Skiffle is a genre of folk music with influences from American folk music, blues, country, bluegrass, and jazz, generally performed with a mixture of manufactured and homemade or improvised instruments. Originating as a form in the United States in the first half of the 20th century, it became extremely popular in United Kingdom in the 1950s, where it was played by such artists as Lonnie Donegan, The Vipers Skiffle Group, Ken Colyer, and Chas McDevitt. Skiffle was a major part of the early careers of some musicians who later became prominent jazz, pop, blues, folk, and rock performers, The Quarrymen and Rory Gallagher among them. It has been seen as a critical stepping stone to the second British folk revival, the British blues boom, and the British Invasion of American popular music.
Anthony James Donegan, known as Lonnie Donegan, was a British skiffle singer, songwriter and musician, referred to as the "King of Skiffle", who influenced 1960s British pop and rock musicians. Born in Scotland and brought up in England, Donegan began his career in the British trad jazz revival but transitioned to skiffle in the mid-1950s, rising to prominence with a hit recording of the American folk song "Rock Island Line" which helped spur the broader UK skiffle movement.
Petula Clark CBE is a British singer, actress, and songwriter. She has had one of the longest careers of any British singer, spanning more than eight decades.
Peter Murray James,, known professionally as Pete Murray, is a British radio and television presenter and actor. He is known for his career with the BBC including stints on the Light Programme, Radio 1, Radio 2 and Radio 4. In the 1950s, Murray became one of Britain's first pop music television presenters, hosting the rock and roll programme Six-Five Special (1957–1958) and appearing as a regular panellist on Juke Box Jury (1959–1967). He was a recurring presence in the BBC's coverage of the Eurovision Song Contest. Murray returned to broadcasting for a Boom Radio special on Boxing Day 2021, over 70 years after his career began. He returned to the station on Boxing Day 2022 where he presented a two-hour show alongside his friend, David Hamilton.
Pye Records was a British record label. Its best known artists were Lonnie Donegan (1956–1969), Petula Clark (1957–1971), the Searchers (1963–1967), the Kinks (1964–1971), Sandie Shaw (1964–1971), Status Quo (1968–1971) and Brotherhood of Man (1975–1979). The label changed its name to PRT Records in 1980, before being briefly reactivated as Pye Records in 2006.
Juke Box Jury was a music panel show which ran on BBC Television between 1 June 1959 and 27 December 1967. The programme was based on the American show Jukebox Jury, itself an offshoot of a long-running radio series. The American series, which was televised, aired from 1953 to 1959 and was hosted by Peter Potter, Suzanne Alexander, Jean Moorhead, and Lisa Davis.
John Franklin Duncan was an American bluegrass and skiffle musician. He became popular in Britain in 1957 with "Last Train to San Fernando", which reached number two in the UK Singles Chart.
Alan Albert Freeman, known professionally as Alan A. Freeman was an English record producer, remembered for being Petula Clark's producer from 1949 until 1963, when his role was taken over by Tony Hatch. Freeman founded the independent Polygon label and worked for its successor labels, Pye Nixa and Pye. He also produced number 1 hits by Lonnie Donegan.
Jack Good was a British television producer, musical theatre producer, record producer, musician and painter of icons. As a television producer, he was responsible for the early popular music shows Six-Five Special, Oh Boy!, Boy Meets Girls and Wham!!, the first UK teenage music programmes. Good managed some of the UK's first rock and roll stars, including Tommy Steele, Marty Wilde, Billy Fury, Jess Conrad and Cliff Richard.
Bear Family Records is a Germany-based independent record label, that specializes in reissues of archival material, ranging from country music to 1950s rock and roll to old German movie soundtracks.
Oh Boy! was the first teenage all-music show on British TV, airing in 1958 and 1959. It was produced by Jack Good for ITV.
Terry and Gerry are a British pop band, originally formed in the early 1980s by Terry Lilley and Gerry Colvin in Birmingham, England. Unusually for the time the band was based on a skiffle sound, making use of a washboard for percussion instead of a drum kit. Terry Lilley plays double bass, and Gerry Colvin sings lead vocals and plays acoustic guitar.
Charles James McDevitt is a Scottish musician, one of the leading lights of the skiffle genre which was highly influential and popular in the United Kingdom in the mid-to-late 1950s.
John Stanley Livingstone Harris was a Scottish composer, producer, arranger, conductor, and musical director. He lived in the United States from 1972 until his death.
"Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour " is a novelty song by Lonnie Donegan. Released as a single in 1959, it entered the UK Singles Chart on 6 February 1959 and peaked at number three. It was also Donegan's greatest chart success in the United States, reaching number five on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1961.
Saturday Club was an influential BBC Radio programme in the United Kingdom, broadcast on the BBC Light Programme and later BBC Radio 1 between 1957 and 1969. It was one of the earliest – and for several years almost the only – radio programme in the country to broadcast pop music. Its longest-serving and best remembered host was Brian Matthew.
"Grand Coulee Dam" is an American folk song recorded in 1941 by Woody Guthrie.
Ken Sykora , born Charles Kenneth Sykora, was an English jazz guitarist and radio presenter.
Stanley Dale's National Skiffle Contest toured the United Kingdom over 1957 and 1958. Headlined by the Vipers Skiffle Group and compèred by teen idol Jim Dale, the shows were based around a battle of the bands between local skiffle groups at each venue, with an advance to a promised television appearance for the winning acts. Twenty-one of the amateur groups appeared on the BBC's pop music programme Six-Five Special from February to August 1958. The final three competitors were the Woodlanders of Plymouth, the Saxons of Barking and the Double Three of Bury St Edmunds. No winner was officially announced.
