Newspaper Article 2013 – Star found success in London

Star found success in London

William Verdun Clothier
(1916-2013)

Successful London West End and Royal Opera House singer William Clothier, who died in January aged almost 97, was born and raised in Napier.

He had 12 years as a singer starring in musicals in the West End, followed by 32 years singing in the famous Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

But he never returned to New Zealand in all those years, and his talents went largely unnoticed in his home country.

His interest in opera began at a young age growing up in Napier regularly listening enthralled to operas on a phonograph and records owned by a family lodger.

The singing talent which developed went largely unnoticed until one day his tones in the shower after his daily swim in the Marine Parade Baths attracted the attention of connections to the Napier Frivolity Minstrels.

A career was soon underway, with eventual highlights of being on stage alongside some of the world’s greatest opera stars, including Luciana Pavarotti, Joan Sutherland, Kiri Te Kanawa, Jessye Norman, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras.

It would be a career both interrupted and shaped by the major events of the time, the Hawke’s Bay Earthquake and World War II.

Attending Napier Boys High School, where he excelled at sport – as did brother Lawrie who played rugby for Hawke’s Bay and got an All Black trial – he was 15 and at work just a week when the earthquake struck on the morning of February 3, 1931.

Working on a two-storey building at the Port, “Bill” helped rescue his boss who only had one leg, and they only escaped when the whole building fell in.  The women and girls of the family, including sisters Valmai, Marie and Joy were sent to Lower Hutt but Bill Clothier stayed behind with his father to help with the rebuilding of the town.

At 23 years he won the Wellington Competition Society’s Vocal Championship, but then war broke out.

With his second name, Verdun, recognising uncle William Alfred Clothier’s World War I service in France in 1915-16, he was called-up to the army and served in Italy.

He rose to the rank of Sergeant Major, and with his wonderful baritone voice served in the Army Concert Parties, and developed a great affinity with the Italians and their love of opera.

A story goes that at the end of the war he and a mate borrowed an army jeep and drove to Milan to visit the famous Opera House La Scala.

After the war Bill won a bursary to study singing in Wellington, and during the 1940s his recordings became well known on New Zealand radio.  The presenter in his introduction would say his voice had “great power and resonance”.

He left in 1949 to study singing in London with the help of two Government bursaries and within two years was signed as principal singer at the London Palladium.

For 12 years he sang in a variety of musicals either as lead or second lead singer at other famous West End theatres – the London Winter Gardens, the London Hippodrome, Drury Lane, and The London Coliseum, and he also toured with musicals throughout Britain.

His career also included being a BBC announcer and TV presenter.

In 1959 he married Marybelle Oakes who has also had a successful career in musical shows and singing in the Royal Opera Company.

After encouragement from his mother Mae Clothier, he auditioned with Company at Covent Garden, which he regarded as a dream come true.

He maintained that place for 32 years, singing different opera roles in Carmen, Rigoletto and others such as II Trovatore, with which there was a particular highlight in 1965, performing the role of the Old Gypsy before the Queen Mother.

Retirement couldn’t keep him away, and he continued at the Opera House in a new security role.

Despite living in the UK for over 63 years he always supported the All Blacks and loved to watch them on TV, including the last-minute World Cup win in 2011.

Photo caption – TALENTED: William Clothier, Napier-born and London Royal Opera star, died on January 13, aged 96.   PHOTO/SUPPLIED