"Legendary Coventry crooner Vince Hill coming out of retirement for home town concert"

[dutchman]

The Holbrooks-born singer is taking part in the Coventry UK City of Culture 2021 programme this month



Legendary Coventry crooner Vince Hill is coming out of retirement to help celebrate Coventry’s year in the spotlight as UK City of Culture.

The 87-year-old singer, who had a smash hit with his recording of Sound of Music classic Edelweiss in 1967, will be taking to the stage again later this month.

Vince announced a farewell gig in the city two years ago at the not inconsiderable age of 85, but will be performing again at the Assembly Festival Garden in Coventry city centre on Saturday, August 21.

The afternoon performance - a mixture of conversation and song - starts at 1pm at the Queen of Flanders covered arena.

Vince was born in Holbrooks and in this one-off special show will be talking to entertainer Mark Andrews about his long career in showbusiness, as well as singing a few of his best-selling hits.

Throughout his career the singer has recorded more than 300 songs and performed all over the world from the Royal Albert Hall to the Sydney Opera House.

He also hosted a number of popular television series during the 1970s and 1980s, including They Sold A Million and Musical Time Machine for the BBC, and ITV chat show Gas Street.

Vince has also performed many times for royalty.

In May 2019 it was revealed Vince was to perform what was then billed as ‘a farewell performance’ at Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre.

The Belgrade Theatre benefit concert - which included stories and songs from his career - saw his performance fee and £1 from every ticket sold donated to the Belgrade Theatre Trust.

Winding the clock back two years, Vince gave a tantalising hint that he could well return to the spotlight in his native city.

He revealed his love for Coventry and his delight that the city had been chosen as UK City of Culture 2021.

He said: “I rarely do concerts nowadays but simply couldn’t resist the opportunity to do a show that will benefit the wonderful charitable work that the Belgrade Theatre Trust does in the local community.

“Coventry gave me my big break when I started my showbiz career and my hope is the monies raised will help the next generation of local talent get started on their paths to stardom.