Posts Tagged ‘Acker Bilk dies’
Acker Bilk dies aged 85
Written by admin on November 3, 2014 – 2:01 pm -Legendary clarinettist, Acker Bilk, died yesterday afternoon (2 Nov) at Bath’s Royal United Hospital. He was 85.
The trad jazz star will be best remembered for his worldwide smash hit “Stranger on the Shore,” which would become the biggest-selling instrumental single of all time.
Born Bernard Stanley Bilk in Pensford, Somerset on 28 January 1929, he acquired the name Acker (Somerset slang for friend) while in the army. It was also while in the army that he began playing the clarinet seriously. After demobilisation, he began playing with jazz bands in Bristol and would form the Chew Valley Jazzmen band in the early 1950s. After playing the London jazz circuit, the band, now renamed the Bristol Paramount Jazz Band, toured Germany for six months and acquired their distinctive image, with bowler hats and striped waistcoats.
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