With all that we have today, it has become difficult for young people to fully appreciate the hardships we had to endure during the War
DAME VERA’S SET FOR BRIT AWARD
SHE was the Forces’ Sweetheart, a voice of hope for our boys in the Second World War and a force of nature who risked her life to perform in the jungles of Burma.
Now at the age of 101, the legendary Dame Vera Lynn is about to fulfil her next ambition – to get her very first Brit Award.
After her last album out-sold the likes of Katy Perry and Lana Del Rey last year, Dame Vera is nominated in two categories for next Wednesday’s Classic Brit Awards, and is already guaranteed a statuette – as she will be presented with the Lifetime Achievement honour.
But while she is being recognised for lifting the nation’s morale during the Second World War, Dame Vera fears today’s youngsters do not know or appreciate the depths of horror endured by Allied troops and those at home.
“With all that we have today, I think it has become difficult for young people to fully appreciate the hardships we endured during the War,” she says.
And in a time when the country is so divided, many may also never understand the genuine feeling of camaraderie that prevailed.
“It was hard, but it was also fulfilling,” Dame Vera says. “Everyone was there to help their neighbours and anyone else who needed it. We were fighting shoulder to shoulder, here and abroad.”
It may have been seven decades and several generations since VE Day, but Dame Vera is still top of her field. Her album, Vera Lynn 100, sold more than 100,000 copies last year.
But she will not be going to the Classic Brits ceremony at Royal Albert Hall in London herself. Instead her daughter Virginia, known as Ginny, will collect the award on her behalf. She is also up against Sheridan Smith for Female Artist of the Year and Bradley Walsh and Andre Rieu for Classic FM Album of The Year, so could end up with three awards to put on her mantelpiece.
“It’s humbling,” she says. “I’m delighted people still enjoy my music all these years later. I never really considered what I’d be doing at this stage of my life. However, it was definitely a wonderful surprise to be honoured.”
Dame Vera still keeps up with the industry, saying of Katy Perry: “I am aware there are a lot of talented performers out there today. I wish them all every success in their careers.” And
The War was hard but fulfilling. We were fighting shoulder to shoulder, both here and abroad
talking about newer acts, she says: “As for any advice, I’d say the most important thing is to stay true to yourself, persevere and remember to enjoy performing.” Her own career resonates way beyond music. Brought up in East Ham, East London, her dressmaker mum and plumber dad encouraged her to sing in working men’s clubs in London’s East End from the age of seven. She left school at 14 for a short stint of factory work, but her singing proved far more lucrative and soon eclipsed her parents’ earnings. Dame Vera’s first record, Up the Wooden Hill to Bedfordshire, was released when she was 18 and became a radio hit with troops and their families
during the dark war times. Knowing the public looked to her to uplift the nation during its war effort, Dame Vera worked tirelessly visiting troops on the frontline and in military hospitals.
Her biggest hits, We’ll Meet Again and White Cliffs of Dover, moved listeners to tears then and still do now.
Dame Vera says: “I was aware my music had made an impact, particularly as the words spoke to the nation’s sentiments during that time.
“I mainly felt honoured to be able to do my bit for the War effort.
“I never felt under any pressure from anyone. I only did what I wanted to do. And I wanted to go where no one else went. Where it was most needed.”
It is a mark of Dame Vera’s inner steel that she insisted management let her go where no other women, or singers, dared. She sang for the troops in Egypt, India and Burma when she was 27. Burma holds very precious memories for Dame Vera, who considers her performances there her greatest achievement.
“Entertaining the boys in Burma was something that I will never forget and will remain a highlight of my life,” she says.
“I was very proud to have the opportunity to visit the boys who listened to the programmes. It was a chance to see them in their own environment and take them a little bit of home. Although I was visiting the frontline, I never felt like I was in any danger as the boys looked after me so well.” After peace in Europe, Dame Vera travelled to Germany to sing for troops who had liberated the concentration camps. She said: “They took me around the ovens. I saw the gas chambers. They were like a row of garages with steel doors. No birds were flying. They said the gas was still in the air.” Throughout her career, Vera’s husband Harry Lewis was by her side as her manager. They met when both were members of the Bert Ambrose Orchestra, married in 1941 and five years later, had daughter Ginny. Harry died 20 years ago and Dame Vera says she thinks of him every day.
Devoted daughter Ginny, 72, lives with her husband retired squadron leader Tom Jones, on the top floor of her mum’s home, in Sussex, so she can provide care.
“Sometimes she just bursts into song,” says Ginny. “Her singing is absolutely on key and note perfect. I think she’s been singing so long it’s ingrained in her.”
In a life lived as illustriously as Dame Vera’s, it is hard to pick out her greatest accolade. But Ginny says: “Mum’s biggest achievement is just being her. She has never had a side to her, she is exactly what you see. “And that’s just genuinely wonderful.” Vera Lynn 100 is out now on Decca Records. The Classic Brit Awards is on Wednesday at the Royal Albert Hall at airs on ITV on Sunday, June 17.