DOROTHY SQUIRES
A hugely popular British entertainer, singer, performer especially during the 1950’s and 1960’s, Dorothy Squires singing career spanned six decades.
Dorothy made her first recording in 1936 with Billy Reid’s Accordion Band. The 1940’s saw Reid and Squires recordings gather a lot of radio play and the pair enjoyed a string of hits, as well as topping numerous variety bills. Dorothy ended the decade as the star of the BBC’s Variety Bandbox listened to by millions.
During the 1950’s, the now Mrs Roger Moore, signed with the Nixa label, part of Pye Records, releasing a number of singles and her first albumDorothy Squires Sings Billy Reid (1957).
In 1961 Dorothy teamed up with pianist Russ Conway to record one of her own songs, ‘Say It With Flowers’, the single hitting the Top 30. She then became the first British performer to play London’s Talk Of The Town nightclub, where the headline artists had previously been predominantly American stars.
Late 1966 Dorothy returned to the Regal Cinema in Llanelli to record a semi-autobiographical live album, This Is My Life, which following an initial release through Decca was picked up by President Records and released via their Jayboy subsidiary in 1967. Dorothy then signed with President Records and released five more albums on the President label; Say It With Flowers (1968), The Seasons Of…(1969) , Dorothy Sings Squires (1970 – on Jayboy), At The London Palladium (1971), and finally a second live recording , At The London Palladium 1971(1971).
The Say It With Flowers album included a version of Stevie Wonder’s ‘For Once In My Life’ which was released as a single and became a UK top 30 hit that same year. There followed two more hits , in 1970 with ‘Till’ and Dorothy’s version of ‘My Way’ spending 23-weeks on the charts (the only female artist to have a hit record with the song, despite very many other artists versions). The single was helped when Dorothy’s profile leapt in 1971 with her hiring The London Palladium to produce her own show and it was a resounding success. From this also resulted the first live At The London Palladium album on President. A second was added when Dorothy repeated the performance later in the year.
Major concert and cabaret appearances continued through the 1970’s and 1980’s as Dorothy retained a huge and loyal following.