[2] His first major association came at the age of 16, when he joined Abe Lyman's orchestra at the Sunset Inn in Santa Monica,[1] where he played alongside Miff Mole, Gussie Mueller, Henry Halstead, and Gus Arnheim.

That same year he also scored a gig on radio broadcasting with Art Hickman's orchestra;[1] this ensemble toured the U.S., then did an extended residency in Florida.

[2][3][5] His band included Lew Stone, Bill Harty, Harry Berly, Sid Buckman, Nat Gonella and Al Bowlly.

[6] Fox formed a new band with Buckman as trumpeter and vocalist, secured a residency at the Café Anglais in Leicester Square, London,[1][3] and performed in Belgium as well as at home in the UK.

[7][8] In January 1936, he moved to the His Master's Voice (HMV) label, and toured Europe until 1938, when he fell ill again, and broke up the band.

He then moved to a new club, the Riobamba, on 57th Street, at which the floor show included a young Frank Sinatra, who was making his solo nightclub debut, and told Fox that he was the worst conductor he had ever worked with.

They had two children, Fredrick Rea and Amanda Kathryn, but later divorced, and Fox married actress Eileen O'Donnell, whom he had met in Dublin.

[6] Fox had a house in Highgate, north London, before moving to a flat in Chelsea, next to where the Decca studios were located at the time.

Unable to pay the rent on the flat, he ended up in Brinsworth House in Twickenham, the retirement home for variety performers run by the Entertainment Artistes Benevolent Fund.