Dame Vera Lynn Tops The British Album Chart At Age 92

In Pink Floyd’s song “Vera” from the band’s landmark 1979 album The Wall, Roger Waters poses the question, “Does anyone remember Vera Lynn?” The answer to Waters’ query is apparently a resounding yes, as the 92-year-old Dame Vera Lynn (pictured above) became the oldest artist ever to top the UK album chart. Dame Vera’s best-of album We’ll Meet Again – The Very Best of Vera Lynn came close to knocking Arctic Monkeys’ Humbug album off the top of the chart recently. This time, the “Sweetheart of the Forces,” as she was known during the Second World War, staved off challenges from The Beatles’ remastered CDs to stand alone atop the album chart. Prior to Dame Vera’s chart victory, Bob Dylan had been the oldest artist to top the UK album chart.

Dame Vera’s album began its climb up the album chart during the recent 70th anniversary of the start of World War II. After receiving the news of her unlikely placement in the album chart, Dame Vera issued a statement that read:

“I am extremely surprised and delighted, and a big thank you to all my fans for putting me there.”

On the subject of Dame Vera topping The Beatles on the chart, Gennaro Castaldo, spokesman for UK music retailer HMV, told The Times of London:

“It’s a really lovely surprise, that nobody could have imagined a few weeks ago, and it’s ironic that it’s taken one revered British icon to block the historic return of another to the top of the charts.”

According to NME.com, the current top ten UK albums are:

1. Vera Lynn – We’ll Meet Again – The Very Best Of
2. Jamie T – Kings & Queens
3. David Guetta – One Love
4. Arctic Monkeys – Humbug
5. The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
6. The Beatles – Abbey Road
7. Kings Of Leon – Only By The Night
8. The Cribs – Ignore The Ignorant
9. The Beatles – Revolver
10. The Beatles – Rubber Soul

For more on this story, see the articles from The Times of London and NME.com. 

To mark the 7oth anniversary of the Second World War, Dame Vera recently sat for an interview with Andrew Castle of the ITV morning show GMTV. Dame Vera talked about how she heard that Britain was at war, the origin of her “Sweetheart of the Forces” title, and her thoughts on the current overseas conflicts involving Britain. She asked, sadly, “For what purpose are our boys being killed?” At the end of the interview, Dame Vera even sang a bit of her hit song “We’ll Meet Again” at the end of the interview. It was a great interview and well worth watching. You can see it by clicking below:

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