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Acker Bilk 1929-2014
Born Bernard Stanley "Acker" Bilk MBE in Pensford, Somerset. He was an English clarinettist and vocalist, billed as Mr. Acker Bilk on many of his recordings. He was known for his trademark goatee, bowler hat, striped waistcoat and breathy, vibrato-rich, lower-register clarinet style.
Bilk's 1962 instrumental tune "Stranger on the Shore" became the UK's biggest selling single of 1962 where it remained in the UK charts for more than 50 weeks, peaking at number two, and was the first No. 1 single in the United States by a British artist in the era of the modern Billboard Hot 100 pop chart.
He undertook his 18 months national service with the Royal Engineers in the Suez Canal Zone. Bilk learnt the clarinet there after his sapper friend John A. Britten gave him one that he had bought at a bazaar and for which he had no use. The clarinet had no reed and Britten fashioned a makeshift reed for the instrument out of some scrap wood. He then borrowed a better instrument from the Army, which he kept with him on demobilisation.
On return home, he joined his uncle's blacksmith business, and qualified in the trade.
During the evenings he played with friends on the Bristol jazz circuit. In 1951 he moved to London to play with Ken Colyer's band. But disliking London, he returned west and formed his own band in Pensford called the Chew Valley Jazzmen, which was renamed the Bristol Paramount Jazz Band when they moved to London in 1951. Their agent then got them a six-month gig in Düsseldorf, Germany, playing in a beer bar seven hours a night, seven nights a week where Bilk and the band developed their distinctive style and appearance, complete with striped-waistcoats and bowler hats.
In 1960, their single "Summer Set" (a pun on their home county), co-written by Bilk and pianist Dave Collett, reached number five in the UK Singles Chart and began a run of eleven chart hit singles. In 1961 "Acker Bilk and His Paramount Jazz Band" appeared at the Royal Variety Performance.
Bilk was not internationally known musician until an experiment with a string ensemble and a composition of his own as its keynote piece made him one in 1962.
Upon the birth of his daughter, he composed and dedicated a melody entitled "Jenny" (her name). He was approached by a British television series for permission to use that melody, but to change the title to "Stranger on the Shore". He went on to record it as the title track of a new album in which his signature deep, quavering clarinet was backed by the Leon Young String Chorale. The single was not only a big hit in the United Kingdom, where it stayed on the charts for 55 weeks, gaining a second wind after Bilk was the subject of the TV show This Is Your Life, but also shot to the top of the American charts at a time when the American pop charts and radio playlists were open to almost anything in just about any style.
"Stranger on the Shore" sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. The album was also highlighted by a striking interpretation of Bunny Berigan's legendary hit "I Can't Get Started." At the height of his career, Bilk's public relations workers were known as the "Bilk Marketing Board", a pun/play on the then Milk Marketing Board.
Acker was awarded the M.B.E in 2001.
A great Traditional Jazz artists who, now sadly missed ,has left a legacy of great music that will keep his memory alive for a lifetime.
Acker Bilk 1929-2014
Born Bernard Stanley "Acker" Bilk MBE in Pensford, Somerset. He was an English clarinettist and vocalist, billed as Mr. Acker Bilk on many of his recordings. He was known for his trademark goatee, bowler hat, striped waistcoat and breathy, vibrato-rich, lower-register clarinet style.
Bilk's 1962 instrumental tune "Stranger on the Shore" became the UK's biggest selling single of 1962 where it remained in the UK charts for more than 50 weeks, peaking at number two, and was the first No. 1 single in the United States by a British artist in the era of the modern Billboard Hot 100 pop chart.
He undertook his 18 months national service with the Royal Engineers in the Suez Canal Zone. Bilk learnt the clarinet there after his sapper friend John A. Britten gave him one that he had bought at a bazaar and for which he had no use. The clarinet had no reed and Britten fashioned a makeshift reed for the instrument out of some scrap wood. He then borrowed a better instrument from the Army, which he kept with him on demobilisation.
On return home, he joined his uncle's blacksmith business, and qualified in the trade.
During the evenings he played with friends on the Bristol jazz circuit. In 1951 he moved to London to play with Ken Colyer's band. But disliking London, he returned west and formed his own band in Pensford called the Chew Valley Jazzmen, which was renamed the Bristol Paramount Jazz Band when they moved to London in 1951. Their agent then got them a six-month gig in Düsseldorf, Germany, playing in a beer bar seven hours a night, seven nights a week where Bilk and the band developed their distinctive style and appearance, complete with striped-waistcoats and bowler hats.
In 1960, their single "Summer Set" (a pun on their home county), co-written by Bilk and pianist Dave Collett, reached number five in the UK Singles Chart and began a run of eleven chart hit singles. In 1961 "Acker Bilk and His Paramount Jazz Band" appeared at the Royal Variety Performance.
Bilk was not internationally known musician until an experiment with a string ensemble and a composition of his own as its keynote piece made him one in 1962.
Upon the birth of his daughter, he composed and dedicated a melody entitled "Jenny" (her name). He was approached by a British television series for permission to use that melody, but to change the title to "Stranger on the Shore". He went on to record it as the title track of a new album in which his signature deep, quavering clarinet was backed by the Leon Young String Chorale. The single was not only a big hit in the United Kingdom, where it stayed on the charts for 55 weeks, gaining a second wind after Bilk was the subject of the TV show This Is Your Life, but also shot to the top of the American charts at a time when the American pop charts and radio playlists were open to almost anything in just about any style.
"Stranger on the Shore" sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. The album was also highlighted by a striking interpretation of Bunny Berigan's legendary hit "I Can't Get Started." At the height of his career, Bilk's public relations workers were known as the "Bilk Marketing Board", a pun/play on the then Milk Marketing Board.
Acker was awarded the M.B.E in 2001.
A great Traditional Jazz artists who, now sadly missed ,has left a legacy of great music that will keep his memory alive for a lifetime.