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Anne Shelton  by Tony Wild

Since 1969, trading as Tony Wild Promotions Ltd., I had been promoting concerts featuring Syd Lawrence & his Orchestra and in the summer of 1975 the BBC staged a series of their? Festival of Light Music? at the Royal Festival Hall, London, which was broadcast on several Saturday evenings on BBC Radio 2. Alan Dell organized and arranged some of these concerts amongst which there was a Big Band Tribute night. The second half was to be Syd Lawrence & His Orchestra playing Glenn Miller music whilst the first half was a composite orchestra led by Paul Fenhoulet, who played tributes to leading British Bands. Syd had invited me as a guest and I joined him in the dressing room. He suggested that I should go and stand in the wings to see and hear the first half. Also standing in the wings was Alan Breeze (the former vocalist with Billy Cotton) whom I did not recognize. He was a small wizened old man who looked as if about to breathe his last, but miraculously came alive and bubbling as soon as he went on stage. Once off stage he again becamethe really old man!

A few minutes later Anne and Jo Shelton came into the wings, and shortly afterwards Anne went on to sing as part of this Festival. Anne had always been a favourite singer of mine, and when she came off stage I managed to chat to her before she went back to her dressing room. I told her that Alan Dell and I, together with the Glenn Miller Society were hoping to recreate Glenn Miller's Army Airforce Orchestra using the Million Airs Orchestra augmented with a full string section, and French Horn musician. Anne suggested that when we had the concert planned she would like to meet with us and be a part of this special tribute, as she was a great singing favourite of Glenn Miller. We enlisted the help of Bryan Pendleton, who in co-operation with Alan Dell produced a selection of music for the Concert Orchestra, with Bryan meticulously taking down note for note from the old LP's of Glenn Miller's wartime orchestra.

A lunch meeting was arranged and together with Doug Le Vicki of the Glenn Miller Society and Alan Dell, we all lunched at a Chinese Restaurant in Edgware Road, where together with Anne David and Jo we planned two concerts the first being at the Usher Hall, Edinburgh on the 6th. December 1975 and the second at the Royal Albert Hall, London 8 days later. At this lunch meeting, I really got to know Anne, Jo and David, and together we formed a strong and lasting friendship. Alan and Bryan produced the musical programme, and I spent a day at the home of Anne and David where we finalized Anne's part in the concert. Meanwhile, as the Million Airs had no Musical Director, I was fortunate in getting the services of Malcolm Lockyer who proved a tower of strength and was highly respected and regarded by musicians and artists alike. Sadly, we were unaware that his throat cancer was recurring and before the end of the tour in the spring of 1976 Malcolm passed away. Ken Moule replaced him for a short time and finally from the Million Airs Orchestra, their own Miff King took over the baton.

Both the Usher Hall and the Royal Albert Hall concerts were sell-outs, with Alan Dell compering, and Anne as the guest star. They were great evenings with Anne telling Alan and the audience of her experiences with the Major Glenn Miller and showing the bracelet given to her by the great man. Anne also had a tape recording of a wartime concert where she was announced by Major Glenn Miller himself. This was played at every concert to introduce her to the enthusiastic audiences. A large proportion of the audiences had specifically come to see and hear Anne, and she certainly delighted them.

Following the two concerts we decided to tour the principal provincial venues throughout the country, and during 1976 between February and July played many venues. It was very successful and popular with the public, but hard work for the artists and musicians. In April of that year my Masonic Lodge held their Annual Ladies Night that year at the Saddle & Sirloin in London. I invited a number of people to come along, including Malcolm and Diane Lockyer, Miff and Kay King, and I hoped that David and Anne would come along also as my guests. They accepted gladly and were delighted to come, together with Anne's brother Bill and sister Jo, so we were a very happy group. Anne had asked me if I would want her to sing, since if I did, she would not be able to eat any dinner, as she could never sing on a full stomach. I assured her that I wanted her and David to have an enjoyable relaxed evening, and that Malcolm Lockyer had already offered to play piano for the entertainment. Malcolm did this for a quarter of an hour and then told the assembled people that we were all in the middle of the Glenn Miller concert tour, and that Anne was the star of our show and was a guest of Tony Wild, the Promoter and was with us that evening. He wondered if he could persuade Anne to come out and sing some songs from the show. Anne did this and despite the full stomach, never sang better and was the triumph of the evening. It was a most memorable Ladies Night, still talked about to this day.

Sister Jo was Anne's constant companion. Undoubtedly Jo could have been a famous singer herself, having a very good voice, but decided not to pursue her own career, but to devote herself to seeing that Anne had support and companionship.
They were most devoted sisters, and at every concert Jo was always in the wings, with a baby feeder of water for Anne. The baby feeder was so that Anne when taking a drink, did not smudge her lipstick.

At Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Anne's brother Bill joined us as well as the rest of the family, since they were all involved with Newcastle Building Society, and following the concert Anne and David entertained us to a lavish supper at the Station Hotel. I felt very honoured to be considered a personal friend. During the touring I enjoyed many happy hours in their company.

After we had played the Festival Theatre, Paignton, during the night the porter at the Hotel woke me with the news of the death of my Father-in-Law. Naturally I had to return home to be of comfort and support to my wife Gill, and next day Gill received a delivery of flowers and a most sincere letter of sympathy from Anne. That was typical of her kindness and consideration.

At the end of the second phase of the tour, my partner at the time, Doug Le Vicki, most regrettably fell out with Anne. I hasten to say that it was not any fault of Anne, but Doug had his own ideas, with which I did not agree, and Anne quite rightly refused to work with him further.

She and I did work together after the tour, when we played Wembley onference Centre with Monty Modlin, the band of the Royal Artillery and starring Anne. Soon after that I decided that it was time I gave up show business for a while to go back to my main business in the camping and sports trade, to earn some money, and although I saw Anne on the TV on many occasions, never had the pleasure of meeting her or other members of the family after that. The autumn of 1975 and the touring in 1976 will always remain a wonderful memory and I do count myself very fortunate to have known and worked with Anne, Jo and David. They were lovely people, and I will always treasure these memories and appreciate their friendship

Track List 1-7) The American Band of the Supreme Allied Command with Capt. Glenn Miller 8) Don't Misunderstand Anne Shelton 9) I fall in love with you every day Anne Shelton 10) Time May Change Anne Shelton 11) Take Off The Coat Anne Shelton 12) Siberia Anne Shelton 13) I Ain't Got Nobody Anne Shelton 14) Easter Parade Bing Crosby and Anne Shelton 15) If There Are Stars In My Eyes Jo Shelton 16) Village of St Bernadette Anne Shelton 17) Cross Over The Bridge Anne Shelton 18) I'll Be Seeing You Anne Shelton

An exciting CD, has just become available. This collection is a strict limited edition run the tracks have never been released on CD before. 'Thank you Captain Miller' has been compiled by Anne's niece and comprises rare material including Anne's own 'V' disc recording of a 30-minute broadcast (in which she was the guest artist) of 'The American Band of the Supreme Allied Command' under the direction of Captain Glenn Miller. The broadcast went out on 27th July 1944. Also on the CD, Anne sings songs from her own collection and there is a recording of Anne's younger sister, Jo Shelton, singing, "If there are stars in my eyes". Plus the 1944 broadcast of Bing Crosby and Anne singing a duet of 'Easter Parade'. Then to finish off this amazingly unique CD, there are three better known tracks 'Cross over the Bridge', 'Village of St Bernadette' and a song that she sang in the film 'Yanks' 'I'll Get By'.

This Cd can be obtained from: Kelly Richards cheque / money order made payable to : Kelly Richards
for £10.99 + £1.05 postage and packing (UK) or £2.60 (rest of the world) through the Anne Shelton PO Box.

Send to: Anne Shelton Exclusive CD offer PO Box 160 Hailsham, East Sussex BN27 4YF UK

Anne Shelton web site

Big Band Buddies are graceful to Kelly Richards for allowing us to use photos from her website.

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