Florrie

Florrie Forde (16 August 1875 – 18 April 1940) was an Australian popular singer and vaudevillian entertainer and was one of the most popular stars of the early 20th century music hall.

Born in Melborne, Australia in 1875, at the age of 16 she ran away from home to appear on the Sydney music hall stage. At the age of 21, in 1897, she emigrated to London, and on August Bank Holiday 1897 she made her first appearances in London at three music halls – the South London Palace, the Pavilion, and the Oxford – in the course of one evening. She found immediate success, making the first of her many sound recordings in 1903. By 1936 she had made 700 individual recordings.

Forde had a powerful stage presence and specialised in songs that had catchy and memorable choruses which the audience could sing along to. She soon drew top billing, singing songs such as β€œDown at the Old Bull and Bush” and β€œHas Anybody Here Seen Kelly?”. She appeared in the very first Royal Variety Performance in 1912. During World War I, her most famous songs were some of the best known of the period, including β€œPack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit-Bag”, β€œIt’s A Long Way To Tipperary” and β€œTake Me Back to Dear Old Blighty”.

In the 1920s Forde made her own travelling revue. It provided a platform for new rising stars, the most famous being the singing duo of Flanagan and Allen.

Forde passed away from a cerebral haemorrhage on 18 April 1940 at the age of 64. She is buried in Streatham Park Cemetery in south London.

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