

This is a celebration of an extraordinary career punctuated with vertiginous highs and profound lows, and places Dove in historical context with artists of her time, such as Adelaide Hall, Dame Cleo Laine and Dame Shirley Bassey.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781909762350
Publisher: Jacaranda Books
Publication date: 10/04/2016
Pages: 144
Product dimensions: 6.50(w) x 8.70(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Stephen Bourne is a writer, film and social historian specialising in Black heritage and gay culture.

He has received a Screen Nation Special Award; an Honorary Fellowship from London South Bank University; and won the 2015 Southwark Arts Forum Literature Award for his acclaimed book Black Poppies: Britain's Black Community and the Great War. In 2019, Booker Prize winner Bernardine Evaristo voted Bourne as her Black History Month hero.

Bourne is also a regular contributor to BBC documentaries and has written for many publications, including The Voice, The Independent, BBC History Magazine and History Today.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements and Author's Nate iv

Introduction vi

1 Evelyn's Family 1

2 Frank Dove 8

3 Royal Academy of Music/Southern Syncopated Orchestra 14

4 The Chocolate Kiddies 23

5 Will Garland's Brownbirds 29

6 Italy and France 33

7 Cabaret Queen in New York 41

8 Cabaret Queen in India 50

9 Variety 55

10 BBC Radio 61

11 Evelyn and Elisabeth Welch 73

12 BBC Television 12

13 1950s 86

14 Eartha Kitt and Mrs Patterson 97

15 Negro Theatre Workshop 102

16 Spirit of a Dove 109

Postscript cxii

Appendix A Brighton and Hove Connections cxiv

Appendix B A Family Chronology of Births, Marriages and Deaths cxvi

Appendix C Evelyn Dove's Credits cxvii

Appendix D Salutations cxx

Further Reading cxxiii

About the Author cxxvii

Index cxxix

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