Steve Conway (born Walter James Groom; 24 October 1920 – 19 April 1952) was a British singer who rose to fame in the 1940s, following the end of the Second World War.
Known for romantic ballads, he made dozens of recordings for EMI's Columbia label, appeared regularly on BBC Radio and toured the UK, before his career was cut short by his early death, aged 31, resulting from a heart condition.
"[2] Conway was born in Bethnal Green in east London, in 1920, and named Walter James Groom; he was known as Jimmy to friends and relatives.
The eldest son of five children born to a labourer, Groom's family were poor, and their annual holiday was going hop picking in Kent every summer.
The family experienced loss whilst Groom was still young: his twin brothers did not survive infancy, while his sister died at the age of five from meningitis.
[1][3][4] Upon leaving school aged 14, Groom undertook poorly-paid manual work, initially making deliveries on a tricycle for an embroidery firm.
[4][5] Whilst still a teenager, a turning point in Groom's life came when he met Lilian Butcher, a local East End girl who worked in a textile factory near where he was living.
During World War II, Butcher worked in a munitions factory; however, when Groom attempted to enlist in the Royal Navy, he was declared unfit for service, owing to a heart condition which had developed from his earlier rheumatic fever, and damaged his coronary valves.
He entered further talent contests between 1936 and 1938, and in the Second World War, he got bookings for stage appearances around London; these were primarily amateur shows performed between films at cinemas.
[7][8] Groom, at the time employed by the brewers Mann, Crossman and Pullin, where he cleaned out the vats, was told by Morgan that he would never get anywhere in showbusiness whilst he remained working full-time there.
As a native of the East End of London, Groom had a strong Cockney accent, and took elocution lessons with Chloe Gibson to alter this.
[4][5] On 12 April 1945, Conway made his first BBC broadcast under his new name for Navy Mixture, a radio show on the General Forces Programme, in a segment entitled 'Million-Airs', in which he introduced songs which had sold a million.
[9][10] As a relatively inexperienced stage performer, Conway toured Mecca dance halls, and in late 1945, sang with the well-known bandleader Ambrose at Ciro's nightclub in London's West End.
[5] In September 1951, Conway's "At the End of the Day", featuring the Hastings Girls Choir, was released; the recording was used by Radio Luxembourg to sign off their evening broadcasts for over 30 years.
In the studio, he was accompanied by Roberto Inglez, Peter Yorke, Jack Byfield, Arthur Young, Jackie Brown and Philip Green.
[15] Described as "a ballad singer with a smooth, straightforward delivery", Conway's voice drew comparisons with the late Al Bowlly, who had died in 1941.
[4] Whilst on stage at the Bradford Alhambra in May 1951, Conway collapsed, but recovered, and carried on working, although with a deterioration in his condition, and his theatre appearances would occasionally be cancelled at short notice.
He came round after the anaesthetic, and was visited by Lilian, but Conway suffered with post-operative complications, and died at Guy's Hospital in London on 19 April 1952, aged 31.
[1][4] Following his death, it was revealed that as Conway hated to disappoint an audience or break a contract, for the last few weeks of his final tour, he was spending 20 out of 24 hours a day in bed, arriving at the theatre just in time for his performance.
"There were about 75 floral tributes", Hayes added, noting that they ranged "from simple little bouquets from fans, to elaborate wreathes from wealthy stars.
The most touching came from his heartbroken daughter and was in the shape of a miniature chair inscribed Daddy's Little Girl, a poignant memory of his hit song."