Born in Great Lever, this artist was one of Great Britain's greatest big band leaders and theater producers. Jack Hylton's father and mother were employed in a cotton mill and as a school teacher respectively; near the close of the 19th century Hylton began taking piano lessons. A few years later his father moved from the mill to running his own pub, providing a series of gigs in which young Hylton either accompanied his father's or his own vocalizing.
As the first decade of the new century unfolded, Hylton achieved status as a true professional, performing in a series of the...