Summary
ACKER BILK Tomorrow. Subscription Rooms, Stroud 01453 760900 THE GRAND master of the clarinet arrives in Stroud this weekend. Did you know Acker Bilk, the grand master of the clarinet, was the first Brit to have a number one on the US Billboard Hot 100? His single Stranger On The Shore hit number one on both sides of the Atlantic in 1961 and went on to be the highest selling record of 1962 in the UK.
To this day it is the biggest-selling instrumental single of all time, and appears 58th in the official UK list of best-selling singles ever. Since then Acker, now aged 82, has continued to tour with his Paramount Jazz Band and also played on Van Morrison's two recent albums Down The Road and What's Wrong With This Picture? Born Bernard Stanley Bilk, he grew up in Somerset and acquired his nickname "Acker" local slang for "mate". He first picked up the clarinet when on National Service in pre-Suez Egypt and formed a band named the Original Egyptian Stompers. When he returned to the UK, he started the Bristol Paramount Jazz Band. The rest, as they say, is history.See the full content of this document
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