Josef Locke

Josef Locke (23 March 1917 - 15 October 1999) was the stage name of Joseph McLaughlin, an Irish tenor. He was successful in the United Kingdom and Ireland in the 1940s and 1950s.

Born in Derry, Northern Ireland, he was the son of a butcher and cattle dealer, and one of nine children. He started singing in local churches in the Bogside at the age of seven, and as a teenager added two years to his age to enlist in the Irish Guards, later serving abroad with the Palestine Police Force, before returning in the late 1930s to join the Royal Ulster Constabulary.

Known as The Singing Bobby, he became a local celebrity before starting to work the UK variety circuit, where he played nineteen seasons in the northern English seaside resort of Blackpool. The renowned Irish tenor John McCormack (1884–1945) advised him that his voice was better suited to a lighter repertoire than the operatic one he had in mind, and urged him to find an agent—thus he found the noted impresario Jack Hylton (1892–1965) who booked him, but couldn't fit his full name on the bill, thus Joseph McLaughlin became Josef Locke.

He made his first radio broadcast in 1949, and subsequently appeared on television programmes such as Rooftop Rendezvous, Top of the Town, All-star Bill and The Frankie Howerd Show. He was signed to the Columbia label in 1947, and his first releases were the two Italian songs "Santa Lucia" and "Come Back to Sorrento".

In 1947, too, Locke released Hear My Song, Violetta, which became forever associated with him. Hear My Song, Violetta was based on a 1936 tango Hör' mein Lied, Violetta by Othmar Klose (13 October 1889-24 January 1970) and Rudolf Lukesch. The song Hör' mein Lied, Violetta was often covered, including by Peter Alexander and was itself based on Giuseppe Verdis La traviata. His other songs were mostly a mixture of ballads associated with Ireland such as I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen, Dear Old Donegal, Galway Bay, The Isle of Innisfree (the theme song from the film The Quiet Man), and another Dick Farrelly song, The Rose of Slievenamon, excerpts from operettas including The Drinking song from The Student Prince, My Heart and I from Richard Tauber's operetta Old Chelsea, and Goodbye from The White Horse Inn, along with familiar favourites such as I'll walk beside you, Come Back to Sorrento and Cara Mia.

...
Wikipedia