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Roger Whittaker

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Obituary

Passed away in France aged 87. Worldwide album sales of 50 million – hearing him always takes me back to my childhood days.

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  1. I have a bit of a soft spot for Rog. My grandad was a massive fan, and those tunes always whisk me back in time. I’m not sure there are many fans of whistling on here, but he did it bloody well!

    Cool or not, I couldn’t care less: I love this song.

    • Nothing against him at all, a decent comforting voice. When I heard the news this morning I was reminded of something I had completely forgotten. I used to work in a sports shop in Limerick. Stockroom mostly, but I would cover the golf section most lunchtimes. One day I’m pretty sure I served old Rog and his missus. Can’t remember what they bought – golf gloves maybe. The voice sounded right and I got a glimpse of the debit card and it looked like it could have been the right name as well.
      *I just checked and, sure enough, they lived in the West of Ireland in the early part of this century, same time I worked in Limerick. I might have to update the ‘Brushes with Celebrity’ thread.

  2. There was a story I vaguely remember about Joan Collins being flown around by Rog because they were friends – he was a pilot and had a little plane of his own, so when she needed to go to the continent he’d fly her over.

  4. Always associated him, rightly or wrongly, with appearances on Saturday night TV, maybe at teatime. Or was he a regular guest on Pebble Mill? Can’t say I’ve listened to him since the 1970s, but sales of 50 million deserves a lot of respect. RIP.

    • IIRC, he had a show called Whistle Stop Whittaker but I recall it being on Friday when Crackerjack (Brian Kennedy!} was on hiatus.

      Pretty sure he was born in Nairobi

      • Yep, he was including some African or African/Caribbean derived songs and others sourced from around the world on his albums from very early on. My dad was a fan, and even I, a snotty teenaged prog fan, enjoyed some of his work – his delivery was always familiar, but his choice of material was eclectic at a time when many others were completely formulaic.

  6. Us teenagers hated him with an unwavering passion. Listening to the radio hoping for The Beatles or Kinks but instead “I’ve gotta leave old Durham town”, a Durham miraculously moved to the banks of the River Tyne ..
    A lot of his 50 million sales were in Germany apparently – why?

  7. I have an embarrassing story….

    I really like ‘I Don’t Believe In If Anymore’ by Roger Whittaker and first heard when it was featured on an episode of Life On Mars, since then it has been on my Starred Spotify playlist. When working in a trendy Soho office, music was played & there was usually a bit of argument due to the different tastes in the office. One day I was enjoying all songs played & noticed it was my playlist being played by the receptionist!
    I was getting some praise for my eclectic music tastes & we were veering happily from The Fall to Kylie via Fleetwood Mac & all was good. That was until I heard the first bars of this track & I realised we had hit an extremity of my playlist. I rather sheepishly requested we change music to calls of ‘what the f*ck is this?!?’ I still maintain it is a great tune, but best enjoyed via headphones…

    Anyway. RIP to Roger, if this happened again I would defend this track to the hilt!

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