Elizabeth 'Elsie' Carlisle (28 January 1896 – 5 September 1977) was a popular English female singer both before and during the British dance band era of the 1920s and 1930s, nicknamed "Radio Sweetheart Number One."
Originally from Manchester, Carlisle made hundreds of solo records, beginning in 1926. On her earliest sessions, she was accompanied by Carroll Gibbons on piano, and began recording vocals for dance bands in 1929; she sang with several of the biggest dance bands of the era, including the famous Ambrose orchestra. Carlisle was also backed by Ambrose when she performed solo, and made duets with Sam Browne, being hailed as one of the band's best singers. Her performance of "Home, James, and Don't Spare the Horses" with the orchestra might have helped to popularise this phrase. Her other most well-known song may be "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square". However, her greatest claim to fame is that Cole Porter personally requested her to introduce his composition "What is This Thing Called Love?", which became a jazz standard.
Carlisle also performed with the Jack Hylton orchestra, and the couple had an affair, leading to unfounded rumours that her son, Willie, was fathered by him. She made a number of appearances in film shorts and on television in the 1930s. Two Pathé films are available on YouTube: a 1931 short with her singing "Alone and Afraid" and "My Canary Has Circles Under His Eyes", and an entire reel of Radio Parade (1933).
She recorded very little after the beginning of the Second World War: her final session took place in 1942, and she retired from the entertainment industry in around 1950. Her business interests after retirement from show business included ballroom dancing venues in south London, a company manufacturing bar accessories in Putney, a pub in Mayfair and a hotel/pub in Wokingham, Berkshire. Carlisle lived from 1937 until her death in September 1977 in her house in Mayfair, central London.
Two songs performed by Carlisle (accompanied by Ambrose) were featured in the Dennis Potter television series Pennies From Heaven in 1978. "You've Got Me Crying Again" and "The Clouds Will Soon Roll By" were featured in the episode "The Sweetest Thing", with the latter also heard in "Down Sunnyside Lane".