Vera Lynn

Dame Vera Lynn CH DBE OStJ
Portrait by Allan Warren, c. 1973
Born	Vera Margaret Welch (1917-03-20)20 March 1917 East Ham, Essex, England
Died	18 June 2020(2020-06-18) (aged 103) Haywards Heath, West Sussex, England[1]
Years active	1924–2020
Spouse	Harry Lewis ​ ​ (m. 1941; died 1998)​
Children	1
Musical career
Genres	Popular traditional pop
Labels	Decca London for export MGM HMV Columbia (EMI) EMI Pye
Musical artist
Military career
Service/branch	Entertainments National Service Association
Years of service	1939–1945
Battles/wars	Battle of Kohima

Dame Vera Margaret Lynn CH DBE OStJ (née Welch; 20 March 1917 – 18 June 2020) was an English singer and entertainer whose musical recordings and performances were very popular during World War II. She is honorifically known as the "Forces' Sweetheart", having given outdoor concerts for the troops in Egypt, India and Burma during the war as part of the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA). The songs most associated with her include "We'll Meet Again", "(There'll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover", "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" and "There'll Always Be an England".

She remained popular after the war, appearing on radio and television in the United Kingdom and the United States, and recording such hits as "Auf Wiederseh'n, Sweetheart" and her UK number-one single "My Son, My Son". Her last single, "I Love This Land", was released to mark the end of the Falklands War. In 2009, at the age of 92, she became the oldest living artist to top the UK Albums Chart with the compilation album We'll Meet Again: The Very Best of Vera Lynn.^[2] In 2014, she released the collection Vera Lynn: National Treasure and in 2017, she released Vera Lynn 100, a compilation album of hits to commemorate her centenary—it was a No. 3 hit, making her the first centenarian performer to have a Top 10 album in the charts.^[3] By the time of her death in 2020, she had been active in the music industry for 96 years.

Lynn devoted much time and energy to charity work connected with ex-servicemen, disabled children and breast cancer. She was held in great affection by Second World War veterans and in 2000 was named the Briton who best exemplified the spirit of the 20th century.^[4]