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Dame Vera Lynn, DBE (born Vera Margaret Welch; 20 March 1917), widely known as "The Forces' Sweetheart" is an English singer, songwriter and actress whose musical recordings and performances were enormously popular during the Second World War. During the war she toured Egypt, India and Burma, giving outdoor concerts for the troops. The songs most associated with her are "We'll Meet Again", "The White Cliffs of Dover", "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" and "There'll Always Be an England". She remained popular after the war, appearing on radio and television in the UK and the United States and recording such hits as "Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart" and her UK Number one single "My Son, My Son". In 2009 she became the oldest living artist to make it to 1 on the British album chart, at the age of 92.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Biography for Vera Lynn )〕 She has devoted much time and energy to charity work connected with ex-servicemen, disabled children and breast cancer. She is still held in great affection by veterans of the Second World War and in 2000 was named the Briton who best exemplified the spirit of the twentieth century. ==Early life== Vera Lynn was born as Vera Margaret Welch on 20 March 1917 in East Ham, in what was then the county of Essex, now East London. When she began performing publicly at the age of seven, she adopted her grandmother's maiden name (Lynn) as her stage name. Her first radio broadcast, with the Joe Loss Orchestra, was in 1935. At this point she was being featured on records released by dance bands including those of Loss and of Charlie Kunz.〔Seidenberg, Sellar, Jones p. 132〕 In 1936 her first solo record was released on the Crown label, "Up the Wooden Hill to Bedfordshire".〔Some Sunny Day p. 74〕 This label was absorbed by Decca Records in 1938.〔Some Sunny Day p. 73〕 After a short stint with Loss she stayed with Kunz for a few years during which she recorded several standard musical pieces. In 1937, she moved to the aristocrat of British dance bands, Bert Ambrose.〔Some Sunny Day p. 83〕 She is best known for her 1939 recording of the popular song "We'll Meet Again", written by Ross Parker and Hughie Charles; the nostalgic lyrics ("We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when, but I know we'll meet again some sunny day") were very popular during the war and made the song one of its emblematic hits. During the Phoney War, the ''Daily Express'' asked British servicemen to name their favourite musical performers: Vera Lynn came out on top and as a result became known as "the Forces' Sweetheart".〔 In 1941, during the darkest days of the Second World War, Lynn began her own radio programme, ''Sincerely Yours'', sending messages to British troops serving abroad.〔 She and her quartet performed songs most requested by the soldiers. Lynn also visited hospitals to interview new mothers and send personal messages to their husbands overseas.〔Some Sunny Day p. 139-140〕 Her other great wartime hit was "The White Cliffs of Dover", words by Nat Burton, music by Walter Kent.〔Seidenberg, Sellar, Jones p. 24〕 In 1943 she appeared in the film ''We'll Meet Again''. Contrary to later reports, she neither sang nor recorded "Rose of England" during this time and it was only in 1966 when her producer, David Gooch, selected it for her album ''More Hits of the Blitz'' that she became familiar with it. The album itself was a follow-up to ''Hits of the Blitz'' produced by Norman Newell. During the war years she joined ENSA and toured Egypt, India and Burma, giving outdoor concerts for the troops. In March 1944 she went to Shamsheernugger airfield to entertain the troops before the Battle of Kohima. Her host and lifelong friend Captain Bernard Holden recalled "her courage and her contribution to morale". In 1985 it was announced that she would receive the Burma Star for entertaining British guerrilla units in Japanese-occupied Burma. She is one of the few surviving major entertainers of the war years. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Vera Lynn」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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