Posted on 02/15/2009 6:31:14 PM PST by nickcarraway
Second World War songbird Vera Lynn, the voice behind The White Cliffs of Dover, will be giving a "full account" of her life in a new autobiography.
The 91-year-old British singer, who became a sweetheart to soldiers with songs such as We'll Meet Again, says her upcoming book — due out in June — will speak to her hard-luck upbringing in London's east end and cover her career from the time she began performing in local clubs to her post-war life.
"People have been hearing about me for many years, I know, but the publishers think it is a story that will be surprising," Lynn told The Guardian newspaper.
"There is a section on the war years, of course, and on the visits to Burma. But there will also be memories from later in my life."
Lynn, born Vera Margaret Welch, said she wants the public see her as a person and not just an institution. Putting her life 'in a proper context'
The performer is an icon for many who survived the war. Not only did she perform on radio, but she also went to visit British troops all over the world.
Publisher HarperCollins says Some Sunny Day will be different from a memoir the singer penned in the 1970s.
"She has reached a point in her life where she can put it all in a proper context," said Kate Latham of HarperCollins, who says the book will be a "full account" of the singer's life. The memoir coincides with the 70th anniversary of the start of the war in 1939.
"Her story is one of a woman in extraordinary times."
Latham said there are plans to adapt the book into a movie.
Lynn, who turns 92 next month, said she will do a book tour of Britain when the autobiography is published.
She was appointed a Dame of the British Empire in 1975.
Does anybody here remember Vera Lynn?
Remember how she said that
We would meet again
Some sunny day?
Vera! Vera!
What has become of you?
Does anybody else in here
Feel the way I do?
Gee, my dad’s only 82 and he has a hard time remembering what he had for breakfast.
Some Sunny Day?
Wasn’t that the last song in DOCTOR STRANGELOVE?
Anyone who hasn't heard it can hear it here
“”Does anybody here remember Vera Lynn?””
Absolutely - I have tapes of her songs that a dear friend let me copy. I remember her songs from the war years - radio was all we had and a Victrola - weren’t we lucky in those years?
“”We would meet again””
We’ll meet again..
Don’t know where, don’t know when..
Had no idea she was still alive.
Yes.
I liked both songs but like you slightly prefer “Lili Marlene”.
Oddly enough, one of the best versions was sung by Eddie Albert on a TV show. Normally don’t think of a guy singing it. He also sang it very slowly.
“We’ll Meet Again” played in the final scenes of Stanley Kubrick’s “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.”
http://grumpyautomaton.wordpress.com/2008/02/05/dr-strangelove-well-meet-again-by-vera-lynn/
Fantastic lines from a great song.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Albert#World_War_II
That’s the only way I would have ever heard of Vera Lynn.
Quite the Lady. There is nothing like a Dame!
From that pic, I could see Kate Winslet being an excellent choice to portray Vera in a movie.
I think Vera Lynn was an English patriot when there were still Engilsh patriots.
God bless her.
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