Victor Silvester
Encyclopedia
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
dancer, author, musician and dance band leader. He was a significant figure in the development of ballroom dance
Ballroom dance
Ballroom dance refers to a set of partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially and competitively around the world. Because of its performance and entertainment aspects, ballroom dance is also widely enjoyed on stage, film, and television....
during the first half of the 20th century, and his records sold 75 million copies from the 1930s through to the 1980s.
Early life
Silvester was born the second son of a vicarVicar
In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...
in Wembley
Wembley
Wembley is an area of northwest London, England, and part of the London Borough of Brent. It is home to the famous Wembley Stadium and Wembley Arena...
, Middlesex
Middlesex
Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...
. He was educated at Ardingly College
Ardingly College
Ardingly College is a selective independent co-educational boarding and day school, founded in 1858 by Canon Nathaniel Woodard, included in the Tatler list of top public schools. The college is located in the village of Ardingly near Haywards Heath, West Sussex, England, having moved to its present...
, St. John's School, Leatherhead
St. John's School, Leatherhead
St. John's School, Leatherhead is a public school in Surrey, England. It has about 420 male pupils and 60 female pupils, and from 2010 it will be fully co-educational....
and John Lyon School
John Lyon School
The John Lyon School is an academically selective independent boys' school in Harrow on the Hill, Middlesex. The school was founded in 1876 by the Governors of Harrow School for the education of local boys, in belated keeping with the wishes of that school's founder, from whom the school takes its...
, Harrow
Harrow, London
Harrow is an area in the London Borough of Harrow, northwest London, United Kingdom. It is a suburban area and is situated 12.2 miles northwest of Charing Cross...
, from all of which he absconded. In September 1916 he enlisted in the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
during the First World War and served as a private in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. He lied about his age to the recruiting authorities, stating this as 20 when in fact he was only 16. He took part in the Batte of Arras in April/May 1917, and also was a member of five execution squads, where deserters, some no doubt suffering from shell-shock, were shot. Once his age was discovered, he signed up with the First Aid Service and served in France until June 1917. At the age of 18, he re-joined the Army though it does not appear that he served overseas. In his autobiography, written later in life, he made claims to have been in Italy and at the mutiny at Étaples
Étaples Mutiny
The Étaples Mutiny was a mutiny by British troops in France in 1917, during the First World War.-Background:Étaples, about south of Boulogne-sur-Mer, was at the time a small town with a thriving fishing industry and a fleet of sail powered wooden trawlers, a few miles up the river Canche...
. This may have been a fiction on his part. All the same, the episode was apparently incorporated into the BBC series The Monocled Mutineer.
After the war he studied at Worcester College, Oxford
Worcester College, Oxford
Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in the eighteenth century, but its predecessor on the same site had been an institution of learning since the late thirteenth century...
for a year. He decided to resume a military career when he was offered a place at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, but he quickly decided it was not for him. He also studied music at Trinity College, London, having already had private piano lessons as a child.
Career in dance
His interests had meanwhile turned to dancing. He was one of the first post-war English dancers to feature the full natural turn in the slow waltzWaltz (International Standard)
Waltz is one of the five dances in the Standard category of the International Style ballroom dances. It was previously referred to as Slow Waltz or English Waltz....
. This innovation was a factor in his winning the first World Ballroom Dancing Championship in 1922 with Phyllis Clarke as his partner. He married Dorothy Newton a few days later.
He competed again in 1924, coming second to Maxwell Stewart – the inventor of the double reverse spin in the waltz – and Barbara Miles. He was a founding member of the Ballroom Committee of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing
Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing
The Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing is a leading dance teaching and examination board based in London, England and operating internationally. Established on 25 July 1904 as the Imperial Society of Dance Teachers, it changed to its current name in 1925 and is now a registered educational...
which codified the theory and practice of Ballroom Dance
Ballroom dance
Ballroom dance refers to a set of partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially and competitively around the world. Because of its performance and entertainment aspects, ballroom dance is also widely enjoyed on stage, film, and television....
– now known as the International Style – and published the first book embodying the new standards in 1927. This was Modern Ballroom Dancing, which became a bestseller and has remained in print through many editions, the last issued in 2005.
He went on to open a dancing academy in London, which eventually developed into a chain of 23 dance studios. By the early 1930s his teaching had become famous and he had taught some of the top celebrities of the day, among whom was Estelle Thompson, better known as Merle Oberon
Merle Oberon
Merle Oberon was an Indian-born British actress best known for her screen performances in The Scarlet Pimpernel and The Cowboy and the Lady . She began her film career in British films as Anne Boleyn in The Private Life of Henry VIII . She travelled to the United States to make films for Samuel...
. Victor had his own BBC television show through the 1950s, called BBC Dancing Club, and was later the President of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing
Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing
The Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing is a leading dance teaching and examination board based in London, England and operating internationally. Established on 25 July 1904 as the Imperial Society of Dance Teachers, it changed to its current name in 1925 and is now a registered educational...
.
Career in music
The lack of what he felt were adequate records for dancing led Silvester in 1935 to form his own five-piece band, later enlarged and named Victor Silvester and his Ballroom Orchestra, whose first record, You're Dancing on My Heart (by Al Bryan and George M. Meyer), sold 17,000 copies and was to become his signature tune. He insisted his recordings conform precisely to the beats per minute recommended by the ISTD for ballroom dances, a concept termed "strict tempo". In British eyes he became indelibly associated with the catch-phrase "slow, slow, quick-quick-slow" – a rhythm which occurs in the foxtrotFoxtrot (Dance)
The foxtrot is a smooth progressive dance characterized by long, continuous flowing movements across the dance floor. It is danced to big band music, and the feeling is one of elegance and sophistication...
and quickstep
Quickstep
The quickstep is a light-hearted member of the standard ballroom dances. The movement of the dance is fast and powerfully flowing and sprinkled with syncopations. The upbeat melodies that quickstep is danced to make it suitable for both formal and informal events...
.
The Silvester band always had a distinctive sound, achieved by an unusual line-up including, as well as the usual rhythm section, alto saxophone (initially Charlie Spinelli and later, for 26 years, Edward Owen "Poggy" Pogson, who had previously played in Jack Payne's and Jack Hylton's bands), a lead solo violin (for many years usually Oscar Grasso), and not one but two pianos, one taking turn in solos and the other maintaining an improvised tinkling continuo in the background throughout every piece, which Silvester called his "lemonade".
He notes in his autobiography that his first two pianists in 1935 were Gerry Moore for the melody and Felix King for the "lemonade". Later pianists included, at different times, Monia Liter, Charlie Pude, Jack Phillips, Billy Munn, Victor Parker (also accordion), Ernest "Slim" Wilson (who was also Silvester's main arranger, and with whom he co-wrote several pieces), Eddie Macauley and Ronnie Taylor. Silvester's drummer for over four decades was Ben Edwards, crucial for supplying the strict tempo. Sometimes there might be four saxophones altogether, two alto and two tenor, including in latter years Tony Mozr, Percy Waterhouse and Phil Kirby in addition to Pogson, all doubling on clarinet as required. On some recordings, the Ballroom Orchestra was augmented with 15 strings and woodwind, when it became "The Silver Strings". During the war, when Oscar Grasso was in the forces, the classical violinist Alfredo Campoli
Alfredo Campoli
Alfredo Campoli was an Italian-born British violinist, often known simply as Campoli. He was noted for the beauty of the tone he produced from the violin.-Biography:...
took his place, using the name "Alfred Campbell" for contractual reasons.
These were first-class players, some of whom (like Liter, Grasso and Pogson) were already noted in jazz or danceband circles before they joined Silvester's band. Unlike most British dance bands of the era, there were no vocals. Silvester usually did not play (he was a violinist), but stood in front of his orchestra in white tie and tails, conducting with a flourish. Though popular with dancers, the orchestra was criticised by the dance band discographer Brian Rust
Brian Rust
Brian Rust , was an English jazz discographer.Brian Arthur Lovell Rust was born in London, and collected records from the age of five. He worked in the BBC's record library from 1945 to 1960, and supervised broadcasting selections...
, who said:
- "Victor Silvester... there was nothing whatever in the thin treatment of the melody... to appeal to those who looked beyond the simple requirements of a steady dance tempo... [the records he made] are of purely utilitarian appeal and nothing more".
He would continue to make music for half a century, mostly covering the popular music standards
Traditional pop music
Traditional pop or classic pop or standards music denotes, in general, Western popular music that either wholly predates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s, or to any popular music which exists concurrently to rock and roll but originated in a time before the appearance of rock and roll,...
and show tunes, sometimes (but rarely) swing, trad jazz
Trad jazz
Trad jazz - short for "traditional jazz" - refers to the Dixieland and Ragtime jazz styles of the early 20th century in contrast to any more modern style....
, and in latter years, especially from 1971 when the orchestra continued under his son Victor Silvester Jr, rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
, disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
and pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
. These later attempts to stay "with it" involved the introduction of an electric guitar, but it is mostly the more melodic recordings of the 1940s and 1950s that are now reissued on CD and still sold widely.
Competition
Silvester's record sales were so huge that competition was inevitable. Other dancers were attracted to the idea, and set up their own strict-tempo bands. Henry Jacques, Maxwell Stewart, Josephine BradleyJosephine Bradley
Josephine Bradley MBE was a ballroom dancer and dance teacher. Though born in Dublin, she was raised from an early age in London, the youngest of eight children. Bradley was among the first ballroom dance professionals of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing who standardised the basic...
and Wally Fryer were all top-flight dancers who set up in competition to Silvester. There were other bands led by musicians who were capable of recording in strict time. The best for ballroom competitions was probably Joe Loss
Joe Loss
Joshua Alexander "Joe" Loss LVO OBE was a British musician and founder of the Joe Loss Orchestra.-Life:Loss was born in Spitalfields, London, the youngest of four children. His parents, Israel and Ada Loss, were Russian Jews and first cousins. His father was a cabinet-maker who had an office...
, who had an even longer musical career than Silvester. Other bands which catered to ballroom dancing were Oscar Rabin
Oscar Rabin
Oscar Rabin was a Latvian born English bandleader and musician. He was notable for being the musical director of the Oscar Rabin Band....
and Jack Harris
Jack Harris (musician)
Jack Harris was an English vocalist for the British progressive rock band, The Alan Parsons Project. He sang lead vocals on "Day After Day " on the album, I Robot , and the single "Pyramania" taken from the Grammy nominated Pyramid...
, whose band played in clubs and restaurants through the 1930s, Phil Tate
Phil Tate
Phil Tate was an English dance bandleader.Born John Philip Tate in Bramley, Leeds, Yorkshire, England, Tate played violin from the age of eight, and was later an autodidact on clarinet and saxophone. He formed his own group, the Five Quavers, while in high school, and played in the RAF Silver...
, and Jack Parnell
Jack Parnell
John Russell Parnell was an English bandleader and musician.-Biography:Parnell was born into a theatrical family in London....
. For the post-war period of Latin dances to (mostly) Cuban and Brazilian rhythms, Edmundo Ros
Edmundo Ros
Edmundo William Ros OBE was a Trinidadian musician, vocalist, arranger and bandleader who made his career in Britain. He directed a highly popular Latin American orchestra, had an extensive recording career and owned one of London's leading nightclubs.- Life :Ros was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad...
was in a class of his own.
Later life
By 1958, when he published his autobiography, he was the most successful dance band leader in British musical history, and a major star on British radio and television. His BBC Television show Dancing Club lasted 17 years. He also presented a weekly request programme on the BBC Overseas Service (later World Service) which ran from 1948 to 1975. His obituary in The TimesThe Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
noted, "Turn on a radio in Famagusta, Cape Town or Peking and one would be likely to hear his music issuing from the speakers".
Victor Silvester was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
in 1961. He died while on holiday in the south of France at the age of 78. The orchestra remained in existence under his son's direction until the 1990s. Victor, his wife, and son are memorialised at Golders Green Crematorium
Golders Green Crematorium
Golders Green Crematorium and Mausoleum was the first crematorium to be opened in London, and one of the oldest crematoria in Britain. The land for the crematorium was purchased in 1900, costing £6,000, and was opened in 1902 by Sir Henry Thompson....
, London.