| ROGER
WHITTAKER (ARTIST BIOGRAPHY)
Roger Whittaker (born March 22, 1936 in Nairobi,
Kenya) is a British singer/songwriter and musician with worldwide
record sales of more than 55 million. His music can be described as
folk or easy listening. In his early career, his trademark was his
whistling ability.
Whittaker's parents,
Edward and Viola, were originally from Staffordshire, England, where
they owned and operated a grocery shop. His father was involved in a
motorcycle accident, and the family moved to a farm in Kenya because
of the better climate. That Whittaker would eventually become a
musician was no surprise, since his grandfather sang in various
clubs, and his father played the violin. Roger learned to play the
guitar.
Whittaker was drafted
into national service, and he spent two years in uniform in the
Kenya Regiment . In 1956, he was demobilized and decided that it was
time to concentrate on a career in medicine. He enrolled at the
University of Cape Town in South Africa. He left the university
after 18 months and joined the civil service education department to
try teaching.
To further his teaching
career, Whittaker moved to Britain in September 1959. For the next
three years, he studied zoology, biochemistry, and marine biology at
the University of Wales, Bangor and received a B.Sc. He was one of
the brightest students in his class. He continued to sing in local
clubs, and released some of his songs on flexi-discs included with
the campus newspaper, the Bangor University Rag. Shortly afterwards,
he was signed to Fontana records who released his first professional
single, "The Charge of The Light Brigade," in 1962.
In the summer of 1962,
he appeared at a professional gig in Portrush, Northern Ireland. He
landed his first major breakthrough when he was signed to appear on
an Ulster Television show called "This And That." His second single,
and the first to break into the UK Top 30 charts, was a Jimmy Dean
cover of "Steel Men," released in June 1962.
In the spring of 1964,
Roger met Natalie O'Brien, and they were married on August 15 of
that year. They have five children, Emily (May 28, 1968), Lauren (June
4, 1970), Jessica (February 14, 1973), Guy (November 15, 1974) and
Alexander (April 7, 1978).
In 1968, Whittaker had
switched record labels, and in the autumn of 1969 EMI had released "Durham
Town (The Leavin')," which became Whittaker's first Top 20 hit in
Britain. In the spring of 1970, RCA Victor Records had released the
uptempo "New World In The Morning" in the United States, where it
became a Top 20 hit in the Easy Listening chart.
In 1971, Whittaker
first recorded "The Last Farewell," which would become his biggest
hit and a signature song, selling over 11 million copies worldwide.
Whittaker also established himself in country music with "I Love You
Because" entering into the country chart in late 1983. In 1979,
Whittaker wrote the song Call My Name which reached the final of the
UK Eurovision selection, A Song For Europe. Whittaker originally
planned to perform the song himself, but opted for Eleanor Keenan to
sing the song at the final. However, due to a lightning strike by
BBC staff, the show was abandoned and the judges placed the song
joint 2nd based on audio tapes. Later, an error in the voting was
corrected and the song was downgraded to 3rd place. Whittaker
himself recorded the track and had a hit in several European
countries.
In the 1970s and '80s,
Whittaker had a lot of success in Germany, with songs produced by
Nick Munro. Whittaker couldn't speak German, but sang the songs
phonetically. He appeared on German and Danish TV several times, and
was on the UK Top Of The Pops show ten times in the early to mid
'70s.
In March of 2006,
Whittaker announced on his website that a 2007 Germany tour would be
his last, and he will limit future performances to "occasional
concerts."
(info edited from Wikipedia)
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