讓人難忘的金嗓子：英國歌手 Matt Monro（麥特蒙羅）

Matt Monro - Charade








With lyricist Don Black (l)
and John Barry (r).


With composer John
Barry and others

偉大的歌手Matt Monro（麥特蒙羅） 

 

　　Matt Monro，1930年出生於英國倫敦，他是家中最年幼的小孩。原名Terry Edward Parsons的他，3歲就失去了父親，14歲就離開學校，到一家煙草公司工作，17歲參軍，曾被派到香港。後來，他在香港參加一個才藝表演，曾經贏過7次獎，而“獎品”就是在一家商營電台裏擁有半小時的節目，當時Matt Monro的節目名叫《Terry Parson’s Sings》。1953年他複員回到英國，成為了一名汽車司機。在任汽車司機的同時，他組建了一支樂隊並擔任歌手，曾以Terry Fitzgerald、Al Jordan。後來，他與Decca公司簽約，就改名Matt Monro了。一次為電視節目錄製的版頭卻成為Matt Monro重大的轉折。此後的12年間，Matt Monro就為許多著名的公司錄製了超過40個廣告。 

　　一次偶然的示範演唱，也就是Matt Monro被要求在一張專輯中模仿Frank Sinatra演唱，使得專輯《You Keep Me Swingin》中選用了Matt Monro的版本而非Frank Sinatra的版本。這消息不脛而走，Matt Monro成為燙手香芋。於是，他就開始在全英國的酒店演出。他終於可以用自己的名字發行唱片了，首張專輯名為《Love Walk In》，而第二張專輯《Portrait Of My Love》成為排行榜第三位的專輯，並長踞排行榜幾個月。其後，更是發行多張唱片，並成為當時英國的首席歌星。 

　　在1960年代初，第二部《007》電影裏，Matt Monro更主唱了其中的歌曲《From Russia With Love》，讓更多人認識了他，而其後的《Born Free》也同樣獲得了巨大的成功。Matt Monro不僅在英國打響了名堂，還聲名遠播到美國。由於Matt Monro炙手可熱，他經常在世界各地巡演。 

　　Matt Monro還擅長翻唱其他歌手的歌曲，包括The Beatles的《Yesterday》。雖然大家的風格各異，但他成為第一個翻唱《Yesterday》的歌手，並在排行榜名列第8位。1973年，Matt Monro出版了他的最後一首單曲《And You Smile》，其後雖然沒怎麽在排行榜中出現，但1980年出版的精選碟《Heartbreaker》證明了Matt Monro奇跡依然存在。 

可惜，他不僅僅抽煙很厲害，還酗酒，雖然沒影響到他演唱，但對於他的健康來說是個重大的威協。他身患肝癌，但依然堅持工作。由於癌細胞已經擴散，肝髒移植也無濟於事了，他知道時日無多，於是繼續唱歌。不久後的1985年，在倫敦的一所醫院去世，終年僅54歲。雖然他已經去世20年，但有賴於他留下來的唱片、精選集，我們還是可以感受到他的存在。(baidu)

 

A concise biography

Matt was born Terry Parsons in north London in 1930, to Alice and Frederick. He had three brothers, Arthur, Reg and Harry and a sister, Alice. It was a tough childhood, his father died when he was three and after his mother became ill, he was fostered out for two years. Leaving school at 14, he tried a succession of jobs without sticking at any of them for very long, before National Service beckoned at age 18 and Matt became a tank driving instructor in the army and was posted to Hong Kong. He had sung in public from an early age, notably at the local Tufnell Park Palais, and in Hong Kong he took to entering local talent contests, winning several. In fact, he became so successful he was eventually barred from competing. Instead they gave him his own radio show, Terry Parsons Sings. After de-mob, he returned to London, to try and make a career out of singing. Initially he had little success and was obliged to take on a driving job to supplement his meagre income from the occasional singing engagement. He also hung around the music publishers offices in

 

Before too long, however, pianist Winifred Atwell heard his voice and recommended him to her own recording company, Decca, who signed him. She also helped choose his new name, Matt Monro. Matt coming from Matt White, a journalist friend, and Monro was Atwell’s father’s first name. Although the recording session went well, sales were only moderate. He got some radio exposure on Radio Luxembourg and also on the BBC with Cyril Stapleton's 'BBC Showband' show and a TV spot on The Winifred Atwell Show. But his lucky break came when EMI producer George Martin asked him to make a demo disc for Peter Sellers to use as a guide to copying the voice and style of Frank Sinatra for his forthcoming album, "Songs for Swinging Sellers". It was such a good guide that Sellers realised he couldn’t improve on it himself and the recording was included on the LP under the name of Fred Flange. When word got out who the singer really was and what a fine voice he had, George Martin knew he was onto a winner and signed him for the Parlophone label. Almost immediately the combination of Monro, Martin and arranger/conductor Johnnie Spence had UK hit parade success with Portrait of My Love. This was swiftly followed by further hits of the calibre of My Kind Of Girl, Gonna Build a Mountain, Softly As I Leave You, From Russia with Love and Walk Away. The latter became the first hit for his manager and friend, Don Black, whom he had met during his

 

Between March 1960 and January 1966, Parlophone issued nineteen Matt Monro singles, as well as eight EPs and four LPs. However, a label switch came in 1966, following the death of Nat King Cole. Capitol Records wanted a replacement and Matt was seen as the perfect choice. This was also the beginning of a trend towards LPs rather than singles and he was backed by the likes of Sid Feller and Billy May on albums which included "This Is the Life", "The Late, Late Show", "Invitation to the Movies" and "Invitation to Broadway". His Capitol singles were not particularly successful, with the exception of the very first, the memorable Born Free, with music by John Barry and lyrics by Don Black in only their second collaboration. The new recording contract necessitated a move to the US and he became popular on TV and in cabaret there for a few years.

 

Back in England he stayed with George Martin but changed labels within EMI to Columbia before that label itself vanished and was incorporated into the new EMI label. During this period Matt twice recorded singles with both sides Barry / Black compositions: This Way Mary / Wish Now Was Then and Curiouser and Curiouser / The Me I Never Knew. He also recorded We're Gonna Change The World - originally music used in a TV commercial for Kellogg’s Cornflakes!

 

He continued touring, working at the very best nightclubs like 'The Talk Of The Town', and was a regular on TV. Unfortunately there was a side to Matt Monro that was more-or-less unknown to the public. He had a drink problem. He simply loved drinking (he was also a heavy smoker) and the best entreaties of manager Black could not contain it. His performances appeared completely unaffected by the effects of alcohol, but eventually and almost inevitably, his health suffered. He was diagnosed with cancer of the liver but continued working. Doctors suggested a liver transplant as a last resort to save him, but during the operation at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge surgeons discovered the cancer had spread widely and a transplant would have been pointless. Matt discharged himself and went back to singing, knowing he had little time left. His last performance was at London's recently opened Barbican Centre and he died shortly afterwards at the Cromwell hospital in London, 7th February 1985, at the age of only 54.

 

His voice lives on, thankfully, through a series of re-issued CD compilations and constant radio play. He was arguably England’s greatest singer of popular ballads and achieved success and acclaim in America before The Beatles and long before Elton John.

Twenty years after his death he is still much-missed by his family, friends and many fans.

 

By Geoff Leonard : http://www.mattmonro.org.uk/bio.shtml

 

Denmark Street

days when Don was working for Toff Music. He also made the American charts at a time when this was still quite a rare occurrence, with My Kind of Girl & Walk Away. Another success came when he became the first artist to cover "Yesterday", taking it into the top ten in England.

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and occasionally made demos of new songs for their ever-optimistic song-pluggers to hawk around.