OLD PARTY WITH ROGER WHITTAKER

[judit ionescu]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Whittaker

 

 

Roger Whittaker (born March 22, 1936) is an Anglo-Kenyan singer-songwriter and musician with worldwide record sales of over 55 million. His music can be described as easy listening. He is best known for his baritone singing voice and trademark whistling ability.

Childhood and beginning

Whittaker's parents, Edward and Viola, were originally from Staffordshire, England, where they owned and operated a grocery shop. His father had a motorcycle accident and the family moved to a farm in Kenya because of the warmer climate. His grandfather sang in various clubs and his father played the violin. Roger learned to play the guitar.

Whittaker was drafted into national service and spent two years in the Kenya Regiment. In 1956 he was demobilized and decided on a career in medicine. He enrolled at the University of Cape Town in South Africa.

He left the university after 18 months and joined the civil service education department to try teaching.

Recording and performing career

To further his teaching career, Whittaker moved to Britain in September 1959. For the next three years, he studied zoology, biochemistry, and marine biology at the University of Wales, Bangor and received a B.Sc. He continued to sing in local clubs and released some of his songs on flexi-discs included with the campus newspaper, the Bangor University Rag. Shortly afterwards, he was signed to Fontana Records who released his first professional single, "The Charge of The Light Brigade," in 1962.

In the summer of 1962, he appeared at a professional gig in Portrush, Northern Ireland. He landed his first major breakthrough when he was signed to appear on an Ulster Television show called "This And That." His second single and the first to break into the UK Top 30 (NME) charts was a Jimmy Dean cover of "Steel Men," released in June 1962.

In the spring of 1964, Roger met Natalie O'Brien and were married on August 15 of that year. They have five children: Emily (May 28, 1968), Lauren (June 4, 1970), Jessica (February 14, 1973), Guy (November 15, 1974), and Alexander (April 7, 1978). They now have 9 grandchildren.

In 1968, Whittaker switched record labels and in the autumn of 1969 EMI had released "Durham Town (The Leavin')," which became Whittaker's first Top 20 hit in Britain, despite containing two significant errors: Durham is a city, not a town; and it is situated on the River Wear not the River Tyne. In the spring of 1970, RCA Victor Records had released the uptempo "New World In The Morning" in the United States, where it became a Top 20 hit in the Easy Listening chart.

In 1975, Whittaker first recorded "The Last Farewell," which would become his biggest hit and a signature song, selling over 11 million copies worldwide. Whittaker also established himself in country music with "I Love You Because" entering into the country chart in late 1983. In 1979, Whittaker wrote the song Call My Name which reached the final of the UK Eurovision selection, A Song For Europe, performed by Eleanor Keenan and placing third. Whittaker recorded the song himself and the single charted in several European countries.

All of Whittaker's chart hits were issued by EMI. Although the albums were issued in vinyl, cassette and 8-track versions during this timeframe, no CD version of these original albums has ever been issued. Most recordings currently available have been re-recorded and are credited to Whittaker's 'Tembo' label.

In the 1970s and '80s, Whittaker had a lot of success in Germany, with songs produced by Nick Munro. Whittaker could not speak German but sang the songs phonetically. He appeared on German and Danish TV several times ^[1], and was on the UK Top Of The Pops show ten times in the early to mid '70s.

In 1986, he published his autobiography, So Far, So Good, co-written with his wife.

In March 2006, Whittaker announced on his website that a 2007 Germany tour would be his last and he will limit future performances to "occasional concerts." It would appear he has learned to speak German, as he was seen singing and then being interviewed in German on TV (in Denmark) at the end of November (29th?) 2008.

In recent years he has been living in Eyrecourt, Co. Galway, Ireland, close to the River Shannon.

Tours

In 1976, Whittaker undertook his first tour of the United States.

In 2003 he again toured Germany. After recovering from heart problems at the end of 2004, he started touring in Germany in 2005, and then in UK from May to July.

During August this year Whittaker became a founder member and president of the National Society of Brown Bears. This is a philanthropic society created to provide financial and moral support to large mammals.^{[citation needed]}

 Awards

In his career to date, Whittaker has earned over 250 silver, gold and platinum albums.

He was part of a successful British team that won the annual Knokke music festival in Belgium and won the Press Prize as the personality of the festival.

• Ivor Novello awards (twice) for songwriting in 1971-72 and for The Last Farewell in 1975-76 (?) (unconfirmed - e-mail query pending)

• Gold Badge Award, from the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters in 1988 ^[2]

• Golden Tuning Fork (Goldene Stimmgabel in Germany) in 1986, based on record sales and TV viewer votes.

Year	Single	Chart positions
		US	US AC	UK	Germany	US Country
1969	"Durham Town (The Leavin')"			12
1970	"New World In the Morning"		12	17
	"I Don't Believe In If Anymore"		26	8
1971	"Why?"		40	47
	"Mamy Blue"			31
1975	"The Last Farewell"	19	1	2	19
	"I Don't Believe In If Anymore"(re-entry)		10
1976	"Durham Town (The Leavin')"(re-entry)		23
	"The First Hello, The Last Goodbye"		16
	"River Lady (A Little Goodbye)"				2
	"Das Alte Schiff (River Lady)"				10
	"Indian Lady"				14
1977	"Before She Breaks My Heart"		39
	"From the People, To the People"				46
1978	"If I Knew Just What To Say"		47
	"Love Lasts Forever"				50
1979	"You Are My Miracle"		35
1979	"Goodbye Ist Goodbye"				40
1982	"Albany"				3
1983	"I Love You Because"					91
	"Wenn Es Dich Noch Gibt"				8
	"Tanz Heut Nacht Mit Mir"				20
1984	"Abschied Ist Ein Scharfes Schwert"				9
	"Eloisa"				27
1985	"Leben Mit Dir"				16
1986	"The Skye Boat Song"(w/ Des O'Connor)			10
	"Fernweh"				50
	"Ein Bisschen Aroma"				38
1989	"Bleib' Heut' Nacht Bei Mir"				41
1990	"Schoen War Die Zeit"				52
	"Was Ist Dabei, Wenn Wir Zwei Uns Lieben"(w/ Cindy Berger)				48
1991	"7 Jahre, 7 Meere"				46
	"Doch Tanzen Will Ich Nur Mit Dir Allein"				76
	"Sag' Ihr"				50
1992	"Du Wirst Alle Jahre Schoener"				31
1993	"Tauch Hinab In Die Nacht"				72
	"Bring Mir Noch Einmal Die Jahre Zurueck"				94
1996	"Wir Sind Jung (Oh Maria)"				58
1997	"Du Kannst Zaubern"				97
1999	"Alles Roger"				98

  European albums

a selection

• 1971 New World in the Morning
• 1979 Mein deutsches Album (in German)
• 1981 Zum Weinen ist immer noch Zeit
• 1982 Typisch Roger Whittaker
• 1983 Voyager
• 1984 Ein Glück, daß es Dich gibt
• 1987 Heut bin ich arm - Heut bin ich reich
• 1991 Frohe Weinacht - Die schonsten Weihnachtslieder
• 1991 Mein Herz schlägt nur für Dich
• 1992 Stimme des Herzens
• 1993 Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht
• 1994 Leben mit Dir
• 1994 Sehnsucht nach Liebe
• 1994 Geschenk des Himmels
• 1995 Ein schöner Tag mit Dir
• 1996 Alles Roger!
• 1996 Einfach leben
• 1997 Zurück zur Liebe
• 1999 Alles Roger 2
• 1999 Awakening
• 2000 Wunderbar geborgen
• 2002 Mehr denn je
• 2003 Alles Roger 3
• 2003 Der weihnachtliche Liedermarkt
• 2004 Live in Berlin
• 2004 Mein schönster Traum
• 2005 Moments in My Life
• 2007 the Danish collection