Limelight - The Singles Collection 1953-62

Frank Chacksfield was an English pianist, composer, arranger and conductor of light orchestral easy listening music, who was one of the British band leaders that led the development of the market for stereo long-playing albums of this style of music in the late 1950s and into the ‘60s and ‘70s. Having joined the BBC after serving in WWII, working as musical director for Henry Hall and Geraldo, he began recording under his own name in 1951 before the dawn of the vinyl LP era. This 57-track 2-CD collection comprises selected A&B sides of his singles on the Parlophone, Decca and London labels from this era as Frank Chacksfield & His Orchestra and as Frank Chacksfield’s Tunesmiths, and it includes at least one side of just about all his releases from these years. It features all his UK and US chart entries, including the No. 2 hits “Terry’s Theme From Limelight” and “Ebb Tide”, and the Top 20 hits “Little Red Monkey” and “In Old Lisbon”, along with “Donkey Cart” and “On The Beach”. His style of music was hugely popular with the British public for many years and his fame spread across the Atlantic as well. This easy-on-the-ear collection is an enjoyable showcase for a particular and fondly-remembered strand of British popular music.