Pearl Carr, who has died aged 98, formed with Teddy Johnson Britain’s best known husband-and-wife singing act in the late 1950s, scoring their biggest hit with Sing, Little Birdie, the UK’s entry in the 1959 Eurovision Song Contest. Originally a featured singer with bands led by Cyril Stapleton, Lew Stone and Geraldo, Pearl Carr was the typical vivacious and generously lacquered chanteuse of her day, exchanging flashing smiles with her husband as they duetted in two-part harmony (her mezzo, his light tenor) through standards from the American songbook and numbers from Broadway musicals. But on Sing, Little Birdie, Pearl Carr and Teddy Johnson (who also whistled) created a classic British Eurovision entry, up-tempo, kitsch, catchy, performed with gusto, and featuring a gimmick in the shape of a fingerpuppet bird. Arguably it should have won (the Dutch entry pipped it) but the Telegraph’s critic, L Marsland Gander, wondered whether they had blown it when “they bobbed about too nervously” in front of the cameras. After the song peaked at No 12 in the British singles chart, their public profile gradually dwindled as beat groups came to the fore and television focused on fresh faces. Nor did their follow-up single How Wonderful To Know, a cover of an Italian original, scratch the Top 20 in 1961. Once acclaimed Britain’s Mr and Mrs Music, and described gamely by the Telegraph in May 2017 as the Beyoncé and Jay-Z of their day, the couple seemed headed for oblivion, touring their own concert show around fading coastal resorts, appearing in provincial pantomime and performing on cruise ships. By the mid-1980s, when they were in their sixties, Pearl Carr had agreed with her husband to call a halt to what had become a gruelling schedule. But in 1987, their zest and talents seemingly undimmed, the pair enjoyed a new lease of life when they were cast as Wally and Emily Whitman in a revival of Stephen Sondheim’s musical Follies at the Shaftesbury Theatre. They finally retired in 1990. Pearl Lavinia Carr was born on November 2 1921 at Exmouth, Devon. After a brief spell as a dancer in CB Cochran’s wartime revue Big Top (His Majesty’s, 1942), she launched her singing career as a member of Three in Harmony in Best Bib and Tucker (London Palladium, also 1942) before joining Phil Green’s band. She first worked with Teddy Johnson in 1943 when they shared a two-week engagement with Stanley Black’s orchestra. It was eight years before their paths re-converged, again working for Stanley Black on his Black Magic radio show, on which Teddy Johnson was the compère. Having joined the Cyril Stapleton orchestra as a vocalist, Pearl Carr went on to become lead singer with the Keynotes, a group which had hits backing Dave King on Memories Are Made of This and You Can’t Be True To Two (both 1956). By then she and Teddy Johnson had married, but the pair continued to work separately as solo singers until deciding on a professional pairing, and in 1959 they were booked as a double act for the Eurovision Song Contest held in Cannes. Their achievement in coming second earned them a spot on the following year’s Royal Variety Show at the Victoria Palace in May 1960 when they shared a bill with stars including Ronnie Hilton, Dennis Lotis, Vera Lynn and Yana. As their careers prospered, they moved into a Tudor-style house at Barnes, south-west London. Pearl Carr was also a popular singer and comedienne on radio in shows like Take It From Here and on television with Bernard Braden in Bedtime With Braden. With Teddy Johnson she made frequent appearances on other television light entertainment programmes, such as The Winifred Atwell Show, Big Night Out and Blackpool Night Out. Following their Eurovision success in 1959, they sought to represent the UK again the following year, entering two songs in the pre­selection round, Pickin’ Petals and When The Tide Turns, which made it into the final. But it was up against Teddy Johnson’s own brother, Bryan Johnson, whose breezy Looking High, High, High won through, only to finish second again in the 1960 final. In 1986, Pearl Carr and Teddy Johnson were the subject of an edition of This Is Your Life. In the same year her brother-in-law Bryan directed them in their stage version of The Bing Crosby Story (Royal Hippodrome, Eastbourne). Pearl Carr married, in 1955, Teddy Johnson; he died in 2018. There were no children. Pearl Carr, born November 2 1921, died February 16 2020