Eddie Mordue

Who was Eddie Mordue?

Edwin "Eddie" Mordue was a British jazz saxophonist whose career spanned 70 years.

Born in South Shields in January 1928, Edwin Mordue moved to London in 1941 aged 13 and toured with 'Archie's Juvenile Band'. During the Second World War, he played tenor saxophone with the Eric Winstone Band where he met singer Julie Dawn, whom he married after the war. The couple went on to record and perform with Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly and Sammy Davis, Jr.. Eddie joined the Jack Nathan Band in 1951, a regular at the London Palladium and the emerging West End jazz scene, then worked as a freelance, loaning his sound to the benefit of Nat King Cole and Billie Holiday's last-ever concert.

Many recordings followed in the 1960s including tracks with Dusty Springfield, Alexis Korner and Shirley Bassey. Eddie remarried in 1967, his wife, Gudrun, bore him three sons.

During the 70s, Mordue played on a number of television shows including Top of the Pops, The Generation Game, The Two Ronnies, The Morecambe and Wise Show and Roy Castle's Record Breakers where he played the world's smallest soprano saxophone. He also recorded on a number of film soundtracks including The Pink Panther with Henry Mancini and the James Bond films with John Barry.