Dickie Valentine

Dickie Valentine was born Richard Bryce, in Marylebone, London. He first trained as a singer during his work as a child actor, and during that time developed a flexible vocal style which made him a skilled impersonator of famous singers including Mario Lanza and Johnny Ray. Bryce was able to take a course of singing lessons through the generosity of the Canadian stage star Bill O'Connor, who met Bryce while he was working as a backstage call-boy at Her Majesty's Theatre, Haymarket. He was voted the Top UK Male Vocalist in 1952 while singing with the Ted Heath Orchestra, the most successful of all British big bands, and again after going solo in 1954. 

He recorded two number one hits, Christmas Alphabet and Finger of Suspicion. His first chart-topper came only two months after his marriage to Elizabeth Flynn at Caxton Hall, which caused scenes of hysteria and was reliably expected to sound the death knell to his career.  In fact, 1955 was by far his best chart year, with two number ones and three other Top Ten hits.  Christmas Alphabet" marked the first time in the UK that a song created for the Christmas market had hit number one. His subsequent acclaim led to his being invited to appear on television in the USA, on such shows as those of Eddie Fisher and Ed Sullivan.

Valentine was frequently voted top British singer in NME polls.  Singing with Decca, he had a number of other chart hits including another number one in 1955 with Christmas Alphabet, written by Buddy Kaye (with Jules Loman's collaboration). From then on he was eclipsed by the craze for rock and roll. A brief flirtation with this genre in 1956, Dickie Valentine's Rock 'n' Roll Party Medley, proved unsuccessful—it was, indeed, something he himself described as the biggest ‘clanger’ he had ever dropped

Although his fame receded during the 1960s, he remained a popular live performer until his death. Travelling from gig to gig, he was killed outright in a car crash at Glangrwyney, near  Crickhowell in Wales in May 1971, at the age of 41.  

See Dickie sing 'Come To My Arms' http://br.youtube.com/watch?v=4iBYMYlZedI