Radio programme, Sincerely Yours, sending messages to British troops serving abroad. In 1941, during the darkest days of the Second World War, Lynn began her own In 1939, during the Phoney War, the Daily Express asked British servicemen to name their favourite musical performers: Vera Lynn came out on top and as a result became known as 'the Forces' Sweetheart'. In 1937, she moved to the aristocrat of British dance bands, Bert Ambrose. After a short stint with Loss she stayed with Kunz for a few years during which she recorded several standard musical pieces. This label was absorbed by Decca Records in 1938. In 1936 her first solo record was released on the Crown label, "Up the Wooden Hill to Bedfordshire".
At this point she was being featured on records released by dance bands including those of Loss and of Charlie Kunz. Her first radio broadcast, with the Joe Loss Orchestra, was in 1935. When she began performing publicly at the age of seven, she adopted her grandmother's maiden name (Lynn) as her stage name. Vera Lynn was born Vera Margaret Welch on 20 March 1917 in East Ham, in what was then the county of Essex, now East London. "There'll be Blue Birds over the White Cliffs of Dover", a Vera's most popular song was "We'll Meet Again", however sheĪlso put Dover firmly on the cultural map with her spirit-lifting ballad Morale-boosting songs were a favourite among all British servicemen. In London in 1917, Vera Lynn started her singing career as a young girlĪnd became one of the most famous voices of World WarīBC radio show called "Sincerely Yours" from 1939, and her