Singer who, in a duo with his wife Pearl Carr, represented the UK in the 1959 Eurovision song contest with Sing, Little Birdie

The British entry has finished second in the Eurovision song contest 15 times. The first of these was in 1959 when Sing, Little Birdie was performed by the husband-and-wife duo Pearl Carr and Teddy Johnson. In addition to his singing career as a soloist and with his wife, Johnson, who has died aged 98, was a well-known radio personality on Radio Luxembourg and the BBC, and an occasional actor.

The Eurovision song contest had begun in 1956 but the UK, through the BBC, did not enter the competition until the following year when Patricia Bredin came sixth with All. The BBC withdrew to lick its wounds in 1958 but re-entered in 1959. Johnson and Carr were invited to take part in the preliminary contest to choose the British entry. Johnson told an interviewer that “there was one song that nobody wanted. It was called Sing, Little Birdie and as soon as it was played, Pearl and I looked at each other and agreed to do it”.

With 11 countries represented, the 1959 contest was held in France, in Cannes, and Johnson and Carr were beaten by the Netherlands entry, Een Beetje by Teddy Scholten. They re-entered the preliminary contest in 1960, but were unsuccessful; Johnson’s younger brother, Bryan, went through to represent Britain, coming second with Looking High, High, High.

Teddy Johnson was born in Surbiton, south-west London, and worked in an office after leaving school at 14. Aged 18, he landed his first professional booking, as a drummer and assistant steward on the P&O liner SS Corfu. “We played a wide variety of music,” he recalled. “Everything from popular songs and dance music of the day to classical pieces and light opera.” Johnson made his first broadcast in 1939, for Radio Ceylon, which provoked a fellow musician to tell him: “You are a very good singer but a bloody awful drummer”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Teddy Johnson and Pearl Carr appearing on Two of a Kind, Eric Morecambe and Ernie’s Wise show for ITV, 1962. Photograph: ITV/Rex/Shutterstock

During the second world war Johnson served in the merchant navy, working on the Queen Mary as a butcher on the transatlantic run. Ashore in New York City, he attended shows by Frank Sinatra and Benny Goodman’s orchestra, as well as buying a state-of-the-art drum kit.

After the war he joined the resident band at the Locarno dance hall in Streatham, south London, and broadcast as a singer with the bandleader Jack Payne. Johnson worked with several more dance bands before he was hired in 1948 as chief announcer for the English language programmes of Radio Luxembourg.

He spent the next two years in the Grand Duchy, presenting and compiling a range of shows from request programmes to the first radio hit parade, compiled from British sales of sheet music. When he was offered a recording contract by EMI’s Columbia label, Johnson returned to London, to be replaced by Pete Murray.

Johnson’s first disc was Beloved, Be Faithful, to be followed by another 20-plus singles. The first of these, There’s a Small Hotel, was an unusual duet with the American star Jo Stafford. Each singer recorded their part in their home studio, with an engineer matching them up. In 1950, Johnson briefly presented the record request show Housewives’ Choice until BBC managers deemed him be too informal.

He had more luck as compere of the radio variety show Black Magic, which also featured Carr, an established singer and member of the vocal group the Keynotes. This was the start of their long professional and personal collaboration. They toured together in variety shows during the 1950s and were regular guests on the BBC children’s programme Crackerjack. The couple married in 1955.

The publicity generated by Carr and Johnson’s Eurovision appearance in 1959 brought them regular bookings for summer shows and pantomimes while the recording of Sing, Little Birdie reached No 12 in the British charts and was No 1 in the Netherlands. A later record, How Wonderful to Know, was a Top 30 hit in 1961. In later years, Carr and Johnson were somewhat out of sync with newer trends in pop music, but Johnson found work with the BBC Light Programme and Radio 2. The duo also made numerous pre-recorded shows for Radio Luxembourg.

Their final live appearance was in the 1987 West End revival of Stephen Sondheim’s show Follies. In retirement, the couple moved to Brinsworth House, a home for entertainers in Twickenham, west London.

Carr survives him.

• Edward Victor Johnson, singer and radio presenter, born 4 September 1919; died 6 June 2018