Beverley Sisters
Double acts between England footballers and pop singers aren’t unusual these days. Posh and Becks, Ashley Cole and Cheryl Tweedie are mainstays of the pages of Hello, Grazia and the rest.
Wind back the clock 50 years and things were a little different. When England football captain Billy Wright married East End pop star Joy Beverley in 1958 it was uncharted territory. Footballers were a long way from the bling-laden millionaires they are today - the maximum wage was still in place and even the greatest players could not earn more than £20 a week.
Joy had been born in Bethnal Green in 1929. Twin sisters Babs and Teddie followed in 1932. Both parents had been on the stage, but had quit showbiz to run a shop by the time the children came along (the girls going to school right opposite). It was a typical, and very close, East End family, with Joy devoted to her little sisters. Even the disruption of the Blitz and evacuation to the Midlands didn’t break the bond. Spotted playing in the street, the three scruffy East End kids were signed up to audition as the ‘Ovalteenies’, singing the theme tune on radio and being photographed in a poster campaign for the drink. Almost by accident, they were in showbusiness.
The trio sang a song during their audition and displayed the natural harmonies that would be the keynote for their career. ‘We didn’t know what it meant … it was just the way we always sang’, remembers Teddie. A BBC contract followed, for the unimaginable sum of 15 guineas a week. The girls, suppressing their cockney accents as much as they could (everybody had to speak the ‘Queen’s English’ at the BBC in those far-off days), were on their way.
It was a meteoric rise. The nervous sisters were thrown straight into live shows with superstar band leader Glenn Miller. Beginning in 1944, it was a hugely successful pairing, with the girls going on to play time and again with Miller’s orchestra. The girls tasted success in America and Britain, pushed by their agents, legendary East End impresarios Lew and Leslie Grade. In what looks a little like a cockney conspiracy to dominate the business, the sisters were signed to EMI by another East End lad. Norman Newell had started his working life as an office boy in Upton Park bus garage, but went on to become a house producer for the recording giant, making records with Russ Conway, Shirley Bassey, Gladys Mills, Vera Lynn, Gracie Fields and Noel Coward. One of the new talents he discovered was another East Ender: Des O’Connor.
The sisters went on to have hit after hit, and did particularly well with Christmas records. Their first was “I Saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus” A year later came “Little Drummer Boy” and the following year “Little Donkey”. By the late 50s, the girls had been at the top for 15 years. Their spartan regime would be something of a shock to modern pop stars perhaps - they insisted that throughout that time they had neither drank, smoked or taken a holiday!
By the time of their marriage in 1958, both Joy Beverley and Billy Wright were veterans in their respective fields. Wright was coming to the end of a stellar playing career. Born in 1924 he had become one of the greatest players English football had seen. For an eight-year spell, beginning in 1951, the England team didn’t take the field without Billy in the team, a record 70 consecutive appearances. By the time he quit in 1959 he had run up 105 caps, captaining the team 90 times. He played 541 games for Wolves, at centre half and wing back and was never booked or sent off. Even by the robust standards of the day, when defenders were allowed almost to cut forwards in half in the tackle, it was an extraordinary achievement.
Wright, captaining Wolves and England, winning the FA Cup and three League titles, had become a national treasure - uniquely popular with team mates and opponents alike. Possibly ‘the most consistent centre half ever to play for England’ opined team mate Tom Finney. ‘A heart of oak and the most reliable of men’, said England boss Walter Winterbottom. On retirement, The Times wrote that ‘there were more talented and more skilful players, but what he embroidered into the fabric of our lives were the values of loyalty and industry. Billy Wright, the man, is a human being of exemplary character. Billy Wright, the footballer, was a national treasure.’ Little wonder perhaps, that he became a hero to the young Kevin Keegan, who would go on to display the same resilience for England.
The sixties saw the Beverley Sisters move into cabaret, and Billy Wright make a brief and indifferent move into management with Arsenal - he never managed to recreate the success he had as a player. He finished his career as head of sport for ATV and Central TV. The defensive rock of the England team was created CBE shortly after he finished playing. Billy died of cancer in 1994, aged 70. The Beverleys tour to this day, and were made MBE (jointly of course) in the 2006 New Years Honours list.