Anne Lenner
| Anne Lenner | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Violet Green |
| Born |
24 December 1912 Aylestone, Leicester, England |
| Died | 4 June 1997 (aged 84) Barnet, London, England |
| Genres | Traditional Pop |
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
| Years active | circa 1935–1950 |
Anne Lenner (1912–1997) was a popular English female vocalist, singing with the dance bands of the 1930s and 1940s. She is most closely associated with Carroll Gibbons and the Savoy Orpheans, a band who regularly played at the Savoy Hotel in London; she made many studio recordings with this band. The British bands played a softer version of the swing jazz popular in the USA during the 1930s and 1940s.
Lenner was born Violet Green on 24 December 1912, in Aylestone, Leicester. Her father was Arthur Green, a variety performer who adopted the stage name of Tom Lenner, and toured with his wife, Florence Wright, Anne's mother. Lenner attended school locally, at King Richard's Road school.
Lenner had five sisters: Florence (who became Judy Shirley), Maidie, Ida, Rosa (who used the stage name Sally Rose), and Ivy (who became Shirley Lenner, and had a successful career in show business, singing with Joe Loss among others). All the sisters followed their father into show business, apart from Maidie who married a property millionaire. Lenner also had two brothers, Herbert and Arthur. Herbert died at a young age, and Arthur went on to become a cobbler.
Lenner married a dance producer by the name of Piddock, whom she met while appearing in a review produced by him. They had one son Jeffrey, who went into show business under the name of Jeffrey Lenner. Jeffery was educated at Bedford School but ran away to join the Ice Follies, which came through town when he was in the 6th Form. Jeffrey found it difficult to obtain work after his return from Australia, where he had hosted his own television programme, and he was never able to emulate the success of his mother.
Lenner attended Brooklands motor racing circuit during the 1930s.
Around the outbreak of World War II, Lenner married for a second time, to up and coming actor Gordon Little, who was in the Navy stationed at Portsmouth. Lenner rented a house in Warsash, Hampshire, to be near her husband, who commanded a torpedo boat during the war, with the flotilla moored near Warsash. The couple hosted many parties in their home. Lenner and a friend, Eustace Hoey, opened the Ward Room, a club in Curzon Street, London especially for Gordon; so he and his Navy friends had somewhere to go on their visits to London. The marriage didn't last for long after the war. There were no children, and Lenner did not marry again.
...
Wikipedia