• Track Listing

Historical perspective is rarely kind to British singers of the immediate pre-R&R era, and Dickie Valentine, aka "The Forgotten Teen Idol", is very much a case in point. Yet Valentine was effectively the UK's first Pop idol, with a massive teenage fan base, worshipped by them in the same way that Tommy Steele would be idolised by his legion of teenagers, just a few years later. He amassed fifteen UK chart records between 1952-59, with a further nine titles listed in Hits That Missed... The UK Bubbling Under Chart, 1954-61. This compilation presents the very best of his singles releases between 1950-61, variously for Decca, Melodisc and Pye. Included are his two UK No. 1s, "Finger Of Suspicion" and "Christmas Alphabet", alongside all his other hits, near-misses, a few that got away, and a genuine rarity in the shape of a cancelled A-side from 1958. This is the first time that this body of work has been thus compiled and several of these sides are collector's rarities, difficult to find elsewhere on CD