Roger Whittaker

Blaendulais

RIP

Durham Town was awesome

equalsql

Oh no. Another part of my childhood wiped away. 

He was an excellent singer and his whistling was next level.

Sad news indeed. RIP Roger.

Philly_Q

I'm afraid this is another one of those situations where I thought he'd died years, if not decades, ago... but I see he was actually much younger than I imagined - a couple of years younger than my dad, in fact.  I liked some of his songs when I was a little kid.

RIP

axisus

He was on tv a lot in the 70s. I mostly remember his beautiful whistling

57Deluxe

Mexican Whistler spawned many school playground copyists... He always seemed some stiff 'old bloke' off the telly to us kids but he sold 50 million records regardless! 

Kittyfrisk

Roger was the boring straight male establishment of the 1970's distilled into human form.
He had a really good voice though & as has been pointed out, he could whistle mellifluously. RIP.

MtB

Just reading about this in the Guardian newspaper today, and amazed to read that Roger Whittaker became one of the most prolific recording artists in Germany in the 1970s, having his translated lyrics transcribed phonetically and taking lessons to sound as if he meant what he sang.
He was the country's top selling artist in 1977.....

stickyfiddle

Many a car journey was spent with him on when I was a kid. He taught me to whistle! (Much to the annoyance of MrsF…!)

stufisher

I didn't know that a 'goldene stimmgabel' was an award ... but he won one apparently.

Philly_Q

Kittyfrisk said:

Roger was the boring straight male establishment of the 1970's distilled into human form.
He had a really good voice though & as has been pointed out, he could whistle mellifluously. RIP.

He wasn't that famous really though, was he?  And I don't particularly remember him flaunting his heterosexuality.  Or indeed any sexuality.  Just whistling.

Did he have his own TV show for a while?  I feel like I remember him having a very deep, reassuring speaking voice, like a doctor or a 1950s police sergeant.  Or maybe I'm just imagining his speaking voice based on his singing.

scrumhalf

He presented Whistle Stop, IIRC, which used to be on in the Friday afternoon Crackerjack slot. Wasn't there something to do with Scalextric (or something like that) as one if the games. 

DB1

I must admit that I assumed that he'd passed away some time ago  - he appeared quite old in the mid-70's (well, most people did to me then).  I remember buying a copy of 'The Last Farewell' for my mother, as she loved the song,  probably in about1975/76.

beed84

My stepdad used to listen to him, and even I quite liked Durham Town. He also gave whistling a whole new meaning. I still can't do it very well. RIP.

freakboy1610

The Last Farewell was one of the few "new" records that my mum and dad owned. He was 39 when that was a hit but he always seemed older. RIP

Offset

MtB said:

Just reading about this in the Guardian newspaper today, and amazed to read that Roger Whittaker became one of the most prolific recording artists in Germany in the 1970s, having his translated lyrics transcribed phonetically and taking lessons to sound as if he meant what he sang.
He was the country's top selling artist in 1977.....

I think that says a lot more about Germany than it does the late Mr Whittaker.