In the 1950s the Beverley Sisters – Joy, Babs and Teddie, who is the last of the trio to have died, aged 99 – were a familiar and popular vocal group with endless variety show appearances on radio, television and stage. They released more than 250 songs with several hit records. And, despite their wholesome image, offered social commentary with We Have to Be So Careful (1953), poking fun at the BBC’s broadcasting standards, and It’s Illegal, It’s Immoral (Or It Makes You Fat), which joked about the pleasures of the day, in 1958. “We wanted to pierce the 50s bubble of primness,” Teddie later said.
The Beverley Sisters’ parents were Victoria (nee Miles) and George Chinery, who had worked the music halls as Coram and Mills, and they were living in Bethnal Green, east London, when Teddie was born, as Hazel, along with her twin, Babs (Babette).
The family later moved to Northamptonshire during the second world war. The twins and their elder sister, Joy, initially sang as the Chinery Sisters, with Joy doing the melodies. The twins tossed a coin to see which part they would take – Teddie lost, and Babs chose to sing the first soprano harmony; Teddie took the lower harmony and the roles were maintained for the rest of their career.
When they were asked to promote the malt drink Ovaltine, the photographer assigned to them, Jock Ware, recommended them to the BBC producer Cecil Madden. He suggested the name the Beverley Sisters, and from 1945, giving up their jobs as typists, they made regular appearances on popular radio shows such as Variety Bandbox and Workers’ Playtime. In 1947 they were filmed singing the risque Her Bathing Suit Never Got Wet for a Pathé short, which was shown in cinemas.
The sisters then supported Bob Hope and Danny Kaye at the London Palladium and, starting in 1952, appeared in five Royal Variety performances, often singing the Irving Berlin composition Sisters, from the 1954 film White Christmas, which became a trademark stage favourite.
Their first recording success came in 1951 with (Down at the) Ferry Boat Inn. The follow-up single was due to be a cover of How Much Is That Doggie in the Window, but its release was held up due to a publishing dispute about its B-side, and during the hiatus Lita Roza brought out her own version, which reached No 1 in the UK in 1953.
Pushing that setback to one side, the sisters had a Top 10 hit with I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, and then became associated with seasonal songs, including The Little Drummer Boy and Little Donkey. Their success led to them being touted as the highest paid British female entertainers throughout the 1950s and 60s.
Teddie dressed identically to her sisters both on and off stage, and the siblings would complete each other’s sentences during interviews. In 1959 she married Peter Felix, a British waterskiing champion who was also a dentist, and in 1967, when Teddie became pregnant with their daughter, Sasha, the Beverley Sisters decided it was a good time to call it a day.
They briefly appeared in the public eye two years later, when they were lured on to This Is Your Life in 1969, but otherwise fell from view.
When Teddie held a party to celebrate her divorce from Peter in 1972, she met the millionaire property developer Donald Cottage. They were wed the following year and she wore a £40,000 engagement ring that had once belonged to Elizabeth Taylor.
A return to the limelight came in 1985, when Sasha teamed up with Joy’s daughters, Babette and Vicky, to create their own singing group, Little Foxes. When the Beverley Sisters went along to support them, they met the club owner Peter Stringfellow, who asked them to update their act. They first reappeared at the London Hippodrome amid subdued lighting, laser beams, smoke and noise, causing Teddie to remark: “I felt we were back in the air raids.”
Teddie and her sisters subsequently returned to touring, working with Syd Lawrence and his orchestra, and with Sasha as their pianist and musical director. They found a niche in gay clubs, and often made appearances for military charities.
In 2002 they took part in Queen Elizabeth’s golden jubilee celebrations, toured with Max Bygraves the same year, and performed at the D-day 60th anniversary memorial concerts in 2004. Teddie, along with her sisters, was appointed MBE in 2006, soon after which the group retired due to Joy’s ill-health and Teddie moved with Babs to be near Sasha in Brighton.
Donald predeceased Teddie. Joy died in 2015 and Babs in 2018. Teddie is survived by Sasha and a granddaughter, Francesca.
• Teddie Beverley (Hazel Pamela Chinery), singer, born 5 May 1924; died 17 June 2026
