Friday, April 21, 1978
The Chronicle-Herald The Mail-Star

Tickets for performances of Dame Vera Lynn, tonight and tomorrow at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium, Dalhousie University Arts Centre have been sold out now for nearly two months.

Hopeful members of the public are still being turned away from the box office empty-handed, according to staff of the concert hall.

The Sweetheart of the Troops will headline the shows but share the program with Bucky Adams, a popular Halifax jazz saxophonist who will set the mood for Dame Vera's appearance with a nostalgic selection of music from the 1940's.  The Bill Wallace Quartet, a group of Halifax musicians will provide the back-up for both performers.

Dame Vera's appearance in Halifax follows a two-day engagement in St. John's, Nfld. at the Arts and Cultural Centre.  After performances in Halifax she will leave for Britain to continue her present series of television shows for BBC two.

The native of London's East End began her singing career at seven years of age and by 15, she had her own dance troupe.  her career became more promising after three years of performances with the Ambrose Orchestra, one of the major dance orchestras of the period.

Afterwards she became a solo artist and did three weeks variety, for which she got a star role in the show Applesauce at the Holborn Empire with Max Miller and Florence Desmond.  During the show's run she started a weekly broadcast series.  Sincerely Yours, which brought her nation-wide success.

She was voted number one, exceeding the popularity of Bing Crosby and Judy Garland, by an enthusiastic British public in a Daily Express Newspaper poll.

In 1944 she went to Burma to entertain troops and following a short retirement after the birth of her daughter she starred on both sides of the Atlantic and played for two years in the United States at the Adelphi Theatre.  During her appearances there she recorded the hit song Auf Wiedersehn.

With the advent of the British commercial television she starred in Vera Lynn Sings on the BBC.

She has appeared all over Europe, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Canada - completed seven Command Performances, had her own disc jockey show, and done a series of television programs for BBC two in the past seven years.

She received the OBE in 1969 and the DBE in 1975.

Bucky Adam's musical career began in the early 1950s when he played saxophone with the band of his father, the late Charlie Adams.  Three years ago, Bucky Adams formed his own group and released an album last year.  He has played with Louis Armstrong, Lionel Hampton, Warren Chaisson, Moe Kaufman and BB King.

The Bill Wallace Quartet includes Bill Wallace, organ; Terry Forrester, bass; Ted MacMichael, drums and Dean Naugler, guitar.