WHITTAKER, Roger Henry Brough (1936-2023)
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Roger Whittaker, giant of easy listening whose wistful ballads included The Last Farewell and Durham Town – obituary
Once rudely dismissed as a ‘cheesy crooner with a penchant for whistling’, Whittaker was particularly revered in Germany
Roger Whittaker, the singer-songwriter, who has died aged 87, seemed to defy pop music’s laws of gravity in January 1970 when Durham Town (The leavin’), his wistful if inelegantly titled ballad, catapulted him into the Top 20 at No 12 and went on to achieve further success in America and Australia….
Roger Whittaker was born on March 22 1936 in Nairobi, Kenya, his British father having been advised to live in a hot, dry climate to recover from injuries received in a serious motorcycle crash. While his father developed a successful grocery business, his mother worked as a teacher, leaving Roger and his sister Betty in the care of African nannies…..
In 1989, three years after he published his autobiography, So Far, So Good, co-written with his wife, Whittaker’s elderly parents were brutally attacked in Kenya by a gang of four men who murdered his father and tortured his mother for eight hours and left her for dead.
A knowledgeable connoisseur of antiques, Whittaker amassed a collection ranging from 18th-century French commodes to silver spoons and insects in amber, which he studied through a microscope, photographing them from every angle.
“One of the reasons I’m so interested in English history and antiques is that I came from a country that was absolutely brand new,” he said. “When you are deprived of something, you value it more.” He disposed of almost his entire collection for over £1 million when he sold his country home in Herefordshire in 1999.
Having suffered a heart attack in 2006 and retired from touring in 2013, he latterly lived in the south of France with his wife Natalie, whom he married in 1964, and who became his manager in 1989. She survives him with their five children.
Roger Whittaker, born March 22 1936, died September 13 2023
Richard R
Obit in the Times of 20 Sep 2023:
E X T R A C T
Folk singer Roger Whittaker dies aged 87
Folk singer-songwriter who sold nearly 60 million records worldwide with ballads such as Durham Town and The Last Farewell
…Roger Henry Brough Whittaker was born in 1936 in Nairobi, Kenya, the son of English parents from Staffordshire. His mother Vi was a teacher and his father Ted a grocer, who after a bad injury in a motorcycle accident was advised to move to a warmer, drier climate for health reasons and took a farm on the plains north of Nairobi.
His parents remained in Kenya until 1989, when they were brutally attacked by a gang of four men. His father was murdered and his mother tortured for eight hours and left for dead. Miraculously she survived and Whittaker arranged for her to move back to England. He was devastated by the tragedy but fought to keep bitterness at bay. “It will affect me for the rest of my life, but I believe we should all live without hate if we can,” he said.
…He is survived by his wife Natalie O’Brien, whom he married in 1964 after a whirlwind three-month courtship; for many years she acted as his manager. He is also survived by their five children: Emily and Lauren, who were adopted, and their biological offspring Jessica, Guy and Alexander. Several of his children followed him into music, including Jessica, with whom he recorded the sentimental duets, A Perfect Day and Do You Still Believe In Miracles…
Roger Whittaker, singer, was born on March 22, 1936. He died of undisclosed causes on September 13, 2023, aged 87
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/folk-singer-roger-whittaker-dies-aged-87-7p82lf8p0