{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox musical artist <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject Musicians --> | name = Randolph Sutton | background = solo_singer | birth_name = John Randolph Sutton | image = Randolph_Sutton.jpg | caption = Sheet music cover, 1930 | alias = | birth_date = {{birth date|1888|7|24|df=y}} | birth_place = Clifton, Bristol, England | death_date = {{death date and age|1969|2|28|1888|7|24|df=y}} | death_place = Brixton, London, England | origin = | instrument = | genre = Variety show, novelty | occupation = Singer | years_active = 1910–1969 | label = | website = | current_members = | past_members = }} '''John Randolph Sutton''' (24 July 1888 &ndash; 28 February 1969) was an English singer and comic entertainer in music hall and variety shows.

==Life and career== Sutton was born in Clifton, Bristol. He made his first stage appearance in a concert at Burnham-on-Sea in 1905,<ref name=busby>{{cite book |last=Busby |first=Roy |year=1976 |title=British Music Hall: An Illustrated Who's Who from 1850 to the Present Day |location=London |publisher=Paul Elek |page= 166|isbn=0-236-40053-3}}</ref> and was so well received that he left his job with a printing company to start a performing career.<ref name=bristol>[https://thebristolmag.co.uk/the-original-influencers-inspiring-people-from-bristols-history/ "The original influencers: Inspiring people from Bristol’s history: John Randolph Sutton", ''The Bristol Mag'']. Retrieved 2 January 2021</ref> He made his Bristol stage debut in 1910, and his London debut in 1915.<ref name=mander>Raymond Mander and Joe Mitchenson, ''British Music Hall: A story in pictures'', Studio Vista, 1965, p.164</ref> He rapidly became popular as a singer and entertainer, touring around the country, and always performed in top hat and tails, with a combination of "charm and cheekiness".<ref name=voices/>

Sutton was a prolific recording artist during the late 1920s and 1930s, and many of his records are of a suggestively humorous nature.<ref name=voices>{{cite web|url=http://voices-of-variety.com/don-ross-and-thanks-for-the-memory/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140110084325/http://voices-of-variety.com/don-ross-and-thanks-for-the-memory/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=10 January 2014|title=Don Ross and 'Thanks for the Memory'|first=Stephen|last=Dixon|date=2013|publisher=Voices of Variety|accessdate=2021-01-02}}</ref> Among his recordings were "Jolly Good Company" (1931) and "The Sun Has Got His Hat On" (1932).<ref name=bristol/> While his best-known song (though first performed by Fred Barnes)<ref name=hudd/> was "On Mother Kelly's Doorstep", this was never recorded commercially, but private recordings were made and subsequently released on commercial compilations,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gramophone.net/Issue/Page/June%201969/88/760221/|title=Review, The Gramophone June 1969|publisher=}}</ref> including one recorded as late as January 1969, shortly before his death. He sung 'On Mother Kelly's Doorstep' on John Betjeman's 1962 BBC television programme 'Bristol My Home'.<ref>Youtube:'Bristol My Home'</ref>

He appeared regularly in BBC radio broadcasts from 1932, billed as "Britain's Premier Light Comedian".<ref name=rt>[https://web.archive.org/web/20250915115035/https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/search/0/20?order%3Dasc%26q%3D%22Randolph%2BSutton%22#search Search, Randolph Sutton, ''Radio Times'', ''BBC'']. Retrieved 2 January 2020</ref> He was also a star and producer of pantomime, and one of the modern era's earliest male principal boys.<ref name=hudd>Roy Hudd and Philip Hindin, ''Roy Hudd's Cavalcade of Variety Acts'', Robson Books, 1998, {{ISBN|1-86105-206-5}}, p.177</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/history/how-bristol-pioneered-pantomime-oh-821063|title=How Bristol pioneered pantomime... oh yes it did!|first1=Joseph|last1=Wilkes|first2=Eugene|last2=Byrne|date=25 November 2017|website=bristolpost}}</ref> As part of Don Ross's show ''Thanks For the Memory'', he appeared at the Royal Variety Performance in 1948.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.royalvarietycharity.org/royal-variety-performance/archive/detail/1948-london-palladium-|title=Performances :: 1948, London Palladium - Royal Variety Charity|first=Royal Variety|last=Charity|website=www.royalvarietycharity.org}}</ref> He continued to appear in radio and television broadcasts such as ''The Good Old Days'',<ref name=rt/> and in 1966 made a guest appearance as himself in ''Coronation Street''.<ref name=plaque/>

He made his final stage appearance at the City Hall Theatre in St Albans, Hertfordshire on 26 February 1969 and died two days later.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2bb4690217|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190121232451/https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2bb4690217|url-status=dead|archive-date=21 January 2019|title=Randolph Sutton|website=BFI}}</ref> He was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium on 5 March and his ashes placed in the Garden of Remembrance. A memorial plaque has been erected on the east wall of the West Memorial Court there, as well as a green plaque outside his Bristol birthplace.<ref name=plaque>{{cite web|author=Good Stuff |url=http://www.blueplaqueplaces.co.uk/randolph-sutton-green-plaque-in-bristol-2653#.XEXIL1z7TIU |title=Randolph Sutton green plaque in Bristol |publisher=Blue Plaque Places |date= |accessdate=2019-06-11}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist|2}}

==External links== * [http://www.musichallcds.com/var1_page.htm Variety Series CD] * {{IMDb name|id=3428523}} *{{Find a Grave|6305297}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sutton, Randolph}} Category:1888 births Category:1969 deaths Category:20th-century English singers Category:British music hall performers Category:20th-century English male singers