Sydney Kyte

Career

Sydney Kyte, born Solomon Barnett Chyte in Spitalfields, east London in 1896, was a British dance band leader and violinist who rose to fame in the 1930s. He was Jewish and, at age 13, performed classical music at the Salle Érard, earning a mention in The Daily Telegraph for a solo that "showed promise." He studied at the Royal Academy of Music, winning a scholarship at 15 and later becoming an associate there. In 1914, he joined the Royal Life Guards.

Kyte first gained attention as deputy leader of the Savoy Orpheans, recording with them as a violinist from 1926. He also played violin on 1927 recordings by The Sylvians, another Savoy Hotel group, before brief engagements at The Berkeley hotel and Ciro's nightclub. During the 1930s, he served as musical director at The Piccadilly Hotel in central London, where his band played and broadcast. By 1939, after six years as resident bandleader there, he had logged over 700 hours of radio airtime—more than any other bandleader except Henry Hall.

His signature tune was "Tune In, Keep Listening" by Harry S. Pepper and John Watt. Following his Piccadilly tenure, he toured the UK. His popularity earned him a spot among 25 dance band leaders on a 1936 set of Lambert & Butler cigarette cards, which noted his hobbies included fishing "particularly for octopuses off the coast of Majorca" and that he was musical director to the Duke of Westminster. Kyte and his orchestra appeared in the 1937 film Saturday Night Revue.

He began recording as a bandleader in October 1931 with the Piccadilly Hotel Band for Regal, cutting the hit "Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries." He recorded regularly for Regal until September 1932, then moved to Durium, leading their Durium Dance Band. In 1933, his band switched to Edison Bell Winner for three sessions. After an 18-month break, he recorded for Panachord in 1935, followed by three Decca sessions in 1936 and a final Rex session in June 1939, ending his regular studio work.

His recorded titles included "Paradise," "The Sun Has Got His Hat On," "Stars Fell on Alabama," and "A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody," with vocalists like Anona Winn and Sam Costa. His last BBC Radio broadcast was a June 1942 Forces Programme show. Kyte married Amy in Westminster in 1928 and lived in Golders Green from the 1930s to the 1960s. He died on 29 July 1981, aged 85, in Great Leighs, Essex, surviving his wife by three years.