Part Nine: The story of William MacEwan / McEwan of Glasgow (1871 - 1943) the 'World's Sweetest Gospel Singer'

Introduction: The story below has been assembled from a variety of online sources - newspapers, censuses, marriage certificates and ships passenger lists. If any readers know of errors here I would be pleased to hear from you. This is one of a series of posts to coincide with the 100th anniversary of William McEwan's first recording session in London in November 1911.

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Part Nine: The Frank Wappat releases

Over the years since William MacEwan’s death in 1943, his legacy has lived on in the record collections and memories of the older generation. However as the gramophone and 78s were superceded by LPs, there have been only a few re-releases of his music. I am indebted to Frank Wappat, formerly of BBC Radio North in Newcastle Upon Tyne, for the work he did over the years in making MacEwan’s music available again in three different formats in the 1980s and 1990s as audio technology developed:

1) a 13 track LP in the mid 1980s (released by Mawson & Wareham Music, Newcastle Upon Tyne, catalogue no MWM1029, in a shocking pink sleeve!)







2) an 82 track triple cassette box set in the late 1980s / early 1990s (released by Frank’s own FWM label),







3) a 20 track CD (released by Lismor Recordings of Glasgow in 1994 as part of their “Scotland’s Stars on 78” series, catalogue no LCOM 5235).



Sadly all of these are now out of production and are hard to find. Frank’s notes on the insert of the cassette box set have been my single source of meticulous information about MacEwan’s recording sessions; his notes on the LP sleeve and the CD booklet have also given me more insights. I have been in touch with Frank directly to thank him, but sadly his health is poor at present. I wish him a speedy recovery and would like to take this opportunity to publicly acknowledge his work is carrying on an interest in the recordings of William MacEwan.

Below are pics of the albums which his early 78s were sold in, one with a portrait photo (this is probably the 'fine art album' referred to in the Columbia catalogue here) and the other a black leather Columbia one which Joe from Ayrshire loaned to me earlier this year. I have since tracked down another one of these for myself, which had exactly the same selection of MacEwan records in it as Joe's does).









Finally, a sheet music book from the early 1940s:




To be continued