Hull's Musical Heritage - David Whitfield 1 | Page 3

His contact with Hughie Green, led
to a one off performance at the
Criterion Hotel, London in
December 1951. After this show,
David was offered a regular singing
role by Cecil Landau, a local
impresario, at the Washington
Hotel in London’s West End, where
he was earning in the region of £10
per week.

David Whitfield, in a more relaxed
promotional photograph

David was offered the opportunity
to tour with Opportunity Knocks,
and he also broadcast regularily on
Radio Luxembourg, but at the end
of his 8 month contract, David
unfortunately found himself without
work.
David returned north to Hull, and
worked as a coalman’s assistant,
before moving into the world of
concrete preparation, where he
spent his working life loading
cement onto lorries to be
dispatched out to the new housing
and infrastructure contracts that
were so prevalent in post-war
Britain.
During that time, singing was still
a huge part of David’s life, and he
continued to perform in Working
Men’s Clubs around Hull and the
East Riding, earning around 30
shillings, or around £2 per
performance, a figure that would
equate to around £80 in 2015’s
money.

During his time at the Washington,
one of the executives at the Decca
Recording Company was in the
audience, and approached David to
offer him a test recording.
After this recording had taken
place, Decca offered David a full
recording contract.

Decca Records with whom David Whitfield
released all of his singles and albums.

The start of 1953 saw David in the
Decca Studios recording his first
platter, “Marta” together with Nat
Temple and his orchestra. In it’s
first month after release, single
sales had reached 20,000, which
was considered to be very good
considering that it was the first
record from a relatively unknown
artist.
The second release, “I Believe”,
sold better than the first, and espite
strong competition from Frankie
Laine, it sold 75,000 copies.