Teddie Beverley, the final surviving member of the chart-topping Beverley Sisters, has died at the age of 99.
Alongside her sisters Joy and Babs, she helped form one of the most recognisable acts in British entertainment during the 1950s and 1960s.
In later years, the three sisters lived side by side in neighbouring homes in New Barnet, north London.
Among the trio’s best-known songs were I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, Little Drummer Boy and Little Donkey, each of which reached the UK top 20 during the 1950s.
Joy Beverley was married to Billy Wright, the former England captain and one of the country’s most celebrated footballers.
For more than two decades, the Beverley Sisters ranked among Europe’s most successful and highest-earning vocal groups.
The sisters became household names who broke box office records in theatres and nightclubs and whose many hits included I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, Little Donkey and Little Drummer Boy.
They often spoke at the same time, invariably finishing each other’s sentences.
Singing trio the Beverley Sisters are pictured here – left to right, Teddie, Joy and Babs
Teddie Beverley is pictured on the day of her wedding to Peter Felix at Caxton Hall, Westminster, on December 14 1959
They told one interviewer: ‘Don’t worry about who says what – we all think the same.’
The sisters dressed identically and shared the same Rolls-Royce with its licence number BEV 3.
And they described their neighbouring homes in north London as ‘detached, but almost touching’.
Teddie once said: ‘We don’t even have to look at each other to know when to breathe.
‘It’s an instinct. If one of us has a cold, we all sound like we have a cold.’
Joy Beverley – latterly described as the ‘Posh Spice’ of her day due to her relationship with Billy Wright – died aged 91 in 2015 after suffering a stroke.
Babs died, also at the age of 91, in October 2018.
Born in Bethnal Green, Joy and twin sisters Babs (Babette) and Teddie (Hazel) were the daughters of George Chinery and Victoria Miles, themselves no stranger to the stage having performed for years as musical hall double act Coram and Mills.
The sisters are seen here at Wolverhampton Wanderers’ ground in 1993 – Joy Beverley was married to ex-Wolves captain Billy Wright
Pictured left to right, at London’s Savoy Hotel: Teddie, Joy and Babs
Evacuated to Northamptonshire after war broke out, the trio became typists before getting their big break as the ‘Bonnie Babies’ in an Ovaltine campaign.
Their status as celebrities blossomed and they went on to land their own TV show, Three Little Girls In View, which later was re-named as Those Beverley Sisters.
Columbia Records signed them in 1951, and their contract led to them becoming the highest paid female act of their time.
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