Mr Acker Bilk, MBE

Career: jazz musician, composer and bandleader; early career at Wills tobacco factory Bristol then nat serv Royal Engrs; started playing clarinet 1948, clarinettist with Ken Colyer's Band London, fndr Bristol Paramount Jazz Band 1951; singles incl: Somerset, Stranger on the Shore 1961 (first no 1 simultaneously in UK and America), Aria 1976; CDs incl: The One For Me, Sheer Magic, Evergreen (platinum), Chalumeau, Three in the Morning & At Sundown (with Humphrey Lyttelton), Giants of Jazz (with Kenny Ball), Chris & Acker (with Chris Barber), Clarinet Moods, Love Songs of the Nineties, Classic Themes (with strings), As Time Goes By; tours incl: Australia, New Zealand, Far East, Middle East, South Africa, Scandinavia, Poland, Hungary, America, Canada, New Orleans with Kenny Colyer Trust Band, Ireland, Europe (with Papa Bue, Monty Sunshine, Dutch Swing etc); select concerts with The Three Bs (Paramount Jazz Band, Kenny Ball and Chris Barber); BBC Jazz Award 2005, Silver Medal for lifetime achievement Worshipful Co of Musicians 2008, Bristol Walk of Fame 2010; Hon MA Univ of Bristol 2005