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Tommy Eytle
Thomas Daniel Hicks Eytle (16 July 1926 – 19 June 2007) was a Guyanese calypso musician and actor. Although born in Guyana, Eytle's career was based in the United Kingdom, where he lived after emigrating in 1951.
Eytle's career began in the 1950s. He initially found success playing African and Caribbean music with his calypso band. He continued to perform musically until the mid-1990s. He had many roles on television, radio, film and stage, but he was most famous for playing the role of Jules Tavernier in the BBC soap opera EastEnders from 1990 to 1997.
Eytle was born in Georgetown, Guyana (then British Guiana), to James, a gold miner, and Gertrude Eytle. Eytle attended St Philip's Primary School, Central High School and Queen's College in Georgetown. After finishing his education he worked as a gold and diamond miner with his father for a year, before joining the Civil Service and qualifying as a land surveyor.
His parents separated in 1951 and his mother and siblings moved to London. Eytle joined them, arriving for a holiday on Festival of Britain Day, and decided to stay in the UK. He worked first as a surveyor and draughtsman before turning to music and working as a bandleader at some of London's top hotels.
Eytle was a self-taught guitarist and in the early 1950s he formed Tommy Eytle's Calypso Band in response to the surge of interest in African and Caribbean music at the time. The band performed a mix of Afro-Caribbean music and modern jazz and in addition to playing the jazz guitar, Eytle provided the band's vocals. They performed in many jazz venues and nightclubs around the country, including the Sunset Club, the Bag O'Nails, Club Basie, Pigalle and Al Burnett's Stork Club.
Tommy Eytle's Calypso Band were featured in many BBC plays and were most notable for performing "Narrative Calypso" in the film The Tommy Steele Story (1957), in which Eytle sang and played the guitar.
Eytle worked as a professional musician until the late 1980s, but he was forced to give up playing the guitar due to early onset arthritis in his hands. However, he continued to sing jazz and calypsos into the mid-1990s and was given occasional acoustic solos in BBC's EastEnders, which he sang – in-character – during scenes in the soap's pub, The Queen Vic.
During the 1950s he was introduced to acting when he auditioned for a few radio plays. Throughout his career he appeared in many BBC radio plays (mostly by black dramatists), which included The Barren One (1958) with Cleo Laine; Lorca's Yerma by Sylvia Wynter; Jan Carew's The Riverman (1968) and Milk in the Coffee (1975). Other radio plays included Carnival in Trinidad (1975) and God in the Water (1983).
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Tommy Eytle
Thomas Daniel Hicks Eytle (16 July 1926 – 19 June 2007) was a Guyanese calypso musician and actor. Although born in Guyana, Eytle's career was based in the United Kingdom, where he lived after emigrating in 1951.
Eytle's career began in the 1950s. He initially found success playing African and Caribbean music with his calypso band. He continued to perform musically until the mid-1990s. He had many roles on television, radio, film and stage, but he was most famous for playing the role of Jules Tavernier in the BBC soap opera EastEnders from 1990 to 1997.
Eytle was born in Georgetown, Guyana (then British Guiana), to James, a gold miner, and Gertrude Eytle. Eytle attended St Philip's Primary School, Central High School and Queen's College in Georgetown. After finishing his education he worked as a gold and diamond miner with his father for a year, before joining the Civil Service and qualifying as a land surveyor.
His parents separated in 1951 and his mother and siblings moved to London. Eytle joined them, arriving for a holiday on Festival of Britain Day, and decided to stay in the UK. He worked first as a surveyor and draughtsman before turning to music and working as a bandleader at some of London's top hotels.
Eytle was a self-taught guitarist and in the early 1950s he formed Tommy Eytle's Calypso Band in response to the surge of interest in African and Caribbean music at the time. The band performed a mix of Afro-Caribbean music and modern jazz and in addition to playing the jazz guitar, Eytle provided the band's vocals. They performed in many jazz venues and nightclubs around the country, including the Sunset Club, the Bag O'Nails, Club Basie, Pigalle and Al Burnett's Stork Club.
Tommy Eytle's Calypso Band were featured in many BBC plays and were most notable for performing "Narrative Calypso" in the film The Tommy Steele Story (1957), in which Eytle sang and played the guitar.
Eytle worked as a professional musician until the late 1980s, but he was forced to give up playing the guitar due to early onset arthritis in his hands. However, he continued to sing jazz and calypsos into the mid-1990s and was given occasional acoustic solos in BBC's EastEnders, which he sang – in-character – during scenes in the soap's pub, The Queen Vic.
During the 1950s he was introduced to acting when he auditioned for a few radio plays. Throughout his career he appeared in many BBC radio plays (mostly by black dramatists), which included The Barren One (1958) with Cleo Laine; Lorca's Yerma by Sylvia Wynter; Jan Carew's The Riverman (1968) and Milk in the Coffee (1975). Other radio plays included Carnival in Trinidad (1975) and God in the Water (1983).