Press Reports - Dai Francis (1930-2003)
Vocalist Dai Francis, a former principal member of the hugely popular television programme The Black and White Minstrel Show, was best known for his solo renditions of songs by US perfomer Al Jolson.
Born into Welsh mining stock in Swansea, South Wales on February 23, 1928, Dai was tutored into minstrel type singing at an early age as his father knew over 200 Dixieland songs.
As a boy Dai was already ‘blacking up’ and taking part in jazz band processions at village carnivals. At 14 he began work for the National Coal Board, where he was employed as a wages clerk serving several collieries in the Neath Valley. In 1946 National Service called and Dai joined the RAF and was stationed at Gloucester. While there, Dai continued with his minstrel interest by singing and playing trumpet in the station band. His fellow service man Barry Took once complimented Dai as “being the ace in every pack” when it came to presenting RAF shows.
After perserving with his Jolson act in the forces Dai appeared in a Carroll Levis Talent contest in Cheltenham. This resulted in him being placed in a tourist show called Zuyder Zee, where he met his wife Elsie Monks, who was the Hammond organist in the same show. They later married in 1952 and had a daughter, Cheryl Maria.
Dai went to London after deciding that if no entertainment work was forthcoming within two weeks there he would return to his native Welsh Valley to continue working at the colliery. In the event Dai landed a residency at the famous Pigalle Restaurant, appearing as the featured vocalist with Woolf Phillips Band. About this time Dai met George Mitchell, which resulted in him being chosen as principal soloist with George Mitchell Glee Club for a period of two years.
In 1957 Dai performed with Mitchell’s Minstrels in a one-off special entitled the 1957 Television Minstrels at the Radio and TV Exhibition at Earls Court, which led to the television debut of The Black and White Minstrel Show in June 1958. Featuring the three lead singers Dai, John Boulter and Tony Mercer, the show included song and dance routines, with medleys from America’s deep South, or of country and western origin. It became enormously successful, averaging an audience of 16 million, winning the prestigious Montreaux Golden Rose award in Cannes in 1961 and remaining on air for more than two decades.
A stage production of the show at Victoria Palace proved equally popular. From 1962-72, with a break of only a few months, more than 6,500 performances were given. Two of these were Royal Command Shows.
Dai’s tribute to Al Jolson was a highlight of the show and he became established as Britain’s foremost Jolson impressionist. After the show was taken off air in 1978, Dai filled the title role in The Jolson Show for the summer season at Great Yarmouth in 1984.
In his own right Dai has starred in variety, pantomimes and summer season at home and abroad. More recently he appeared regularly in Bournemouth and Eastbourne. His last summer season was in Scarborough in 1994 at the Opera House.
In 1999 Dai’s health began to deteriorate and after a spell in hospital he decided to leave his house in Esher and retire to Eastbourne to be near close friends.
He died peacefully, aged 75, on November 27 in the Conquest Hospital Hastings, with his partner Rita by his side.
.........THE STAGE
Dai Francis, who has died aged 73, was a star of The Black and White Minstrel Show, George Mitchell's song and dance spectacular which beat Fred Astaire and the Kirov Ballet to win the Golden Rose (for Best Television Show in the World) at the first Montreux Festival in 1961 and dominated television variety for two decades, regularly attracting audiences of 15 million.
With his fellow bass-baritone Tony Mercer and tenor John Boulter, Francis was one of the Minstrels' excellent trio of lead vocalists. Although he is best remembered for his renditions of Al Jolson, his joie de vivre and energy were such that he gave an instant lift to any scene in which he appeared.
Dai Francis was born at Swansea in 1930. His father was a music hall performer who at one time knew more than 200 Dixieland songs. His knowledge and singing ability rubbed off on young Dai, and before the age of 10 the boy was "blacking up" his face with burnt cork to sing at jazz band processions for local village carnivals. At 14 he left school and began work as a wages clerk at the Neath Valley colliery.
During his National Service (1946-49) at the RAF's Head Record Office, Gloucester, he took part in a Carroll Levis talent competition at Cheltenham and won first prize with his impression of Al Jolson, which he had learned from his father.
After leaving the RAF, Francis toured for four years in the Zuyder Zee show, singing, giving impressions and playing the trumpet. The show's organist was Elsie Monks, whom he married in 1952; they had a daughter, Cheryl Maria.
For a while Francis worked in nightclubs, and was featured at the Pigalle in London for a year with the Woolf Phillips Band, as well as at the Embassy Club, as a singer and trumpeter, before joining the George Mitchell Singers in 1954. He started in the singing chorus, but had risen to soloist by 1957, when the first Black and White Minstrel Show was staged by George Mitchell and George Inns for BBC Television.
Francis went on to appear in every Minstrel Show throughout its 21-year television run, and in almost 6,500 performances over 10 years at the Victoria Palace Theatre, for which seven million tickets were sold. The Black and White Minstrels were the only artists to hold first, second and fourth places simultaneously in the Top Ten LP ratings.
The television show was eventually axed in 1978 on the grounds that the blacking up, a long tradition in the theatre, was racially offensive. A subsequent series of the shows in which the performers did not black up failed to pull in the viewers. Thereafter, Francis continued to appear in summer shows and provincial tours, and to do Al Jolson impressions.
Each year the surviving Minstrels and Television Toppers (their sequinned female companions) would gather at a country club outside Wolverhampton to share memories over lunch; the tables were decorated with black and white balloons.
Dai Francis, who died on November 27, was separated from his wife and is survived by his daughter.
........ The Telegraph
Minstrels star Francis dies at 73
The Minstrels were immensely popular for two decades
Dai Francis, a vocalist with former song-and-dance TV troupe The Black and White Minstrels, has died aged 73.
Francis was one of three lead singers with the easy-listening musical group which was a huge TV and theatre hit during the 1960s and 1970s.
Swansea-born Francis joined the George Mitchell Singers in 1954 before the Minstrels made their BBC debut in 1957.
The son of a music hall performer, he was best known for his solo renditions of songs by US artist Al Jolson.
They took away the thing that meant more to him than anything
Entertainer Stan Stennett
A funeral was held at Eastbourne Crematorium in Sussex on Wednesday.
The Minstrels, performing a repertoire of Dixieland jazz and traditional US music from the deep South, drew more than 18 million viewers at the height of their TV success.
They played more than 6,500 live shows over 10 years at London's Victoria Palace Theatre and became the only artists to hold the first, second and fourth places at the same time in the UK album charts.
The TV series was axed in 1978 in response to complaints that it was racially offensive and caricatured African-Americans.
Backlash
Campaigners were especially upset by the "blacking up" of the artists' faces, a practice based on a long-standing theatre tradition.
Former minstrel colleague Stan Stennett, 78, said the backlash against the show may have hastened Francis' demise.
"The thing that brought Dai's end nearer was that they took away the thing that meant more to him than anything - the Jolson thing," Stennett told BBC News Online.
"When it became that you couldn't appear 'blacked up', he lost his livelihood and his living and his will to live."
Stennett, a former actor in ITV soap Crossroads, said Francis was a great performer who would be sadly missed.
.......... BBC News Online
