Singer. He was a popular African-born British singer and jazz guitarist, of the first half of the 20th century. He was often compared to the American crooner Bing Crosby although Al Bowlly very much had his own style. Born in the Portuguese Mozambique to a Greek father and a Lebanese mother, he had his childhood in Johannesburg, South Africa. In the early 1920's, he joined as a singer the dance band of Edgar Adler, touring Rhodesia, East Africa, India, Malaya, and Java. While in Java, he left the band following an on-stage brawl with Adeler. During the late 1920's, he worked with the Jimmy Lequime Orchestra before joining Edgar again in Germany. While in Berlin, he made his first vocal recording, "Song of the Wanderer," in October of 1927 with the African-American bandleader Arthur Briggs Savoy's Syncopators. He later made his first solo recording "Blue Skies" on August 18, 1928. In July of 1928, Bowlly came to London to join Fred Elizalde, although they would disband in 1930, which reduced Bowlly to singing on a street corner for an income. Over the next decade, Bowlly performed with the Ray Noble's New Mayfair Dance Orchestra, Roy Fox and his Band, Lew Stone's Band, Radio City Rhythm Makers and Geraldo. In 1937, after the separation from his wife, he traveled to the United States in hope of furthering his career, but lost his voice. A mass was found in his larynx, which was removed. He soon returned to England. The outbreak of World War II in 1939 curtailed most band opportunities yet in 1940 he formed "The Radio Stars with Two Guitars" with Jimmy Mesene, a well-known guitarist, vocalist and composer of the 1930s and early 1940s. Their musical skills were excellent, yet neither had great management skills. He was best man at Mesene's wedding. On April 2, 1941 the two men recorded "When That Man is Dead and Done," in a satirical testimonial to the Nazi Dictator Adolph Hitler. Their last performance was at the Rex Theatre in High Wycombe. After this last show, he returned to London for a follow-up appointment with his physician as his throat had been troubling him after the previous throat surgery in the United States. He returned to his flat in Dukes Court, Piccadilly as London was suffering one of its heaviest air raids. Instead of taking cover in the air raid shelter, he ignored the warning and remained sitting in his bed reading a cowboy book. In the wee hours of the morning, a Nazi bomb came silently down and exploded in the street outside his window. After the "all-clear" had been signaled, the caretaker made his rounds to see that everyone was all right. Entering Bowlly's apartment, the caretaker found Bowlly dead in bed, killed outright by the blast from the bomb. Buried in a mass grave at Hanwell Cemetery with other bombing victims, he is listed in the documents as "Albert Alex Bowlly." Al Bowlly's work can be heard even into the 21st century. He can be heard singing "Midnight, the Stars and You" and "It's All Forgotten Now" on Stanley Kubrick's 1980 horror film classic "The Shining" and the title song for the 1993 to 2016 BBC television comedy series "Goodnight, Sweetheart." He married twice: the first marriage in December of 1931 ended in his wife's sudden death. He remarried in December of 1934 to Marjie Fairless, who became his widow. His fame came long after his death. In November of 2013, an English Heritage blue plaque was installed at Bowlly's home at Charing Cross Mansion in London.