Dennis Lotis(1925-2023)

Handsome, pipe-smoking South-African born singer and actor who reached the peak of his popularity in Britain during the late 1950s and early '60s. Lotis began his career in the entertainment industry at the tender age of nine after winning a talent contest. He then made several stage appearances and sang on radio. After leaving school, aged fifteen, he briefly worked as a bus conductor and as an electrician before leaving for England with a letter of introduction to the bandleader Ted Heath. Engaged as a regular vocalist with the Heath orchestra during the early 1950s, Lotis often crooned ballads which proved especially popular with female audiences. He straddled different genres, his repertoire encompassing jazz, pop and rock 'n' roll.

As a solo act from the mid-'50s, Lotis recorded a number of albums for Decca, Pye Nixa and Columbia, was featured frequently on BBC radio, toured the variety circuit and performed at the London Palladium. His singing career peaked in the '60s when he became a regular guest on TV pop music shows like Six-Five Special (1957) and Dial for Music (1959). He also acted in a few motion pictures, including The City of the Dead (1960) and Sword of Sherwood Forest (1960). As changing musical trends began to adversely affect his career by the end of the decade, Lotis reinvented himself as a restaurateur and antique store owner, based in the market town of Tring in Hertfordshire. He did, however, make a brief nostalgic comeback in the 1980s.

Lotis was married to the South African singer Alexandrena Maie (Rena) Mackie (1929-1997). After her death from cancer, he remarried and moved to North Norfolk where he passed away, aged 97, on February 8 2023.