Top five names from the big band era will have a special place at Blackpool Showtown

What a task - but a pleasant interlude for a Memory Lane scribe who researched "who did what" in Blackpool and came up with his Top Five "name" bands from a list of dozens.

Based on their local connections, nationwide fame and numbers of Blackpool appearances, my maestros are Geraldo, Joe Loss, Henry Hall, Ted Heath and Syd Lawrence.

Geraldo and Joe Loss both began their musical careers in Blackpool and had a huge influence for decades.

Geraldo (Gerald Bright, 1904-1974) was a violinist at the Tower when he was given charge of the orchestra at the Metropole Hotel in 1922.

Two years later he moved to the Majestic Hotel at St Annes, where he gained fame with his radio broadcasts.

In 1929 he took the stage name Geraldo, leading a tango orchestra at London's Savoy Hotel. He switched to his "sweet music" sound and after WW2 became a legend, running several bands, broadcasting several times a week, acting as MD for the Cunard Line and being music adviser to the Blackpool Tower Company.

In the late 40s and early 50s he played more summer weeks in the Empress Ballroom of the Winter Gardens than any other "guest" band. More than 40 weeks at the last count.

Joe Loss (1908-1990) also began as a violinist at the Tower, in 1929, and had a 57-year link with Blackpool, topping variety bills at the Palace from 1939 to 1948 and playing for dancing in the Empress Ballroom in four-week summer seasons through the 50s.

Joe and the orchestra starred at the Empress for three summers of the Stardust Garden cabaret venture, 1971-73, and he was last seen there in 1986, in a season of Wednesday dance nights.

The Ted Heath Orchestra has been judged by time as the greatest British swing band. Trombonist Ted (1902-1969) made his mark in a three-week booking at the Empress Ballroom in 1946 and returned year after year under his billing line Ted Heath and his Music.

His star soloists often "stopped the show" and vocalists Lita Roza, Dickie Valentine and Denis Lotis became solo stars. The band's summer weeks at the Winter Gardens continued until 1959.

Only we old-timers remember the days of Henry Hall's Guest Night on the BBC but he began to tour with his orchestra in 1937 and his second week "on the road" was at Blackpool's Palace Theatre.

In his autobiography, Henry (1898-1989) noted they gave two Sunday shows, played twice nightly plus three matinees, and a Friday late dance in the adjacent ballroom. Their billing line was Radio Idol of Millions.

They visited the Palace for a week every year until 1947, doing the radio show from the resort's Jubilee Theatre in the old Co-op building.

In 1948 Henry became a summer variety producer with Something in the Air at the resort's Grand Theatre, with his own orchestra providing the music. Two seasons followed.

In the modern era it is the Syd Lawrence Orchestra that maintains the big band tradition. Trumpeter Syd (1924-1998) brought the band to the Grand many times in the 80s and it continues under the direction of Chris Dean.