Ray Noble

Raymond Stanley "Ray" Noble (17 December 1903 – 2 April 1978) was an English jazz and big band musician, who was a bandleader, composer and arranger, as well as a radio host, television and film comedian and actor; he also performed in the United States. Noble wrote both lyrics and music for many popular songs during the British dance band era, known as the "Golden Age of British music", notably for his longtime friend and associate Al Bowlly, including "Love Is the Sweetest Thing", "Cherokee", "The Touch of Your Lips", "I Hadn't Anyone Till You", and his signature tune, "The Very Thought of You". Noble played a radio comedian opposite American ventriloquist Edgar Bergen's stage act of Mortimer Snerd and Charlie McCarthy, and American comedy duo Burns and Allen, later transferring these roles from radio to TV and popular films.
==Links to Peel==
As a listener to BBC dance band music shows hosted by the likes of Alan Dell and a collector of old records, Peel would sometimes play material by Ray Noble on his shows. 
Noble was one of the best-known bandleaders of his era and some of his songs had lasting appeal. "Love Is The Sweetest Thing", one of the major hits for Noble's featured singer Al Bowlly, was recorded in 1969 by Mary Hopkin for her debut LP Post Card, with arrangement and production by Paul McCartney , himself a fan of the dance band era (his father had led a dance band in Liverpool in the 1920s). A version of the song by Peter Skellern was released in the mid-1970s. Another of Noble's songs, "The Very Thought Of You", was also made famous by Al Bowlly and recorded by singers ranging from Billie Holiday to Norma Waterson, who used the song title to name the 1999 album on which her version appeared. 
Three tracks by Ray Noble's orchestra were chosen for the Peelenium. One of them, "Goodnight Sweetheart", was also the theme tune of a popular BBC TV time-travel comedy series of the 1990s. On his 24th August 1988 show, Peel played the Noble orchestra's 'You Ought To See Sally On Sunday' and mentioned at the end of the track that he imagined his dad, who had passed away in 1970, dancing to "these things" (i.e. British dance band records of the 1930s), which made him feel sad. In 2003 he played Noble's recording (again featuring a vocal by Al Bowlly) of "On A Steamer Coming Over", the song which had become one of his all-time favourites in the version by the Three Ginx.
==Shows Played==
;1988
*24 August 1988: You Ought To See Sally On Sunday (v/a LP - Dance Bands U.K.) BBC (JP: 'I always imagine me my dad dancing to these things, which makes me dead sad I must say')
;thumb|220x220px1994
*23 July 1994: You Ought To See Sally On Sunday
;1999
*27 July 1999: 'Goodnight Sweetheart' (Peelenium 1931)
*28 July 1999: 'Try A Little Tenderness' (Peelenium 1932)
*18 August 1999: 'Try A Little Tenderness' (Peelenium 1932)
;2000
*15 March 2000: Must It End Like This? (1932)
;2003
*16 January 2003: On A Steamer Coming Over (LP - HMV Sessions Volume 7, 1930-1933) Vocalion
==External Links==
*Wikipedia
*Discogs
Category:Artists