Donald Peers

Donald Peers (10 July 1908 – 9 August 1973) was a popular Welsh singer. His best remembered rendition and signature song was "In a Shady Nook by a Babbling Brook".

He was born Donald Rhys Hubert Peers in the Welsh mining town of Ammanford. His father was a colliery worker and a prominent member of the Plymouth Brethren who disapproved of the variety theatre, and never heard or saw his son work. Peer's family were hoping he would become a schoolteacher, but he had other ambitions and left home at the age of sixteen.

Peers travelled around the country working as a house painter and, for a time, went to sea as a mess steward on ships. He met his wife in 1930 in Richmond, North Yorkshire and they had a daughter Sheila in 1931. He joined a dance band as a singer and continued his day job as a painter. His first BBC Radio broadcast took place on 17 December 1927, with the popular comedy duo, Clapham and Dwyer. One of his songs he sang was, "In a Shady Nook by a Babbling Brook", which became his most requested song and, later, his signature tune. His London debut took place in a revue at the Bedford Theatre in 1929. He struggled on until 1933 when, after an appearance on the BBC Music Hall programme, he got a recording contract with HMV Records.

In 1940 Peers enlisted in the Royal Army Service Corps as a clerk, where he served until D-Day in 1944, when he was invalided out. When in service, he entertained his fellow troops in shows. In 1944 he recorded "In a Shady Nook by a Babbling Brook", written by E.G. Nelson and Harry Pease in 1927. Other 1940s recordings included "I Can't Begin To Tell You", "Bow Bells", "Far Away Places", "On The 5.45" (a vocal version of "Twelfth Street Rag", with lyrics by Andy Razaf), "Powder Your Face With Sunshine" (one of his biggest successes), "Lavender Blue (Dilly Dilly)", "A Strawberry Moon (In A Blueberry Sky)", "Everywhere You Go", "Clancy Lowered the Boom", "It Happened in Adano", "A Rose in a Garden of Weeds", "I'll String Along with You" and "Down in the Glen".

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