Joshua Alexander "Joe" Loss (22 June 1909 – 6 June 1990) was a

British dance band British dance band is a genre of popular jazz and dance music that developed in British dance halls and hotel ballrooms during the 1920s and 1930s, often called a Golden Age of British music, prior to the Second World War. Thousands of miles awa ...

leader and musician who founded his own

eponym An eponym is a noun after which or for which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. Adjectives derived from the word ''eponym'' include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''. Eponyms are commonly used for time periods, places, innovati ...

ous orchestra.

Life

Loss was born in

Spitalfields Spitalfields () is an area in London, England and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in East London and situated in the East End of London, East End. Spitalfields is formed around Commercial Street, London, Commercial Stre ...

, London, the youngest of four children. His parents, Israel and Ada Loss, were

Russian Jews The history of the Jews in Russia and areas historically connected with it goes back at least 1,500 years. Jews in Russia have historically constituted a large religious and ethnic diaspora; the Russian Empire at one time hosted the largest po ...

and first cousins. His father was a cabinet-maker who had an office furnishing business. Loss attended the

Jews' Free School JFS (formerly known as the Jews' Free School and later Jewish Free School) is a Jewish mixed comprehensive school in Kenton, North London, England, and was founded in 1732. Amongst its early supporters was the writer and philanthropist Char ...

Trinity College of Music Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance is a music, dance, and musical theatre conservatoire based in South East London. It was formed in 2005 as a merger of two older institutions – Trinity College of Music and Laban Dance Centre. Trini ...

and the

London College of Music London College of Music (LCM) is a music school in London, England. It is one of eight separate schools that make up the University of West London. History LCM was founded in 1887 and existed as an independent music conservatoire based at ...

(now part of the

University of West London The University of West London (UWL) is a public research university in the United Kingdom with campuses in Ealing, Brentford, and Reading, Berkshire. The university has roots in 1860 when the Lady Byron School was founded, later Ealing Colleg ...

). He started violin lessons at the age of seven and later played violin at the Tower Ballroom,

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

and also with Oscar Rabin. Loss started band leading in the early 1930s, working at the Astoria Ballroom and soon breaking into variety at the

Kit-Cat Club The Kit-Cat Club (sometimes Kit Kat Club) was an early 18th-century English club in London with strong political and literary associations. Members of the club were committed Whigs (British political party), Whigs. They met at the Trumpet Tavern ...

. In 1934, he topped the bill at the Holborn Empire but in the same year moved back to the Astoria Ballroom where he led a twelve piece band. In 1935,

Vera Lynn Dame Vera Margaret Lynn (; 20 March 1917 – 18 June 2020) was an English singer and entertainer whose musical recordings and performances were very popular during World War II. She is Honorific nicknames in popular music, honorifically known ...

appeared with the Joe Loss Orchestra in her first radio broadcast. With broadcasting, recording and annual tours in addition to the resident work the band became highly popular over the next few years. In the 1950s and early 60s, Loss was resident band leader at the

Hammersmith Palais The Hammersmith Palais de Danse, in its last years simply named Hammersmith Palais, was a dance hall and entertainment venue in Hammersmith, London, England that operated from 1919 until 2007. It was the first ''palais de danse'' to be built ...

and was remembered by a trainee nurse at Hammersmith Hospital as being as kind and gentlemanly when she attended him in hospital as he was in his public persona. His band's signature tune "

In the Mood "In the Mood" is a popular big band-era jazz standard recorded by Americans, American bandleader Glenn Miller. "In the Mood" is based on the composition "Tar Paper Stomp" by Wingy Manone. The first recording under the name "In the Mood" was re ...

" would often be requested three or more times a night. He was the subject of '' This Is Your Life'' on two occasions: in May 1963 when he was surprised by

Eamonn Andrews Eamonn Andrews, (19 December 1922 – 5 November 1987) was an Irish radio and television presenter, employed primarily in the United Kingdom from the 1950s to the 1980s. From 1960 to 1964 he chaired the Radio Éireann Authority (now the RTÉ ...

at the

in London, and again in October 1980, when Andrews surprised him at London's Portman Hotel during a star-studded party to celebrate Loss' 50 years in show business. A favourite of the

British royal family The British royal family comprises Charles III and other members of his family. There is no strict legal or formal definition of who is or is not a member, although the Royal Household has issued different lists outlining who is considere ...

, Loss' orchestra performed not only at

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 ...

s but also at Christmas parties hosted by the royal family, which earned Loss not only the

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

but also the LVO, an honour in the personal gift of the Queen. Loss' daughter

Jennifer Jennifer or Jenifer may refer to: People *Jennifer (given name) * Jenifer (singer), French pop singer *Jennifer Warnes, American singer who formerly used the stage name Jennifer * Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer * Daniel Jenifer Film and televisi ...

is chair of the Jewish Music Institute in London and was married to the British car designer Robert Jankel. Loss died on 6 June 1990 and is buried at

Bushey Bushey is a town in the Hertsmere borough of Hertfordshire in the East of England. It had a population of 25,328 in the 2011 census, rising to 28,416 in the 2021 census, an increase of 12.19%. This makes Bushey the second most populated town ...

Jewish Cemetery in Hertfordshire.

Joe Loss Orchestra

The Joe Loss Orchestra was one of the most successful acts of the

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...

era in the 1940s, with hits including "In the Mood". In 1961, they had a hit with "Wheels—Cha Cha", a version of

the String-A-Longs The String-A-Longs were an American instrumental group from Plainview, Texas, United States. The band consisted of Richard Stephens and Jimmy Torres alternating lead guitars, Keith McCormack on rhythm guitar, Aubrey de Cordova, bass guitar and Do ...

' hit "

Wheels A wheel is a rotating component (typically circular in shape) that is intended to turn on an axle bearing. The wheel is one of the key components of the wheel and axle which is one of the six simple machines. Wheels, in conjunction with axl ...

". Other hits included David Rose's "

The Stripper "The Stripper" is an instrumental composed by David Rose, recorded in 1958 and released four years later. It evinces a jazz influence with especially prominent trombone slides, and evokes the feel of music used to accompany striptease artis ...

" in 1958, "Sucu Sucu", "Must Be Madison", "The Theme from Maigret" and "March of the Mods (The Finnjenka Dance)" of 1964. In April 1951, Elizabeth Batey, vocalist with Joe Loss, fell and broke her jaw. Joe was badly in need of a replacement and remembered hearing

Rose Brennan Rose Brennan (born 1 January 1931) is an Irish singer. She is best known for a long spell with the Joe Loss orchestra in the 1950s and 1960s. Early life Rose Brennan was born in Cabra West, a suburb of Dublin, Ireland. At age sixteen she started ...

on radio during a visit to Ireland. Within days, he had located her and, before a week was out, she was in Manchester rehearsing with the band. She stayed with Loss for fifteen years, before giving up show-business in the mid-1960s. She wrote many of the songs she recorded with Joe Loss under the name Marella, and co-wrote songs with John Harris. Her co-vocalists with the orchestra from 1955 were

Ross MacManus Ronald Patrick Ross McManus (20 October 1927 – 24 November 2011), known as Ross MacManus, was an English musician, singer and trumpet player of Irish descent. He performed with Joe Loss and his orchestra. He was the father of Elvis Costello ( ...

(father of

Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, author and television host. According to ''Rolling Stone'', Costello "reinvigorated the literate, lyrical ...

)Don Wicks: The Ballad Years. 1996 and Larry Gretton. The Joe Loss Orchestra carries on under the musical direction of Todd Miller, who was a vocalist with the band for 19 years before Loss' death. In 1989, Joe Loss became too ill to travel and in 1990 he entrusted the leadership to his longest serving band member, trombonist and player-manager of many decades, Sam Watmough, and Miller. The orchestra has been in constant operation since 1930 and in 2015 it celebrated its 85th anniversary. Specialist dance band radio stations continue to play his records. Joe Loss also features regularly on the

Manx Radio Manx Radio (legally Radio Manx Ltd.) () is the national commercial radio station for the Isle of Man. It began broadcasting on 29 June 1964, almost ten years before legal commercial radio was licensed in the United Kingdom. The Isle of Man, hav ...

programme ''Sweet & Swing'', presented by Howard Caine.

References

* Oxford ''

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

External links

* *
Bio at 45rpm.org.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Loss, Joe 1909 births 1990 deaths 20th-century English musicians Alumni of Trinity College of Music Alumni of the University of West London British bandleaders Columbia Records artists Dance band bandleaders English people of Russian-Jewish descent Musicians from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at JFS (school) People from Spitalfields