Eve Boswell

Eve Boswell
Eve Boswell (1964)
Background information
Birth name	Éva Keleti
Born	(1922-05-11)11 May 1922 Budapest, Kingdom of Hungary
Died	14 August 1998(1998-08-14) (aged 76) Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Genres	Traditional pop
Years active	1950s

Eve Boswell (born Éva Keleti; 11 May 1922 – 14 August 1998), was a Hungarian born South African pop singer.^[1] With the outbreak of the Second World War, Eva's family moved to South Africa, where they worked with the Boswell Circus. After a few years in South Africa during which she got married, Eve was offered a temporary contract to work with a band in the United Kingdom. Eve's success with that contract eventually led to her becoming a popular solo singer in Britain in the 1950s.

Career

Éva Keleti was born in Hungary to professional musician parents who toured worldwide.^[1] Educated in Switzerland, she studied piano before joining her parents on tour as the juggling act, Three Hugos.^[1] When the Second World War was declared, the family left Britain with the Boswell Circus. She married, and as Eve Boswell became a popular singing star in South Africa.^[1]

In 1949, she was heard by bandleader Geraldo (Gerald Bright), who persuaded her to return to Britain as a singer in his band, which was widely heard on BBC Radio.^[1] Boswell was the singing voice of Vera-Ellen in the 1951 British film Happy Go Lovely. She parted with Geraldo in 1951, and launched a solo career.^[1] Her first hit record came the following year with "Sugar Bush", partly sung in Afrikaans.^[1] Starting in March 1952, she toured for several months with comedian Derek Roy in a musical revue "Happy-Go-Lucky", before flying to Korea to entertain the armed forces.^[2] In 1953, she was with Harry Secombe in "Show of Shows" at Blackpool Opera House.^[3] She was given her own radio show on the BBC's Light programme called "Time to Dream" in October, 1953,^[4] and she appeared in the 1953 Royal Variety Performance at the London Coliseum.^[1] Boswell played alongside Tommy Cooper in "Happy and Glorious" and later with him in pantomime in 1954 in "Humpty Dumpty" at the Dudley Hippodrome.^[5]

Her major chart hit came with "Pickin' a Chicken", a South African tune with new words,^[1] which rose to No. 9 on the UK Singles Chart^[6] at the start of 1956. Her first LP, Sugar and Spice, on which she sang 10 songs in nine different languages, followed later in the year.^[1] A continuous programme of radio and TV work^[7] and tours followed, leading to more than one mental breakdown. She faded from public view as public tastes for pop music changed through the late 1950s and 1960s.^[1] Her husband died in 1970, and she opened her own singing studio in London called “Studio 9” in 1974.^[8] Some years she later she returned to South Africa, where she married the radio producer Henry Holloway, who produced her last LP, It's a Breeze, made in 1979.^[9]

Discography

Albums

• 1956 Sugar and Spice (Parlophone)
• 1957 Sentimental Eve (Parlophone, with the Reg Owen Orchestra)
• 1958 The War Years (Capitol Records, with the Reg Owen Orchestra)
• 1959 Following the Sun Around (Parlophone)
• 1961 At the Mediterranean (South Africa) (Continental Records)
• 1962 Goeie Nuus! Good News (South Africa) (Brigadiers)
• 1976 Sugar Bush '76 (EMI Records)
• 1979 It's a Breeze (Sugarbush Records)

Singles

• 1949 "Confidentially" (with Geraldo and his orchestra)
• 1950 "Dear Hearts and Gentle People" (with Geraldo and his orchestra)
• 1950 "I Can Dream, Can't I?" / "Mamma Knows Best"
• 1950 "Bewitched" / If I Loved You
• 1950 "Your Heart and My Heart" / "I Remember the Cornfields"
• 1950 "Beloved, Be Faithful" / "Yes! I'll Be There"
• 1950 "All My Love"
• 1951 "My Heart Cries for You" / "All My Life"
• 1951 "Transatlantic Lullaby" /" "Broken Heart"
• 1951 "Would You" / "I'm in Love Again"
• 1951 "I'll Be Around" / "The Way That the Wind Blows"
• 1952 "We Won't Live in a Castle" / "Paradise"
• 1952 "Please, Mr. Sun" / "Love's Last Word Is Spoken"
• 1952 "Sugar Bush" / "I'm Yours"
• 1952 "Here in My Heart" / "I Ain't Gonna Marry"
• 1952 "Old Johnnie Goggabee" / "Your Mother and Mine"
• 1953 "Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo" / "Everything I Have Is Yours"
• 1953 "I Believe" / "Tell Me You're Mine"
• 1953 "If You Love Me (I Won't Care)" / Why?
• 1953 "A Million Stars" / "Don't Ever Leave Me"
• 1954 "Crystal Ball" / "Romany Violin"
• 1954 "Bewitched" / "Playing with Fire"
• 1954 "Du Bist Mein Liebchen" / "The Little Shoemaker"
• 1954 "Skokiaan" / "On the Waterfront"
• 1955 "These Are the Things We'll Share" /
• 1955 "Ready, Willing, and Able" / "Pam-Poo-Dey"
• 1955 "The Heart You Break" / "Tika Tika Tok"
• 1955 "Pickin' A-Chicken" / "Blue Star (The "Medic" Theme)"
• 1956 "Young and Foolish" / "Where You Are"
• 1956 "It's Almost Tomorrow" / "Cookie"
• 1956 "Keeping Cool with Lemonade" / "Down By the Sugar Cane"
• 1956 "Saries Marais" / "Come Back My Love"
• 1956 "True Love" / "Where in the World Is Billy?"
• 1957 "Rock Bobbin' Boats" / "Tra La La"
• 1957 "Chantez, Chantez" / "She Said"
• 1957 "With All My Heart" / "Sugar Candy"
• 1957 "Stop Whistlin' Wolf" / "The Gypsy in My Soul"
• 1957 "Swedish Polka" / Tell My Love
• 1958 "Bobby" / "(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons"
• 1958 "I Do" / "Love Me Again"
• 1958 "Voom - Ba - Voom" / "Left Right Out of My Heart"
• 1958 "More Than Ever" / "I Know Why"
• 1958 "The Christmas Tree" / "Christmas Lullaby"
• 1959 "Piccaninny" / "If I Had a Talking Picture of You"
• 1959 "Wimoweh Cha Cha" / "Beogoeberg Se Dam"
• 1959 "Once Again" / "You Are Never Far Away from Me"
• 1959 "Turnabout Heart" / "Misty"
• 1962 "Love Me" / "You're My Thrill"
• 1963 "Never Too Late" / "Let's Get Away"
• 1969 "This Is My Love" / "Lonely in a Crowd"
• 1974 "One God" / "Love Song"
• 1976 "Sugar Bush '76" / "This Time"

References