Last surviving Beverley Sisters singer Teddie Beverley dead at 99

Teddie Beverley, the last surviving member of British vocal trio The Beverley Sisters, has died at the age of 99.

Teddie Beverley, the last surviving member of close-harmony trio The Beverley Sisters, has died aged 99.

The trio – comprised of Teddie, her twin sister Babs and their elder sibling Joy – rose to fame with their renditions of Christmas hits such as I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus and Little Drummer Boy.

The Beverley Sisters experienced the height of their popularity during the 1950s and 1960s – with other hits including Bye Bye Love, Always and Forever and Sisters.

They were unafraid to challenge the prim attitudes of the time, responding with the mocking We Have To Be So Careful after their rendition of Greensleeves was banned by the BBC’s dance music policy committee.

Teddie said: “We wanted to pierce the 1950s bubble of correctness and primness.”

However, they did have a fan in the Queen Mother – who “roared” with laughter during a 1960s encounter at the London Palladium where the trio appeared alongside Liberace.

Teddie recalled: “We wore completely sheer tops to one performance and we said to the Queen Mum: ‘Do you think we’re rude?’ and she roared her head off.”

The siblings – who were born in Bethnal Green, London – became known for their matching outfits and for finishing each other’s sentences.

They once told BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs: “Don’t worry about who says what – we all think the same.”

Teddie also told the Daily Mail of their close connection: “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.”

Teddie – who was born Hazel Pamela Chinery – was married to British water skiing champion Peter Felix before later tying the knot with property developer Donald Cottage in 1973.

All three siblings were awarded MBEs in the New Year’s Honours List in 2006.

Teddie once claimed that the Beverley Sisters could “have been as big as the Rolling Stones” had they been men.

She is quoted by The Times newspaper as saying: “If we had been men, we would have been as big as the Rolling Stones, but because we are women, we had children and had to stay at home. But we have no regrets. Nobody could have had a better career. We got to dress up in pretty dresses and travel all over the world. Are there any luckier, happier girls than us?”

Teddie’s passing comes after that of Joy, who died at the age of 91 in 2015, and Babs – who passed away at the same age in 2018.