  bernard stanley "acker" bilk mbe (28 january 1929&nbsp;â 2 november 2014) was an english clarinettist and vocalist known for his appearance â goatee, bowler hat and striped waistcoat â and breathy, vibrato-rich, lower-register clarinet style. bilk's 1962 instrumental tune "stranger on the shore" became the uk's biggest selling single of 1962: it was in the uk charts for more than 50 weeks, peaked at number two, and was the first no. 1 single in the united states by a british artist in the era of the modern billboard hot 100 pop chart."acker bilk 'fed up' with stranger on the shore". bbc. retrieved 2 november 2014 ==early life== bilk was born in pensford, somerset, in 1929. he earned the nickname "acker" from the somerset slang for "friend" or "mate". his parents tried to teach him the piano, but, as a boy, bilk found it restricted his love of outdoor activities, including football. he lost two front teeth in a school fight and half a finger in a sledging accident, both of which he claimed affected his eventual clarinet style. on leaving school bilk joined the workforce of w.d. & h.o. wills's cigarette factory in bristol; he stayed there for three years, putting tobacco in the cooling room and then pushing tobacco through a blower. he then undertook three years of national service with the [[royal engineers
1929_births 2014_deaths Atco_Records_artists Blacksmiths Dixieland_clarinetists English_expatriates_in_Germany English_jazz_clarinetists English_jazz_musicians Members_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire Musicians_from_Somerset People_from_Bath_and_North_East_Somerset Royal_Engineers_soldiers Scrumpy_and_Western