Pat O'Malley - "If I love again", recorded c. January 1935, Rex 8399

Vocalist Pat O'Malley joined Jack Hylton's orchestra in 1930 and was effectively the default vocalist for Hylton, recording scores of records for him on both the HMV and Decca labels up to about August 1936. In addition to his commitment to Jack Hylton, he also recorded for the Crystalate company, mainly as the anonymous vocalist on dance band records, but whilst at Crystalate he also made about 6 solo records under his own name, all of which appeared on the Rex label. The accompaniments on these records were fairly restrained, possibly provided by Fred Hartley's Quintet, but it gave the recording engineers an opportunity to really concentrate on the recording of O'Malley's voice. His first Rex issue included the fine ballad "If I love again", recorded also by some of the top bands of the day including Ambrose, Lew Stone & Carroll Gibbons, and also by Paul Whiteman in the US, but none of these recordings captured the intimacy of the lyric that was shown on O'Malley's solo recording. With the outbreak of war Pat O'Malley moved to the US where he carved out a new career as a character actor, appearing in many early television shows in addition to some of Walt Disney's classic films.