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The strength of Gracie Fields' superb soprano voice transported the actress and singer from her humble start in a small Lancashire backstreet to her position many years later as a Dame of the British Empire. Born in 1898 above a shop in the town of Rochdale, her 60 years in music and movies survived the war years and a batch of related negative publicity, a battle against cancer of the cervix, and three husbands. Fields, who was born Gracie Stansfield, started her career in traveling British troupes while earning extra money with factory work. Her acquaintance with Archie Pitt, a comedian, gave her fledgling career a boost when he began to promote her in earnest. The two first worked together in a revue called Yes, I Think So in 1915. More revues followed, and in 1923, Pitt wed the future star. Two years later, Fields and Pitt brought a highly successful revue to the Alhambra Theatre in London and went on the road with the production for almost a decade. Fields was officially a star a...