- African-born crooner and lead vocalist with the Ray Noble Orchestra. Killed during a German air raid on London in April 1941.
- In the 1930s, he signed two contracts - one in May 1931 with Roy Fox, singing in his live band for the Monseigneur Restaurant, a stylish restaurant on Piccadilly in London, the other a record contract with bandleader Ray Noble in November 1930.
- The Caretaker, who sampled Bowlly's music for his Everywhere at the End Of Time project, noted the public's opinion that if Bowlly did not die during the war, he would have been "bigger than Bing Crosby," and that "he had a better voice."[.
- After a series of odd jobs in South Africa, including barber and jockey, he sang in a dance band led by Edgar Adeler on a tour of South Africa, Rhodesia, India and the Dutch East Indies during the mid-1920s. His main role was as guitarist. He was fired from the band in Soerabaja, Dutch East Indies.
- On 16 April 1941, Bowlly and Messene had given a performance at the Rex Cinema in Oxford Street, High Wycombe. Both were offered an overnight stay in town, but Bowlly took the last train home to his flat at 32 Duke Street, Duke's Court, St James, London. He was killed by a Luftwaffe parachute mine that detonated outside his flat at ten past three in the morning. His body appeared unmarked. Although the explosion had not disfigured him, it had blown his bedroom door off its hinges, and the impact against his head was fatal. He was buried with other bombing victims in a mass grave at Hanwell Cemetery, Uxbridge Road, Hanwell, where his name is given as Albert Alex Bowlly.
- Jimmy Lequime hired Bowlly to sing with his band in India and Singapore.[5] When he left Lequime, it was with the pianist Monia Liter.
- In 1927 Bowlly made his first record, a cover version of "Blue Skies" by Irving Berlin that was recorded with Adeler in Berlin, Germany. During the next year, he worked in London, with the orchestra of Fred Elizalde.
- Richard Thompson wrote a song called 'Al Bowlly's In Heaven' included on his album Daring Adventures.
- A blue plaque commemorating Bowlly was installed in November 2013 by English Heritage at Charing Cross Mansion, 26 Charing Cross Road, described as "his home at the pinnacle of his career".
- Bowlly recorded his last song two weeks before his death. It was a duet with Messene of Irving Berlin's satirical song about Hitler, "When That Man Is Dead and Gone".
- In 1940, there was a revival of interest in his career when he worked in a duo with Jimmy Messene in Radio Stars with Two Guitars on the London stage. It was his last venture before his death in April 1941. The partnership was uneasy; Messene was an alcoholic and he was occasionally unable to perform.
- He recorded more than 1,000 songs.
- The onset of the Great Depression in 1929 resulted in Bowlly losing his job; he returned to several months of busking to survive.
- With diminished success in Britain, he toured regional theatres and recorded as often as possible to make a living, moving from orchestra to orchestra, working with Sydney Lipton, Geraldo and Ken "Snakehips" Johnson.
- Dennis Potter's television play Moonlight on the Highway, first broadcast in the UK on 12 April 1969, focused on a young Al Bowlly's obsessive attempting to blot out memories of sexual abuse via his fixation with the singer. Potter would go on to feature Bowlly's music in Pennies from Heaven (1978).
- His most popular songs include "Midnight, the Stars and You", "Goodnight, Sweetheart", "Close Your Eyes", "The Very Thought of You", "Guilty", "Heartaches" and "Love Is the Sweetest Thing". He also recorded the only English version of "Dark Eyes" by Adalgiso Ferraris, as "Black Eyes", with the words of Albert Mellor.
- In December 1931, Bowlly married Constance Freda Roberts (died 1934) in St Martin's Register Office, London; the couple separated after a fortnight and sought a divorce.
- During four years (1930 - 1934), he recorded over 500 songs.
- Bowlly performed in England with his band, the Radio City Rhythm Makers. By 1937, the band had broken up when vocal problems were traced to a wart in his throat, briefly causing him to lose his voice. Separated from his wife and with his band dissolved, he borrowed money from friends and travelled to New York City for surgery.
- Bowlly was a Portuguese Mozambique-born South African-British vocalist and jazz guitarist, who was popular during the 1930s in Britain.
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