Wally Whyton

Wally Whyton helped define British music in the decades after World War II. As co-founder and lead singer of the Vipers, a skiffle ensemble that rose to prominence in the late 1950s, he left a mark on performers as varied as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Martin Carthy, Dave Swarbrick, Davey Graham, and Danny Thompson. In later years he emerged as one of England’s most popular radio figures, serving as the country-music voice on BBC Radio 2 and presiding over the long-running Country Club program for more than twenty years.

Born in London, Whyton began his musical education on piano and trombone. Drawn to the work of American folk artists Pete Seeger, Josh White, and Woody Guthrie, he took up the guitar instead. His command of both blues and jazz made him a natural fit when he stepped in for Long John Baldry with the early skiffle outfit the Thameside Four. Although his tenure lasted only a few months, the stint proved useful when he encountered Johnny Booker, guitarist, singer, and manager of London’s Gyre and Gimbal Coffee Bar. The two joined forces and assembled the Vipers Skiffle Band alongside guitarist-vocalist Jean Van Der Bosch, bassist Tony Tolhurst, and washboard player John Pilgrim. Within three months the group had become the resident act at London’s Two I’s Coffee Bar.

George Martin auditioned the band, leading to a Parlophone contract in September 1956. Their second single, “Don’t You Rock Me Daddy-O,” reached the British Top Ten and was followed by six further chart entries, yet the Vipers issued only one album, The Original Soho Skiffle Band, which appeared in the United States. Whyton maintained a close association with fellow skiffle singer Lonnie Donegan, whose own version of “Don’t You Rock Me Daddy-O” prompted Whyton to write the satirical “Putting on the Smile,” later recorded by Peter Sellers for Songs for Swinging Sellers.

In May 1958 the group removed “skiffle” from its name and began shifting toward pop, yet its influence on British rock extended into the mid-1960s. Among the many musicians who passed through its ranks were Hank Marvin, Bruce Welch, and Jet Harris, all of whom later formed the Shadows. Whyton entered broadcasting by co-hosting the music program Country Meets Folk with Jim Lloyd, introducing listeners to his beloved puppets Ollie Beak and Pussycat Willum. He continued to record despite his radio commitments, releasing the Woody Guthrie collection Children’s Songs of Woody Guthrie and penning the early conservation song “Leave Them a Flower.”

Heartened by the appearance of the three-CD retrospective 10,000 Years Ago, Whyton anticipated a Vipers reunion, but cancer claimed him in January 1997.