Roy Fox, the American dance bandleader, based in London was a very busy fellow! On this day of September 25th, way back in 1936, this interview article was published in the music and entertainment magazine Radio Pictorial.
Roy as you will see, loved working in music, especially discovering new vocalists, and helping them launch their careers. He was very impressed with a Scottish teenager named Mary Lee (who incidentally was the last living person from the British dance band era until March this year, when she passed away at the grand age of 100).
In 1935, Mary had recorded the “hot” number Truckin’, with Roy Fox’s band. I think you’ll be able to hear what a mature voice she had for a teenager. She also had a more American sound to her voice. If you’ve heard any of Roy Fox’s earlier recordings from 1931 when he was working at the Monseigneur restaurant, you’ll notice how different his 1935 band sounded to the one he led in 1931. It’s a looser, more swinging sound.
Here is a clip from Len Goodman’s Dancing Feet: The British Ballroom Story, first shown on 27th December 2012, where Mary reminisced on her time with Roy Fox’s band.
To find out more about Mary Lee, here is her Wikipedia entry:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Lee_(singer)
Besides music, Roy was very fond of Greyhound dog racing, as revealed in the article. in 1934, British Pathé released this short about Roy and his dogs. In those days these shorts would be shown at the cinema before the main feature film. Roy looked very smartly turned out with his tailored suit and Fedora hat.
Below is the Radio Pictorial article to download as a pdf:
Pages of Radioland. 
Hi Matilda,
Thank you for sharing about Roy Fox! His orchestra sounds familiar, I think some of his songs have been featured on one of the 20s/30s radio stations that I stream. It was great to learn about him and Mary Lee. What a gifted singer she was! I liked the other clip you included too, it was nice to hear in her own soft-spoken words how much she enjoyed being part of the orchestra. Especially hearing how Roy Fox wanted her to be treated with respect by the other band members. 🙂
I’m glad you enjoyed the article about Roy Fox. He’s one of my fave dance bandleaders of the 1930s. Mary had a 100th birthday card sent to her from dance band fans with messages ( I added one too ). She was very gifted, and it’s easy to see why Roy was pleased to have found her. He was an absolute gentleman and good person!
Now I know your name is Matilda! I have called you ‘WN’ for so long. 🙂
Well, I really enjoyed Mary’s voice. Very ‘American’, as you suggest. And she looked great in 2012, reminiscing on Len’s TV show.
My dad used to have an evening job ‘parading’ greyhounds at New Cross Stadium in London. He did it as an extra job when I was a toddler, to make more money for the family.
Thanks for a lovely post.
Best wishes, Pete.
Glad you liked the post and that it brought back memories of your father and his work with greyhounds.