Eve Boswell (born Éva Keleti; 11 May 1922 – 14 August 1998), was a Hungarian born South African pop singer. With the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Eva's family moved to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, where they worked with the Boswell Circus. After a few years in South Africa during which she got married, Eve was offered a temporary contract to work with a band in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Eve's success with that contract eventually led to her becoming a popular solo singer in Britain in the 1950s.

Career

Éva Keleti was born in Hungary to professional musician parents who toured worldwide. Educated in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, she studied piano before joining her parents on tour as the juggling act, Three Hugos. When the

was declared, the family left

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

with the Boswell Circus. She married, and as Eve Boswell became a popular singing

star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

. In 1949, she was heard by bandleader Geraldo ( Gerald Bright), who persuaded her to return to Britain as a singer in his band, which was widely heard on

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

. Boswell was the singing voice of Vera-Ellen in the 1951 British film '' Happy Go Lovely''. She parted with Geraldo in 1951, and launched a solo career. Her first

hit record A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single, or simply hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record'' ...

came the following year with " Sugar Bush", partly sung in

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

. Starting in March 1952, she toured for several months with comedian Derek Roy in a musical revue "Happy-Go-Lucky", before flying to Korea to entertain the armed forces. In 1953, she was with Harry Secombe in "Show of Shows" at Blackpool Opera House. She was given her own radio show on the BBC's Light programme called "Time to Dream" in October, 1953, and she appeared in the 1953

Royal Variety Performance The ''Royal Variety Performance'' is a televised variety show held annually in the United Kingdom to raise money for the Royal Variety Charity (of which King Charles III is life-patron). It is attended by senior members of the British royal ...

at the London Coliseum. Boswell played alongside Tommy Cooper in "Happy and Glorious" and later with him in pantomime in 1954 in "Humpty Dumpty" at the Dudley Hippodrome. Her major

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

hit came with "Pickin' a Chicken", a South African tune with new words, which rose to No. 9 on the UK Singles Chart at the start of 1956. Her first LP, ''Sugar and Spice'', on which she sang 10 songs in nine different languages, followed later in the year. A continuous programme of radio and TV work and tours followed, leading to more than one mental breakdown. She faded from public view as public tastes for pop music changed through the late 1950s and 1960s. Her husband died in 1970, and she opened her own singing studio in London called “Studio 9” in 1974. Some years later she returned to South Africa, where she married the radio producer Henry Holloway, who produced her last LP, ''It's a Breeze'', made in 1979.

Discography

Albums

*1956 ''Sugar and Spice'' (

Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1923 as the Parloph ...

) *1957 ''Sentimental Eve'' (Parlophone, with the Reg Owen Orchestra) *1958 ''The War Years'' (

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

, with the Reg Owen Orchestra) *1959 ''Following the Sun Around'' (

) *1961 ''At the Mediterranean'' (South Africa) (Continental Records) *1962 ''Goeie Nuus! Good News'' (South Africa) (Brigadiers) *1976 ''Sugar Bush '76'' (

EMI Records EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a British multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company EMI in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succes ...

) *1979 ''It's a Breeze'' (Sugarbush Records)

Singles

*1949 "Confidentially" (with Geraldo and his orchestra) *1950 " Dear Hearts and Gentle People" (with Geraldo and his orchestra) *1950 " I Can Dream, Can't I?" / "Mamma Knows Best" *1950 " Bewitched" / If I Loved You *1950 "Your Heart and My Heart" / "I Remember the Cornfields" *1950 "Beloved, Be Faithful" / "Yes! I'll Be There" *1950 " All My Love" *1951 " My Heart Cries for You" / "All My Life" *1951 "Transatlantic Lullaby" /" "Broken Heart" *1951 "Would You" / "I'm in Love Again" *1951 " I'll Be Around" / "The Way That the Wind Blows" *1952 "We Won't Live in a Castle" / "

Paradise In religion and folklore, paradise is a place of everlasting happiness, delight, and bliss. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical, eschatological, or both, often contrasted with the miseries of human ...

" *1952 " Please, Mr. Sun" / "Love's Last Word Is Spoken" *1952 " Sugar Bush" / " I'm Yours" *1952 " Here in My Heart" / "I Ain't Gonna Marry" *1952 "Old Johnnie Goggabee" / "Your Mother and Mine" *1953 " Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo" / " Everything I Have Is Yours" *1953 " I Believe" / "Tell Me You're Mine" *1953 " If You Love Me (I Won't Care)" / Why? *1953 "A Million Stars" / "Don't Ever Leave Me" *1954 "Crystal Ball" / "Romany Violin" *1954 " Bewitched" / "Playing with Fire" *1954 "Du Bist Mein Liebchen" / " The Little Shoemaker" *1954 "Skokiaan" / "On the Waterfront" *1955 "These Are the Things We'll Share" / *1955 " Ready, Willing, and Able" / "Pam-Poo-Dey" *1955 "The Heart You Break" / "Tika Tika Tok" *1955 "Pickin' A-Chicken" / " Blue Star (The "Medic" Theme)" *1956 " Young and Foolish" / "Where You Are" *1956 " It's Almost Tomorrow" / "Cookie" *1956 "Keeping Cool with Lemonade" / "Down By the Sugar Cane" *1956 "Sarie Marais" / "Come Back My Love" *1956 " True Love" / "Where in the World Is Billy?" *1957 "Rock Bobbin' Boats" / "Tra La La" *1957 " Chantez, Chantez" / "She Said" *1957 "With All My Heart" / "Sugar Candy" *1957 "Stop Whistlin' Wolf" / " The Gypsy in My Soul" *1957 "Swedish Polka" / Tell My Love *1958 "Bobby" / " (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons" *1958 "I Do" / "Love Me Again" *1958 "Voom - Ba - Voom" / " Left Right Out of My Heart" *1958 " More Than Ever" / " I Know Why" *1958 "The Christmas Tree" / "Christmas Lullaby" *1959 "Piccaninny" / "If I Had a Talking Picture of You" *1959 " Wimoweh Cha Cha" / "Boegoeberg Se Dam" *1959 "Once Again" / "You Are Never Far Away from Me" *1959 "Turnabout Heart" / "

Misty In cryptography, MISTY1 (or MISTY-1) is a block cipher designed in 1995 by Mitsuru Matsui and others for Mitsubishi Electric. MISTY1 is one of the selected algorithms in the European NESSIE project, and has been among the cryptographic tech ...

" *1962 "Love Me" / " You're My Thrill" *1963 "Never Too Late" / "Let's Get Away" *1969 "This Is My Love" / "Lonely in a Crowd" *1974 "One God" / "Love Song" *1976 "Sugar Bush '76" / "This Time"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boswell, Eve Traditional pop music singers Musicians from Budapest 1922 births 1998 deaths 20th-century British women singers Hungarian expatriates in Switzerland Hungarian emigrants Hungarian emigrants to South Africa Immigrants to the United Kingdom 20th-century South African women singers