Letter: Torbay musician recalls meeting wife thanks to jazz legend Billy Munn

Dear Ian,

I thoroughly enjoyed your informative and interesting articles in the Torbay Weekly on Billy Munn. To add a postscript on all you wrote about him, my wife and I can perhaps bring it to its conclusion.

In 1967 I was booked as a young pianist/organist to play with the band in the Victoria Hotel on Belgrave Road. I already knew Steve Evans, who was working in the Imperial Hotel in the Commodore Night Club (later the Pigalle), and he introduced me to Billy. 

I played Shostakovich's Three Fantastic Dances for Piano to him – Billy was also an excellent classical pianist. The very fact that I could perform those pieces impressed him, I think. They are very difficult to play. 

Billy's comment at the time was: “I've heard better, and I have heard worse, but nay bad, laddie,” which coming from Billy was quite a compliment.

Above: The Imperial Band, 1983-1992, above left: Paul and Suzy, with, on the right, Bobby the drummer.

Fast forward to 1970; Steve Evans and his group were leaving the Imperial Hotel and Billy offered me the job as pianist/organist in the nightclub. My Three Fantastic Dances had obviously done the trick. We needed a vocalist for the job. The hotel advertised in the Melody Maker (which was the premier music paper of the day), and Suzy Brown (no relation) was working in London at that time and saw the ad, came to Torquay, was auditioned by Billy, and got the job. 

She possessed one of the best and most natural voices I had ever heard. So, thanks to Billy, I met my future partner and wife, although for the first few years we were just friends who occasionally bumped into each other whilst working in the music business, and 55 years later we are still together.

Moving forward a number of years, Suzy and I had just returned from the USA, where we had been working for Princess Cruises, when our London agent called us to inform us that the Imperial (still a five-star hotel) was looking for a musical director and resident band for a six-month contract.

By this time Billy Munn and Michael Chapman (previous owner of the Imperial) had both retired. Our agent knew that we had worked at the hotel previously and asked us if we would be interested. At that time it was the best residency in the country, and the standards required were the highest, meeting, socialising and entertaining some of the country's top politicians, statesmen, TV stars (both famous and infamous) and nobility (both British and foreign). 

Harry Murray, one of the top hotel managers in the world, was then executive director. So on the strength of a six-month contract, we came back to the Imperial. It was everything a top hotel should be, complete with a top-hatted doorman and a full-time flower lady. During ours and Harry Murray's time there, we won the prestigious “Hotelier of the Year Award” and nine years later, on the strength of a six-month contract... we left! What a great job it was.

Above: The Paignton Carnival Imperial float, created by George Ramsey

Billy Munn used to still pop into the hotel from time to time, and we became good friends. Even being invited to his and Eileen's house in Ilsham Valley. 

You couldn't just turn up at Billy's; you had to ring and make an appointment. The last time Billy came into the Imperial, he was wearing a suit and tie (when wearing a tie was still de rigueur) with pianos emblazoned on it. I admired the tie and Billy took it off and gave it to me. (“There you are, Laddie, a wee present for ya”). I still have it and wouldn't part with it for the world.

If you need more amusing and incredible stories about the character of Billy Munn, I still have more.

Also attached are a few pics of our time at The Imperial, which you may find interesting.

Paul Brown