Eddie Calvert

Eddie Calvert entered the world in Preston, Lancashire, on 15 March 1922 under the name Albert Edward Calvert and later earned the nickname the man with the golden trumpet. During childhood he absorbed his family’s enthusiasm for brass band music, mastering several brass instruments while devoting most of his attention to the trumpet. At eleven he became a member of the Preston Town Silver Band, yet military service during the war halted his progress; by the late 1940s he had resumed performing in amateur brass ensembles before advancing to paid work with the dance orchestras led by Geraldo and Billy Ternet. Striking out alone, he made television appearances alongside the Stanley Black Orchestra. He then secured a contract with the Columbia imprint of EMI and issued an instrumental trumpet recording of the German composition Oh Mein Papa, a melody already widely known in its English adaptation Oh My Papa through Eddie Fisher’s hit. Calvert’s version prevailed in the British marketplace and held the top chart position for nine weeks early in 1954. More than twelve months afterward he found himself competing once again for the number-one spot, this time with Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White; his recording and a nearly identical trumpet arrangement by Perez Prado both reached the summit during spring 1955. Additional successes followed, among them instrumental readings of Stranger In Paradise, John And Julie and Mandy, until Little Serenade became his last chart entry in June 1958. With prospects unchanged throughout the 1960s, Calvert relocated permanently to South Africa, where he remained until his death on 7 August 1978.