Cliff Adams | | The Guardian

Cliff Adams

In the late 1950s, Cliff Adams, who has died aged 78, became a household name on British radio - first through his work with the vocal group the Stargazers, before founding the Cliff Adams Singers. As rock and roll began to dominate the airwaves of America, Adams's work, with its smooth, melodic and unruffled sound, fitted a still nostalgic British post-war musical atmosphere.

It was on July 3 1959 that the nation first heard the programme that was to establish Adams: Sing Something Simple - "songs simply sung for song-lovers", as the Radio Times billed the debut broadcast. The programme is still broadcast on Radio 2 at the same time every Sunday, earning itself the title of the longest-running continuous music programme in the world.

Given only four weeks to get the show ready, Adams put together a 16-strong choir, predominantly men - he believed that the sound of male voices encouraged audience participation more than female - brightened by a sprinkling of four women, accordionist Jack Emblow, a rhythm section and Adams on piano. He had found a winning formula, one that was to be used by countless other performers, not least Max Bygraves. Working on his own arrangements, he eventually amassed an aston ishing library of around 6,000 titles.

Adams was born in Southwark, southeast London. At nine he became a chorister at St Mary le Bow, Cheapside. The organist there gave him piano and organ lessons, and at 16 he was working as a pianist in a big band. With the outbreak of the second world war, Adams was drafted into the RAF. His rapidly developing musical skills - by this time he was also playing trombone, as well as composing and arranging - led to his being sent to Uxbridge, headquarters of the RAF music services. With them, he spent three years in Africa, for much of the time as part of a 14-piece band, where he was able to hone his writing and arranging skills. On demobilisation he joined the Leslie Douglas Band as pianist and arranger.

By the mid-1940s, and encouraged by the formidable all-woman band leader, Ivy Benson, Adams wrote and arranged for some of the best-known bands of the day, including Ambrose, Ted Heath, Cyril Stapleton and Eric Winstone.

In 1949, keen to return to performing, he formed a vocal group with Fred Datchler, Bob Brown, Ronnie Milne and Marie Benson: The Stargazers. They backed leading singers of the day, such as Al Martino and Jimmy Young, and in 1953 topped the then newly established singles charts with Broken Wings - the first British artists to achieve a No 1. Other hits followed, including I See The Moon, Happy Wanderer, Twenty Tiny Fingers and Close the Door. On radio there were spots in The Forces Show, The Show Band Show and other light entertainment programmes. To herald each appearance Adams wrote a signature tune - The Stargazers Are On The Air! - which became as famous as many of their hits.

With the advent of independent television, Adams found a niche in TV advertising. Among the earliest commercials to make an impact was his jingle for Murraymints - the "too-good-to-hurry mints" - courtesy of The Stargazers, with Adams providing the voice of the guardsman who refused to return to his post until he had finished the long-lasting confectionery. Its success led to jingles for Fry's Turkish Delight, Cadbury's Milk Tray and for the mashed potato mix - "For Mash Get Smash". In 1960 the so-called Lonely Man Theme for Strand cigarettes even made it into the lower reaches of the charts, and may well have gone higher had the BBC not to ban it.

In 1954, Adams had formed a new group for appearances on The Show Band Show, which backed Frank Sinatra, Eartha Kitt, Mel Tormé and Frankie Laine when they came to Britain. Originally called The Show Band Singers, it adopted its director's name and moved to television.

While Sing Something Simple was to play an important role for much of the rest of Adams's life - there were short-lived TV spin-offs, 1961's Something Old, Something New and 1964's Sing-Along Saturday - it was by no means his exclusive musical activity. In 1964 Duke Ellington chose Adams's group to sing with his orchestra at Coventry Cathedral, and when Ellington returned a few years later, the partnership was renewed. In 1976 Adams ventured into the world of West End musicals with the score for the two-act show Liza of Lambeth at the Shaftesbury Theatre, based on the novel by W Somerset Maugham.

For much of his life, Adams lived in Chelsea, where he built up an art collection of British pictures from the first part of the 20th century. Following open-heart surgery in the late 1970s, he took up tennis, playing almost every day at the Queen's Club.

Adams, who was married three times, is survived by two daughters and a son.

· Cliff Adams, musician, born August 21 1923; died October 22 2001

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