Vera Lynn

"There'll be bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover, tomorrow - just you wait and see."

Dame Vera Lynn, DBE (20 March 1917 - ), is, quite simply, the original, iconic Glamorous Wartime Singer. Known as "The Forces' Sweetheart", she hosted a radio programme, Sincerely Yours, during World War II, and songs like "There'll Always Be An England", "We'll Meet Again", and "The White Cliffs of Dover" still evoke The Home Front all over the world. Her hopeful, yearning ballads perfectly captured the spirit of the boys overseas, and she became a symbol of what those lonely men were fighting for.

She announced her retirement just months after the end of the war, but eventually returned to music and topped the charts multiple times during subsequent decades. She remains one of the last wartime icons still living. In 2009, We'll Meet Again: The Very Best of Vera Lynn topped the UK Albums Chart, making Dame Vera the oldest person to have a number 1 hit in the UK or anywhere else. In 2017, she became the first centenarian to make the Top 20, when her album Vera Lynn 100 charted at number 3 on the UK Albums Chart. Since she had three singles on the very first singles chart, this makes Dame Vera "the only artist to have a chart span on the British single and album charts reaching from the chart's inception to the 21st century", according to Wikipedia.

She is also familiar to many rock fans from Pink Floyd's classic Rock Opera, The Wall, with the song "Vera Lynn," "Anybody here remember Vera Lynn?..."

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