Wally Ridley

Published Monday 26 March 2007 at 13:10 by Patrick Newley

Wally Ridley was one of Britain’s best known record producers. In the late forties he joined EMI Records as a producer for the HMV label and went on to sign a whole range of up and coming singers such as Alma Cogan, Donald Peers, Anne Shelton and Ronnie Hilton, as well as the bandleader Joe Loss and the comedian Benny Hill.

He was responsible for guiding the early career of Vera Lynn and it was his personal decision that EMI should acquire for UK release Elvis Presley’s Heartbreak Hotel from RCA Records in the USA. In the sixties he notably brought the rock’n’roll band Johnny Kidd and the Pirates to EMI.

He was also a prolific songwriter - he wrote more than 200 songs and numbered among his compositions I’m in Love for the Very First Time.

Walter John Ridley was born in London on February 28, 1913. He was a talented pianist and at the age of 13 won a scholarship from Northern Polytechnic. In 1928 he entered the music business first as a song plugger and then as a manager at the Peter Maurice song publishing company.

During the War Ridley worked closely with Vera Lynn, coaching her and accompanying her on all her radio and theatre engagements. He was also responsible for her recording We’ll Meet Again which was to become her signature tune.

In 1949 he and the ventriloquist Peter Brough created the concept of the radio show Educating Archie which, in 1950, went on to become one the of the most successful radio comedy shows ever.

Ridley went into the recording business in 1948 when EMI engaged him as a producer to build up a wider catalogue for the then classical HMV label. He had great success signing stars such as Max Bygraves, Peers and Loss.

Ridley’s greatest success in the fifties was with the young Cogan - who had more chart hits than any other UK female singer in the decade - and he also signed up to EMI vocalists such as Malcolm Vaughan, The Mike Sammes Singers and Rosemary Squires.

Popular music in Britain changed drastically in the late fifties largely due to the influx of American rock’n’roll and the rise of skiffle artists such as Lonnie Donegan. Ridley’s musical tastes were essentially old fashioned but he did, if somewhat reluctantly, move with the times and in 1958 signed Johnny Kidd and the Pirates to EMI.

Despite Ridley’s aversion to their music The Pirates’ recording of Shakin’ All Over reached No 1 in the UK charts in 1960. Ridley also signed up The Swinging Blue Jeans who had chart success with The Hippy Hippy Shake in 1963.

On more familiar territory Ridley found the song Bring Me Sunshine for Morecambe and Wise and Whispering Grass for Don Estelle and Windsor Davies, a No 1 hit for the duo in 1975. He also producd several Black and White Minstrel Show albums.

In 1977 Ridley retired - the same year that HMV ceased to exist as a recording label - but he still produced albums occasionally, notably Love is Jose Carreras (1984). During his long career he won two Ivor Novello Awards for his contribution to the music industry.

“He was a real man of music who loved songs,” said Rosemary. “He also kept his cool. He used to stand on his head doing yoga to relieve the stress of recording sessions.”

He died on January 23, 2007, aged 93. He is survived by a son and two daughters.