Description

WALTER MALCOLM NEIL MCEACHERN (ALBURY, NEW SOUTH WALES, 1 APRIL, 1883 – LONDON, 17 JANUARY, 1945)

McEachern was born in Albury, New South Wales, the sixth of 13 children of Archibald Hector McEachern and his wife, Rebecca Mary. On 2 February 1916, McEachern married pianist Hazel Hogarth Doyle, who later became his accompanist and provided the musical direction for his career. He was a Freemason, and a member of the Savage Club Lodge in London. During World War I, McEachern went on a tour of Australia with the great Australian soprano Nellie Melba. Also in the touring company were Ella Caspers, Ada Crossley and Marie Narelle. In 1921 McEachern went to England with his wife, where he was hailed as one of the world’s best bass vocalists. He was especially acclaimed as an oratorio singer although his voice was equally well suited to the demands of opera; but unlike his finest contemporary rival among English-language basses, Norman Allin, he elected not to pursue a career in that particular art form. McEachern did appear, however, in an array of staged Gilbert and Sullivan Savoy operettas under the batons of the famous conductors Sir Henry Wood and Sir John Barbirolli. In early 1926, McEachern forged a light-entertainment collaboration with Bentley Collingwood Hilliam, a pianist from Yorkshire. Their act proved to be a great success with British audiences and they became famous as Mr. Flotsam and Mr. Jetsam. McEachern was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus and died after an operation in London on 17 January 1945. His name is commemorated in Australia by McEachern Crescent in the Canberra suburb of Melba.

TRACKLIST

1. Messiah (Händel) Why do the Nations Vocalion D-02087 02980
2. My Old Shako (Barron & Trotere) Columbia DB4 A 8694
3. My Old Shako (Barron & Trotere) Vocalion K-05286 M0219
4. Nabucco (Verdi) Sperate o figli Vocalion K-05197 04081
5. Samson (Händel) Honour and arms Vocalion C-01056 02673
6. Scipio (Händel) Hear me ye winds and waves Vocalion D-02108 03264
7. Son and Stranger (Mendelssohn) I am a roamer Vocalion C-01020 02372
8. The Curfew (Monk & Gold) Vocalion D-02079 02803
9. The Deathless Army (Trotere) Vocalion K-05286 M0220X
10. The Desert (Louis Emmanuel) Vocalion D-02095 02812
11. The Lute Player (Allitson) Vocalion D-02053 02682
12. The Mighty Deep (Jude) Vocalion K-05171 03689
13. The Raft (Pinsuti) Vocalion D-02090 02814
14. The Roman Road (Henty) Vocalion K-05279 M072X
15. The Windmill (Longfellow & Nelson) Columbia DB4 A 9669
16. The Witch of Bowden (F S Breville-Smith) Vocalion X-9512 03693
17. Vêpres Siciliennes (Verdi) O tu Palermo Vocalion C-01026 02386