Vera Lynn

在我们年纪的中国人，恐怕没有几个人听过她的歌，我也是其中之一。认识她，是通过英国乐队Pink floyd那张经典专辑《The Wall》。Pink floyd在《Vrea》中深情地唱道：Vera/这儿是否有人还记得/记得她曾经说过/我们会在某个阳光灿烂的日子里重逢。这歌词如此得温柔，让我不禁产生了好奇，也因此认识了这位有着传奇色彩的爵士歌手Vera Lynn。 Vera Lynn原名薇拉·玛格丽特·韦尔奇，1917年3月20日出生于伦敦东汉姆地区。1935 年，18岁的Vera Lynn开始在电台演出，后来，她开始录制和发行唱片，她的第一张独唱唱片发表于1936年，翻译这张唱片名字还真难，如果按照字面的意思就是《爬上贝德福德郡的伍德山》。在为生计奔波的十多年里，身处小俱乐部担任歌手的Vera Lynn籍籍无名，但不久后随着希特勒为整个欧洲带来的战争的阴影，Vera Lynn的命运也随之发生了改变。 1939 年，Vera Lynn遇见了后来的丈夫，单簧管手和萨克斯演奏者哈利·李维斯。也就是在这一年，二战爆发。Vera Lynn开始在英国广播公司主持自己的电台节目，叫做《Sincerely Yours（你忠诚的）》，这也是英语中用以写信结尾的固定用词，这在“家书抵万金”的战时很能引发人们的共鸣。这档电台节目就是为了给在海外的英国士兵传递信息，在节目里，她经常会朗读妻子写给远赴前线的丈夫的信，被视为士兵与妻子沟通感情的桥梁。Vera Lynn还去探访医院，采访母亲和妻子们，并将她们的话通过电台电波传递到海外的英国军营。 1942年，Vera Lynn推出了《We'll Meet Again（我们会再相逢）》，同时也出演了同名电影。“我们会再相逢，不知道在哪里，不知道在何时，但我知道，我们一定会再相逢，在某个阳光灿烂的日子……”这首歌凭借充满乡愁的歌词一时间风靡整个战区，成为战争期间的标志性歌曲。而一首《多佛的白岩壁》最为鼓舞人心，因为当时这片海边岩壁正处在德军炸弹的阴影中，时刻面临被敌人侵占的危险。她因此被称为“战地甜心”。 在二战期间，她曾在埃及、印度、缅甸等国家为英军军营举办小型的户外演唱会，相当于现在的歌友会，深受战士们的喜爱。战地的条件非常艰苦，很少有人愿意去那里慰问士兵，所以Vera Lynn的战地行更使她成为士兵们心中当之无愧的偶像。 和现在一堆在歌坛上飘浮着看似星光耀眼的歌手相比，她有着太多太多让人敬仰的地方：她在二战期间多次不顾自己的生命危险上前线劳军，用歌声控诉战争的罪恶；她曾因为在社会上的影响力被英女王封为女爵士；邱吉尔曾说vera lynn无论从哪个方面来说都相当于4个陆军师的力量........她的声音鼓舞着同盟军的战士们奋勇向前，被誉为The Forces' Sweetheart(部队的心上人) 。无法想像她娇柔的身躯里蕴藏着如此巨大的能量。
 
by John Bush & Bruce Eder
 
The mere mention of Vera Lynn's name evokes images of London skies filled with barrage balloons, and Britons riding out the German blitz in shelters and subway stations. England's sweetheart during the trying times of World War II, Lynn was still in her twenties when she took on that role. She was born Vera Margaret Welch in London's East Ham, to Bertram and Annie Welch, one year before the close of the First World War. She began singing as a girl of seven, also studying dance as a child. She later took her maternal grandmother's maiden name as her stage name, and her natural, unaffected vocal style and charm brought Lynn early success on the radio. At age 18, she was singing with Joe Loss' orchestra, and she'd also begun recording. By the end of the 1930s, after stints working for Charlie Kunz's and Bert Ambrose's bands, Lynn got her own radio series. This event coincided with the end of what was known as the &Phony War,& that period in which men were being conscripted and sent overseas, rearmament rushed, and nightly blackouts imposed, but no shots fired or bombs dropped. The shooting war started in 1940, and it was around that same time that Lynn became the host of the BBC radio program Sincerely Yours; the show became incredibly popular with overseas servicemen who missed their girlfriends, and her regular songs included such hopeful/heartsick ballads as &White Cliffs of Dover,& &We'll Meet Again,& &Wishing,& and &Yours,& which were taken to heart by the British public. Her recordings -- now done for Decca Records, which had absorbed the Crown label some years before -- all sold well, and Lynn also made several films during the war years, appeared in a stage revue, and sang for troops in Asia. Her sentimental brand of pop music was regarded as a huge help to morale, and Lynn herself virtually a national treasure.
 
Within just a few months of the end of the Second World War, Lynn surprised and shocked the public by announcing her retirement. As early as Christmas of 1946 she'd begun a limited return to recording, however, and by the end of 1947 she was working again, touring the variety circuit and gaining another BBC radio program. Decca seized a golden opportunity in 1948 by releasing Vera Lynn material in America during a musicians strike that had crippled the stateside music industry, and Lynn gained a Top Ten hit that year with &You Can't Be True, Dear.& And in 1952, she became the first British artist to hit number one on the American charts when &Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart& spent nine weeks at the top spot. That same year, Lynn managed an astonishing hat trick back home with the advent of the first singles chart for England -- unveiled in New Musical Express in November of that year -- when her records occupied three of the top 12 positions. Her first (and only) British number one came two years later, with &My Son My Son,& and she gradually moved from radio/variety work to television spots during the '50s in order to round out her schedule, recording increasingly contemporary material during the 1960s -- when she left Decca for EMI -- and '70s. She received an OBE from the British crown in 1969, and in 1975 was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire. Though she performed sparingly during the 1980s, she did appear at commemorations for the 40th anniversary of D-Day and the 50th anniversary of the beginning of World War II, and continued to do charity work. In 2005, she also spoke on behalf of veterans of World War II on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of VE Day.