Hull's Musical Heritage - David Whitfield 1 | Page 4

With “I Believe”, David also entered
and won the International Song
Festival, a forerunner to the present
day competition, the Eurovision
Song Contest”, which took place in
Knokke-le-Zoute, in Belgium.
Throughout 1953, David continued
to tour around the United Kingdom,
and, in many of his venues, was
given top billing, through his links
to Decca, and the quality of his
voice.
The next track, “Answer Me”, beat
Frankie Laine to the top spot in the
charts, and went on to sell 700,000
copies, despite the BBC initially
banning it from their playlist, due to
the religious context of some of the
lyrics.
1954, saw David increase his profile
in the UK, with further appearances
in Variety Theatre, this saw him fly
to Belfast to appear in the
Songwriters Guild Concert,
performing with the orchestra and
company of London’s Victoria Palace
Theatre.

The statue of David Whitfield, located in
Kingston Square, outside Hull New Theatre

Cara Mia - David Whitfield’s biggest hit,
at Number 1 for 10 consecutive weeks

The year would also see David
record his most successful track,
and the track that would become
his signature tune, Cara Mia.
It was first performed on 26 June
1954, in Blackpool, and at each of
the performances, it was received
with acclaim and a standing
ovation. It was put on general sale
by Decca on 1 July.
Cara Mia, reached Number 1 by the
middle of July, and