Webster Booth
| Webster Booth | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
Leslie Webster Booth 21 January 1902 Handsworth, West Midlands, England |
| Died | 21 June 1984 (aged 82) Penrhyn Bay, Wales |
| Known for | Oratorio, opera, musical comedy, ballads, duets |
| Spouse(s) | Winifred Keey (m. 1924; div. 1931), Dorothy Annie Alice 'Paddy' Prior (m. 1932; div. 1938), Irene Frances Eastwood 'Anne Ziegler' (m. 1938) |
| Children | Keith Leslie Booth, 12 June 1925 |
| Parent(s) | Edwin & Sarah Booth (neé Webster) |
Webster Booth (21 January 1902 – 21 June 1984) was an English tenor, best remembered as the duettist partner of Anne Ziegler. He was also one of the finest tenors of his generation and was a distinguished oratorio soloist.
He was a chorister at Lincoln Cathedral (1911–1915) and made his professional stage debut with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, where he performed from 1923 to 1927. He made his West End Debut in The Three Musketeers in 1930. He began recording for HMV in 1929 and made over 500 solo recordings and many duet recordings with Anne Ziegler. He and Ziegler embarked on their famous duettist variety act in 1940. They starred in three musical plays, "The Vagabond King" (1943), "Sweet Yesterday" (1945) and toured in "And so to Bed" (1953–1954) and appeared in several musical films in the 1940s. They made frequent broadcasts together. In 1948 they went on a successful concert tour of New Zealand and Australia.
When musical tastes changed in the 1950s they decided to emigrate to South Africa in 1956 where they continued their stage work as well as teaching singing in their Johannesburg studio. They returned to the United Kingdom in 1978 where they broadcast on BBC radio, appeared on television in the Russell Harty Show and made personal appearances throughout the United Kingdom in "An Evening with Anne Ziegler and Webster Booth". Booth died on 21 June 1984 at the age of 82.
Born Leslie Webster Booth at 157 Soho Road, Handsworth, Staffordshire, on 21 January 1902, he was the youngest of the six children of hairdresser, Edwin Booth and his wife, Sarah (née Webster). Booth joined his two older brothers in the choir of St. Mary's, the local parish church, and at the suggestion of the choir master, Arthur Guest-Smith, did a voice test at Lincoln Cathedral and joined the choir there at the age of nine, receiving a fine musical training under organist and choirmaster G. J. Bennett, and a free education at the choir school. His voice broke at the age of thirteen, so he returned home to do a commercial course at Aston Commercial, now known as Holte Grammar Commercial School, to fulfil his parents' wish that he should become an accountant.
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