Molly Drake

I have been listening to the recordings of Molly Drake, Nick's mum. It's odd how much you can hear her influence on his vocal modulation as a singer: she has that slightly fluting delivery that can torture you when it doesn't work, but both of them have perfect pitching and her singing is heartbreakingly beautiful to listen to. Subject-wise, the songs could be twee but there's an underlying sadness in her voice and a kind of isolated, imprisoned aura to the music.
She sounds like  a very lonely woman putting the whole of her aching heart into each word, each syllable. Although they were recorded in the 1950s and 1960s, style-wise they are planted in the 1940s with that echo of World War Two never far away, although they do have something of that 'Listen-With-Mother-ness' that pre TV-era under-fives will remember clearly (ahem).
A lovely set of recordings, greatly recommended: www.brytermusic.com