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Harry Parr-Davies

Harry Parr-Davies

Composer / Songwriter

Harry Parr-Davies was born in Briton Ferry, near Neath, on 24 May 1914. A musical prodigy, he was still a teenager when in 1931 he talked his way into Gracie Fields' dressing room at the Winter Garden Theatre in London to play her his songs. She took him on, and from 1934 he was her accompanist.

He wrote many of the songs most closely associated with Fields, including Sing As We Go, Wish Me Luck as You Wave Me Goodbye, which became a wartime anthem, and Pedro the Fisherman. He also wrote for revues and musical shows, including Crash, Bang, I Want to Go Home for Black Velvet in 1939.

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Briton Ferry songwriter behind Sing As We Go and Wish Me Luck as You Wave Me Goodbye, and Gracie Fields' pianist.

After the war he composed a run of West End musicals, among them the Welsh-set Jenny Jones, Fine Feathers, Her Excellency for Cicely Courtneidge, Dear Miss Phoebe and The Glorious Days for Anna Neagle. He died at his London home on 14 October 1955, aged just 41. The song Red Sails in the Sunset, sometimes credited to him, was in fact written by Hugh Williams and Jimmy Kennedy.

Career Highlights

  • 1934 - Became Gracie Fields' accompanist
  • Wrote Sing As We Go and Wish Me Luck as You Wave Me Goodbye
  • 1952 - The Glorious Days for Anna Neagle
ℹ️ Born 24 May 1914 in Briton Ferry, Neath, Wales.
ℹ️ Died 14 October 1955 in Knightsbridge, London, aged 41.

Born Harry Parr Davies in Briton Ferry, near Neath, to Welsh parents.

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