{{short description|English singer}} {{EngvarB|date=March 2024}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2024}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Leslie Fyson | image = | caption = | background = solo_singer | birth_name = | birth_date = 13 July 1923 | birth_place = Lambeth, London | death_date = 26 October 1996 (aged 73) |death_place=Hounslow, London | genre = Opera | occupation = Singer | years_active = 1940s-80s | label = | associated_acts = }} '''Leslie James Fyson''' (13 July 1923 - 26 October 1996) was an opera singer who was credited on a top 5 hit in the UK singles chart in 1958.
==Career== ===Opera=== He studied music at King's College, Cambridge, although his studies were cut short by the Second World War. In 1942 he enlisted in the Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment<ref>{{cite book |title=Register of Soldiers |date=1942 |publisher=Queen's Royal Regiment |location=Surrey |page=77}}</ref> and transferred to the Royal Artillery in July 1943.<ref>{{cite book |title=World War II Royal Artillery Tracer Cards, 1939-1948 |date=1 July 1943 |publisher=Royal Artillery |location=London}}</ref>
On demob he took up studies once more at the Guildhall School of Music, and his tenor style attracted him to Jani Strasser, the chief vocal coach of the Glyndebourne Operatic Company, resulting in small roles at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera for several years; he made his debut as a servant in Un ballo in maschera by Giuseppe Verdi in 1949.<ref>{{cite web |title=Leslie Fyson |url=https://www.operabase.com/leslie-fyson-a2184725/en |website=Operabase |access-date=11 April 2024}}</ref>
He was also a member of the Ambrosian Singers and the Cliff Adams Singers, appearing on Sing Something Simple for over 30 years, and chorus master at the English National Opera in the early 1980s.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Leslie Fyson |journal=The Stage |date=14 November 1996 |page=32}}</ref> His last known broadcast was appearing in the Gilbert and Sullivan opera ''Patience; or, Bunthorne's Bride'' on BBC Radio 2 in October 1989.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Pick of the radio week |journal=Cambridge Daily News |date=20 October 1989 |page=65}}</ref>
===Chart success===
Fyson's one chart success was as one of the quartet singing the theme tune to The Army Game, although he did not appear in the series; he opened the recording with an impression of a stereotypical sergeant-major,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lee |first1=Benny |title=There's lolly in laughter |journal=Aberdeen Evening Express |date=31 May 1958 |page=9}}</ref> and was given a credit. The recording reached number 9 in the Disc<ref>{{cite journal |title=Top Twenty |journal=Disc |date=28 June 1958 |page=3}}</ref> and number 10 in the Melody Maker<ref>{{cite web |title=Melody Maker UK Chart Hits |url=https://www.popmusichistory.co.uk/_files/ugd/b4848d_8db939ce80104130a7d2ed5cd4bf28f8.pdf |website=Pop Music History |access-date=11 April 2024}}</ref> singles charts in June 1958, and number 5 in the New Musical Express<ref>{{cite web |title=The signature tune of The Army Game |url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/6149/michael-medwin,-bernard-bresslaw,-alfie-bass-and-leslie-fyson/ |website=Official Charts Company |access-date=11 April 2024}}</ref> and Record Mirror<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jasper |first1=Tony |title=20 Years of British Record Charts |date=1975 |publisher=Queen Anne Press |location=London |page=36}}</ref> charts the following month.
He appeared on another charting disc, providing vocals to the track "I Like You" on the Donovan album ''Cosmic Wheels'', in 1973.<ref>Credits on the album sleeve insert.</ref>
==Personal life==
Fyson was married to Isobel Wright in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in October 1949;<ref>{{cite book |title=Marriages registered in October, November and December 1949 |date=1949 |publisher=HMSO |page=376}}</ref> she died in 1994. Fyson died in the West Middlesex Hospital on 26 October 1996.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Leslie Fyson |journal=The Stage |date=14 November 1996 |page=32}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fyson, Leslie}} Category:1923 births Category:Singers from the London Borough of Lambeth Category:1996 deaths Category:20th-century English male opera singers Category:People from Lambeth