Great Lives

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BBC Radio 4 FM

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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Factual: Life Stories

Biographical series in which guests choose someone who has inspired their lives.

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Great Lives: Black and British pioneer Kenny Lynch

Black and British pioneer Kenny Lynch

BBC Radio 4 - Great Lives, Black and British pioneer Kenny Lynch

Veteran black and British entertainer Kenny Lynch.

Eddie Piller chooses the black and British entertainer Kenny Lynch, who first found fame with the song 'Up on the Roof'.

Kenny Lynch was born in Stepney, East London in 1938. He toured with the Beatles, wrote best-selling songs, was a champion boxer in the army, and a regular face on British TV. He was also - at the start of his career - one of the very few black and British singers in the UK, but he's not really remembered as a pioneer. Out to change that is his nominator, broadcaster and record producer Eddie Piller who first liked Kenny for his effortless style, but loves his records too. "Kenny Lynch was no victim," he says. Features extensive archive of Kenny talking about his East End childhood plus the music he sang and produced.

Presenter Matthew Parris
Producer Miles Warde

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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Great Lives

Black and British pioneer Kenny Lynch

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