Helen McKay

Helen McKay was a dance band singer, active during the 1930s and 1940s. She was the first person to sing on the then high-definition standard (405 lines) in test transmissions by the BBC to the RadiOlympia Exhibition on the 26th August 1936.[1] During the transmission, McKay sang Here's Looking At You, written by Ronnie Hill.[2] McKay gave an interview to The National Museum of Photograhy, Film and Television in 1986, in which she spoke about her experience.[3]

During the 1930s, McKay was a vocalist in the Lew Stone dance band. In the 1940s McKay was a contributor to the war effort with ENSA concerts on the forces programme.[4] McKay was a member of the Debonaires, a quartet, including Alex Dore, Nadia Dore and Harry Brooker.[5] Later they sang with the Ambrose Orchestra, Felix Mendelssohn's Hawaiian Serenaders and also Eric Winstone and his band, and had a late night radio show.

References

  1. ↑ "History of the BBC - The Story of the BBC - Television As We Know It". BBC. BBC. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
  2. ↑ "TV Technology 4. Here's Looking at You". BFI Screenonline. British Film Institute. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
  3. ↑ "Television Comes to Bradford". YouTube. National Media Museum. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  4. ↑ "12.30 Break For Music". BBC. BBC. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  5. ↑ Whitehouse, comp. for This England by Edmund (2001). This England's second book of British dance bands : the singers and smaller bands (1st ed.). Cheltenham: This England Books. ISBN 978-0906324370.


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