As mentioned in this piece from April (“A long overdue catch-up (April 2025)”) I have drafted thousands of words in recent months that have not yet appeared anywhere on this site.

In November 2024 I drafted a few hundred words that were never finalized, about artists who have had at least one UK #1. Nothing new there: I draft many pieces that are never finalized, and have posted scores of pieces about UK #1s. This time round I was trying to establish which living artists credited on at least one UK #1 were the oldest.

My starting point was Cliff Richard and Lena Martell, both born in 1940. I figured that there must have been plenty of #1 artists born in the 1930s. There was nothing scientific about how I tried to work out who they are. I read through lists of UK #1s in the 1950s and 60s to see which of the named artists were still alive. Shirley Bassey (born 8 January 1937) was the first obvious candidate. I knew that she was still alive, and wondered, once again, why I never remember that she shares a birthday with Elvis Presley and David Bowie.

Then I looked up Pat Boone, whose 1956 #1 “I’ll Be Home” was the UK’s best-selling record that year: born on 1 June 1934, and still alive. He was the first living #1 artist I looked up who was in his 90s. Next was Petula Clark, born 15 November 1932. Her two UK #1s came in the 1960s: “Sailor” (1961) and “This Is My Song” (1967).

Shortly afterwards I called off the search, as it were. Jane Morgan, who had a 1959 #1 with “The Day the Rains Came”, was born on 3 May 1924, so she was exactly 100 at the time. She made it to 101, but died earlier this week. I was sad to read the news. Her voice has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. Her 1960 recording of “Romantica” was a 7” single in my parents’ record collection. I played it hundreds, maybe thousands, of times. I recorded it on countless mix tapes in the 1980s. I have been singing it all afternoon. You can sing along too, with this YouTube link.

If I had written these words a week ago I could have told you that Jane Morgan was the oldest living named artist of a UK #1. I meant to, but now it’s too late. And it’s still a little early for major obituaries. There’s nothing available on any of the major news websites. I’m sure that there will be soon.

Until I returned to these words earlier today I believed that she was still the longest-lived of any named UK #1 artist, having made it 101. Captain Tom Moore (born 30 April 2020) became the oldest artist to reach #1, credited on the April 2020 release of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” in the week he turned 100. He died on 2 February 2021, before his 101st birthday. Before him, Doris Day (3 April 1922 – 13 May 2019) made it to 97, nearly 63 years after the last of her two chart-toppers (“Whatever Will Be Will Be”, 1956). But I had not registered that Vera Lynn had an “Official” UK #1 (that is, after the start of the Official Charts in November 1952), and that she lived longer than anyone mentioned above: born 20 March 1917, died 18 June 2020 aged 103. Her Official UK #1 was “My Son My Son” in 1954.

All of this means that, as far as I can tell, Petula Clark is the oldest living singer credited on a UK #1. If you know any different, please let me know.