winter 2014 the trombonist
January 10th 1934 – September 30th 2014
SHEILA TRACY tributes by Jane Salmon
Much-loved BBC broadcaster and former BTS President Sheila Tracy was a talented broadcaster who enjoyed a strong rapport with musicians of many traditions. Her career took off in an era when a television in the home was a rarity and live performances drew audiences who liked what they had heard on the “wireless”. Although a trailblazer for women on the television, it was in radio – particularly the world of Radio 2 – that she found her final niche. Sheila studied trombone under Sidney Langston, along with violin and piano, at London’s Royal Academy of Music. Choosing trombone as her specialist instrument, she remembered, “Down in the string section at the Royal Academy, it was all girls. Up in the brass were all the boys! I had never played a brass instrument before, but it all worked out. I have never been out of work.” Sheila joined the Ivy Benson All Girls Band in 1956. While in the band, she paired up with trombone player and vocalist, Phyll Brown to form the duo ‘The Tracy Sisters’. The act’s first big break occurred when they replaced the Kaye Sisters on a tour with brothers Mike and Bernie Winters, the English comedy double act. This led to regular radio and television broadcasts, appearing on popular shows such as ‘Workers Playtime’ and ‘The Black and White Minstrel Show’. Their cabaret jobs took them all over the world, including a three-month engagement at the Great Eastern Hotel, Calcutta. 22
weekly broadcasts, the band played up to 60 concerts a year and for non-broadcast performances, Sheila was even known to join the trombone section. In the end Sheila spent over two decades with Big Band Special.
Angela Rippon, Sue Lawley, Sheila
Tracy
The subsequent invitation of a sixmonth contract in Las Vegas was too much for Brown, who declined, and the duo broke up. At her mother’s suggestion, Sheila applied to the BBC for a job. She was accepted, and in the 1960s began her television career as one of the last in-vision announcers. After arguing passionately that the nation was ready for a female newsreader, Sheila made her radio debut in a late-night Radio 4 slot in July 1974, making radio history as the first female newsreader with the BBC. Three years later, Sheila transferred to Radio 2, where she pioneered the music show ‘Trucker’s Hour’, an idea borrowed from the US. Presenting this popular overnight show gained Sheila a cult following and she later insisted it was “the most successful show I’ve ever done”. Sheila was to enjoy even longer-lasting popularity as the presenter of Radio 2’s ‘Big Band Special’. From its inception in 1979, the show was centred on the BBC Big Band, which was then a contracted BBC Orchestra. As well as the show’s
Sheila was also the long-serving presenter of Radio 2’s National Big Band Competition. Her producer on Big Band special, Bob McDowell, explains that: “True to form, she wouldn’t just show up for the Winners broadcast – but always attended the judging session and took a genuine interest in what the next generation of musicians were doing”.