Ivor Moreton and Dave Kaye

David Kaye was born on 13 March 1906 in Shoreditch, London. His parents, Leah (née Kalisky) and Reuben Keigel, were born in Warsaw, then part of the Russian Empire. Reuben was a hairdresser, with Leah working in the business, and the family lived in Hackney. Dave formally changed his surname to Kaye in July 1940. He worked in a timber merchant's office for three years, before getting a job accompanying a woman who sang songs in a store advertising sheet music. Ivor Moreton, originally named Arthur Lethbridge, was born in Barnsbury, London on 18 March 1908 to parents Mary Elizabeth (née Doncaster) and Frederick Charles Lethbridge. His father was a compositor in the printing trade. He had already been able to play the piano for some time, and provided accompaniment at local parties in the evenings. At a local dance, he was asked if he would like to play professionally. He was then offered a job playing at a small night club. == Career ==

With Harry Roy Following Dave Kaye's job in the shop, he formed his own band, and worked as a pianist for Jerry Hoey, Sydney Lipton and Jack Harris. Ivor Moreton, who had been professionally active since at least 1930, was invited by drummer Bill Currie to join him in an act at a club, where Moreton and Kaye first met each other. Perhaps aided by his role in the spotlight as the band's singer, it was reported in early February 1934 that Moreton was receiving fan mail of more than 200 letters a week. Led by Roy, the group also featured Arthur Calkin on bass and Daniels on drums. In April 1936, their first 78 since leaving Roy was issued on Parlophone, with a "Fox Trot Medley" on one side and a "Quickstep Medley" on the other. Their "Tin Pan Alley" series of contemporary hit medleys ran to almost 100 issues. On 7 April 1937, Moreton and Kaye cut their only sides as leaders of a band, The Rhythm Rogues. Directed by Kaye, both played piano on "Harbour Lights" and "Head Over Heels in Love", with Moreton providing vocals on the former title. Moreton and Kaye continued to be prolific on gramophone records in their own right, with piano medleys issued regularly. Entertainment agent Keith Salberg later said of the duo, "They were wonderfully slick – a sort of jazzed up version of Rawicz and Landauer. They were a housewives' favourite," he added, noting that "everybody" had a Moreton and Kaye 78 "somewhere in their house." In June, they had their own slot on the BBC National Programme. Later that year, the duo toured Scandinavia. Moreton and Kaye also composed several tunes together, including "Peter Pan". Billed as "The Original Tiger Ragamuffins", cinema audiences could see them playing "Peter Pan" at two grand pianos in an August 1938 Pathétone newsreel. In October that year, they topped the Concert Hall bill for the final week of the Empire Exhibition in Glasgow, where Kaye played the electric Hammond organ as part of their stage act for the first time. In the late 1930s, the duo made forays into classical music, recording a two-part medley of Franz Lehar waltzes and Franz Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2. Their recordings tended to have accompaniment on drums, string bass, and occasionally, Hawaiian guitar. The advent of the Second World War saw their performing career briefly interrupted. Moreton volunteered for service in the Royal Air Force in June 1940, leaving Kaye to temporarily go solo, before he also enlisted. The pair were reunited during the war to entertain troops at RAF bases around the UK. Moreton and Kaye both achieved the rank of Sergeant, and Moreton served in the British Liberation Army. Post-war success Having been released from the RAF, Moreton and Kaye continued performing, with a contemporary review from December 1945 describing the previous night's show at Dudley Hippodrome as an "exhilarating performance". Their popularity ensured that they were still top of the bill. In January and April 1947, Moreton and Kaye appeared in two further short films for British Pathé, in which they could be seen playing boogie woogie. Rather than the pre-war evening dress, they wore informal suits. They continued touring, and visited Australia in 1949 to appear in the revue Starry Nights on the Tivoli theatre circuit. It was reported that the duo liked the country so much that they were considering settling there. Whilst in Australia, they also played the Ugly sisters in a Sydney production of the pantomime Cinderella. Moreton and Kaye ended up staying in Australia for thirteen months. Back in Britain, they had a regular slot on the BBC Light Programme in late 1950. They were also still making recordings for Parlophone: although there were no UK record sales charts until November 1952, research published in 2013 stated that Moreton and Kaye's recording of "Ivory Rag", a popular contemporary song, would have been on the Top 30 bestselling singles lists in August 1951. In October that year, they once again played at the Royal Variety Performance: this time, as part of a Keyboard Quintette, with Carroll Gibbons, Charlie Kunz and Billy Thorburn. In May 1953, they were back in Australia, fronting The Ivor Moreton and Dave Kaye Show at the Theatre Royal in Adelaide. Their final 78, a two-part medley titled "Moreton And Kaye's Christmas Music", was issued in December that year. They appeared together until the mid-1950s, at a time when trends in popular music were changing. == Personal lives and deaths ==

In an interview, Moreton and Kaye gave their mutual interests as golf, tennis and gin rummy. A dressmaker, she had met Moreton at a social club where he was the pianist in the late 1920s. Addicott claimed that at Christmas 1931, they had agreed to marry, but he had broken off the engagement by letter in September 1934. Moreton claimed that Addicott had ended the engagement. A court ordered him to pay her £500 in a breach of promise of marriage case. During this period, he was living in Peckham. He married Betty Shirley Gardner in Marylebone, west London, in 1936. In the early years of their marriage, the couple lived on Baker Street. During the Second World War, they were living in Beckenham, Kent. Following the end of the war, they were again resident in Marylebone. He latterly lived in Coombe, Kingston upon Thames. Moreton died in Kingston on 9 December 1984, aged 76, and was survived by his wife. In the early part of his career, Kaye lived in Stamford Hill, north London, Kaye died in Hendon on 15 December 1996, aged 90, survived by his wife Dorothy. == References ==