Mark Wynter born 29 January 1943

Mark Wynter (born Terence Sidney Lewis, 29 January 1943) is an English actor and former singer, who had four Top 20 singles in the 1960s. He enjoyed a lengthy career from 1960 to 1968 as a pop singer and teen idol, but developed later into an actor in film, musicals and plays.

Mark Wynter was one of the moderately successful British pop/rock crooners to come up in the wake of Cliff Richard and Billy Fury. Born Terry Lewis in Woking, he was one of a family of six, and distinguished himself as a boy soprano at his church. Upon leaving school, young Terry Lewis started work as a shop assistant. However, he was also an enthusiastic singer and his strikingly good looks helped him make the transition in this sphere from part-time amateur to full professional. By the time he was in his mid-teens, rock & roll was beginning to make itself felt in England. 

In 1959, at the age of 16, he was given his first chance at stardom -- a manager named Ray Mackender discovered Lewis singing with a group in a dance hall, filling in for the group's regular lead singer, and was so impressed that he made it his business to meet and sign the teenager. Acting and singing lessons followed. With his musical career on a proper footing Terry decided to change his name to Mark Lewis in order to lessen the confusion with American comedian Jerry Lewis. His manager suggested Wynter sounded more commercial and the complete name change was later made official by deed poll. By 1960, he was playing top cabaret dates in London, and in August of that year he made his television debut.  

Wynter was signed to Decca Records in 1960 and over the next two years five of his seven singles charted in England, his debut, "Image of a Girl" (a cover of the Safaris' hit) peaking at number 11. By 1961, he had an album out, entitled The Warmth of Winter, and was a top pop attraction. Voted the Most Promising Newcomer of 1961 in New Musical Express, he got a chance to perform in America later that year, including an appearance on American Bandstand as well as a U.S. release of one of his records (which, as with most U.K. teen pop releases, fizzled).  

Wynter's career continued roaring ahead in 1962, and he did an acting turn (of sorts) on film in Just for Fun, a political satire (and a follow-up to the previous year's It's Trad, Dad). Then, in the summer of that year, he suddenly found himself at sea when Decca Records hesitated to renew his contract, following the failure of his single "Angel Talk" to chart. Wynter suddenly jumped to the Pye Records label, where he reached number four with his first release, a cover of "Venus in Blue Jeans." He scored again with a cover of "Go Away Little Girl," reaching number six. He missed the charts with "Aladdin's Lamp" and then got to the Top 30 with "Shy Girl."

                             

By that time, however, Wynter was running up against the early manifestations of the Merseybeat boom spearheaded by the Beatles and a veritable earthquake in British pop music. Singers like Wynter were suddenly out of fashion and no longer selling serious amounts of records. He made a few serious efforts at charting singles, including "Can I Get to Know You Better," a Sloan-Barri composition produced by Andrew Oldham., however it failed to reverse the decline in his sales.

On 8 April 1968 Wynter survived the burning Boeing 707 aircraft, BOAC Flight 712, upon which he had been a passenger. The plane exploded shortly after landing back at Heathrow Airport following a fire in its number 2 engine, killing five people, including stewardess Barbara Jane Harrison, who was posthumously awarded the George Cross.

By the early '70s Wynter had traded in pop stardom for a stage career on London West End. Wynter was still working actively and successfully in theatre throughout the English-speaking world well into the '90s.

His warm, mellifluous speaking voice was heard many times on BBC Radio 2 during the early 1990s when he presented daytime shows as well as documentaries such as "Happy Times", a programme about the American entertainer Danny Kaye, which was nominated for a New York radio award.

He now lives in Sussex, and tours the country with an Agatha Christie theatre company. He is married to Emma, and has three children; Barnaby, Josh and Darcey. (Info various mainly AMG)