Born on 9 August 1909 in Ammanford, Dyfed, Wales, as Donald Rhys Hubert Peers, the vocalist died on his sixty-fourth birthday in Brighton, England, in 1973. During the closing years of the 1940s and the opening years of the following decade he enjoyed immense popularity across Britain, drawing especially fervent responses from women who screamed and fainted in the manner of American bobbysoxers. His father, a colliery worker from Wales and an active figure in the Plymouth Brethren, refused ever to set foot inside a theatre to witness his son perform. Although intended for a teaching career, Peers left home abruptly and took work first as a house painter, then as a steward aboard a British tanker, before joining a seaside concert party as vocalist. His initial broadcast came in 1927 alongside the comedy team Clapham And Dwyer, and he maintained a steady presence on radio thereafter. Enlisting in 1940, he received a medical discharge on D-Day 1944. That same year he cut the 1927 composition “In A Shady Nook (By A Babbling Brook)” by Edward G. Nelson and Harry Pease, which served as his signature song for the rest of his life. Further 1940s releases encompassed “I Can’t Begin To Tell You,” “Bow Bells,” “Far Away Places,” “On The 5.45” (the vocal adaptation of “Twelfth Street Rag” with lyrics supplied by Andy Razaf), “Powder Your Face With Sunshine,” “Lavender Blue (Dilly Dilly),” “A Strawberry Moon (In A Blueberry Sky),” “Everywhere You Go,” “Clancy Lowered The Boom,” “It Happened In Adano,” “A Rose In A Garden Of Weeds,” “I’ll String Along With You” and “Down In The Glen.” He worked the British variety circuit extensively, enjoyed profitable summer seasons in resorts such as Blackpool, and in 1949 mounted a solo presentation at both the Royal Albert Hall and the London Palladium. Additional outlets included the radio programme Cavalier Of Song, the television series Donald Peers and several films, among them Sing Along With Me.
Commercial momentum carried into the early 1950s through titles such as “The Last Mile Home,” “Dear Hearts And Gentle People,” “Out Of A Clear Blue Sky,” “Music! Music! Music!,” “If I Knew You Were Comin’ I’d’ve Baked A Cake,” “Enjoy Yourself (It’s Later Than You Think),” “Dearie,” “I Remember The Cornfields,” “Beloved, Be Faithful,” “Me And My Imagination,” “Mistakes,” “In A Golden Coach” (written to mark the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II), “Is It Any Wonder” and “Changing Partners.” Throughout the late 1950s he appeared frequently in South Africa, Australia and India; after returning to Britain he reconstructed his following on the northern club circuit that had supplanted the older music halls. A Top 10 placement arrived in 1968 with “Please Don’t Go,” co-written by comedian Jackie Rae and Les Reed. Having recovered from a serious back injury incurred in Australia, Peers resumed live performance in 1972 and registered his final chart entry with the aptly named “Give Me One More Chance.”
