Vince Eager (born Roy Taylor, 4 June 1940, Grantham, Lincolnshire[1]) is a British pop singer.
As a teenager, he formed the Harmonica Vagabonds, later the Vagabonds Skiffle Group, with Roy Clark, Mick Fretwell, and bassist Brian Locking.[2] The group reached the final round of a televised "World Skiffle Championship", and were offered a residency at the 2 I's Coffee Bar in London. There, they were signed by impresario Larry Parnes, who took Taylor into his stable of performers, and gave him one of his characteristic stage names, Vince Eager. After touring and releasing an EP as Vince Eager & The Vagabonds, Clark and Fretwell returned home. Vince Eager and Brian Locking remained in London, Locking performing with Marty Wilde before joining The Shadows.
During 1959 Vince Eager was a regular on BBC TV's Drumbeat, often accompanied by The John Barry Seven. In 1960 he was one of the contestants on A Song for Europe. His song, "Teenage Tears", in the semi-final was ranked last in the total of six entries for nomination to the Eurovision Song Contest. According to Vince Eager's website, "the death of his best friend Eddie Cochran in a car crash on Easter Sunday 1960 was to prove a turning point in Vince's career. He was disgusted with the manner in which Parnes sought to gain publicity from the accident and he began the process of getting away from the "Parnes Stable" of popsters."[3]
In the years that followed the Parnes era, he toured on the cabaret circuit, and performed in theatre and pantomime. For five years he starred in the award-winning West End musical Elvis. In 1986 he relocated to Fort Lauderdale, Florida where he worked as a Cruise Director on American luxury cruise ships. He now lives in Nottinghamshire.[3]