Jack Payne

Born in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, on August 22, 1899, British bandleader Jack Payne served as an aviator in World War I, during which he assembled multiple dance ensembles to entertain his fellow servicemen. Following the armistice he kept performing with smaller combos. His six-piece outfit landed an engagement at London’s Hotel Cecil in 1925; by year’s end the group was appearing regularly in BBC remote broadcasts from the hotel, and Payne was appointed the network’s Director of Dance Music in 1928. He left the BBC after four years to concentrate once more on hotel work, while also appearing in the film Say It with Music and cutting several sides, among them a 1935 session featuring pianist Garland Wilson. Payne dissolved the band in 1937 and withdrew to his Buckinghamshire stud farm, only to assemble a twenty-piece orchestra the next year. Late in 1939 he became the first British bandleader to play for troops stationed in France. Returning to the BBC in 1941, he held the Director of Dance Music post for another five years before moving into disc-jockey work. Payne died on December 4, 1969.