Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
The Greene Sisters, stage names Judy, Gertie and Jeanette were a close harmony singing trio. The girls were three of five children born to Rebecca Lazarus and Jacob Greenbaum in the East End of London; Gillian (1912-2000), Marcus (1914-1983), Janetta (1921-2007), Juliet (1922-2008) and Sylvia (1928- 2009).
Their father Jack worked in the leather trade and encouraged his daughters singing career over the years.
Rebecca their mother was the daughter of Jacob Lazarus a founding members of the staunchly orthodox Machzikei Hadath Synagogue in Spitalfields.
The trio were discovered by Sidney Phillips, bandleader and arranger in the late 1930's. They spent their early years touring Britain appearing on stage in Bradford, Liverpool, Aberdeen, Dundee to name but a few, and on the London Stage including Empire, Finsbury Park and the London Coliseum. They also performed in fundraising concerts in 1941 in aid of General Jewish Hospital (Shaare Zedek) Jerusalem and in aid of 10th London and 33rd Middlesex Battalions, Home-guard Welfare Fund.
They were a hard working trio moving from live stage performances to radio and latterly Television broadcasts, but they were probably most well known as performers on the popular radio series 'Hi Gang!' 'Hi Gang!' featured Ben Lyon and his wife, Bebe Daniels the Jewish Hollywood couple. Along with Vic Oliver, the well-known entertainer, they broadcast 'from the heart of London”'each week between May 1940 until 1949 to a home and forces audience.
Sadly the trio never made it in America as their father prevented them crossing the Atlantic to perform on Bing Crosby's wartime show. However the Sisters continued performing and in 1954 appeared on 'Showcase' where Benny Hill introduced artists and acts new to Television.
Sylvia was a gifted composer and wrote and arranged music for her sisters as well as occasionally performing with them or on her own. She also wrote a musical play 'A Great Guy' which was never performed but was published and copies of the play and the music also written by Sylvia survive in the collection.
The family moved to North West London in the 1940's to a home named 'The Harmonies' and although none of the children married they remained close.