In memoriam: Kenny Ball

Jazz trumpeter Kenny Ball passed away on March 7, 2013 from pneumonia at age eighty-two. He performed to the very end of his life, even leaving the hospital for a performance at the end of January.

Ball was born in Ilford in northeast London and left school at age fourteen to become a clerk in an advertising agency. He began taking trumpet at that time.

In 1953, he began performing with the Sid Phillips and Eric Delaney bands. He formed his own group, the Kenny Ball Jazzmen, in 1958. They had their first hit record, (I Love You) Samantha in 1961. The group had several albums including Midnight in Moscow which sold more than a million copies worldwidde, March of the Siamese Children and I Want to Be Like You. He performed on British television regularly on entertainment programs including the Morecambe And Wise Show and as the resident band on the BBC1 series Saturday Night at the Mill.

Ball performed with Louis Armstrong during Armstrong’s 1968 European tour. He also performed at the 1981 wedding reception for the Prince and Princess of Wales.

He is survived by his partner and his son Keith, who performed with his father.

Source: Neville Young

Links:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-21700146
http://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2013-03-07/essex-jazz-trumpeter-kenny-ball-dies/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/mar/07/jazz-trumpeter-kenny-ball-dies