Born: 22 March 1936
Died: 13 September 2023 (aged 87)
Full name: Roger Henry Brough Whittaker
Whittaker was born in Nairobi in Kenya where his British parents had moved after his father had been injured in a motorcycle accident. After doing his military service in Kenya, he moved to Cape Town to study medicine at the University of Cape Town. However, he dropped out after 18 months and became a teacher. In 1959 he moved to the UK to study at the University College of North Wales. Here he would start singing in clubs and was soon signed to Fontana Records. He released his first single, ‘The Charge Of The Light Brigade’, in 1962 but had to wait 5 years to see his first hit when his version of ‘If I Was A Rich Man’ got to 4 in The Netherlands. His first UK hit came in 1969 with ‘Durham Town’ which got to 12. His first US Hot 100 hit came in 1975 with ‘The Last Farewell’ which went to 19. In total he saw 8 UK chart hits with ‘The Last Farewell’s peak of 2 being his best. It would be his only Hot 100 hit. He would eventually move back to Kenya (and yes, classifying him as Kenyan is taking a bit of a liberty).
| Date of entry | Song | Peak (weeks at 1) | Weeks |
| 05-Jun-1970 | I Don’t Believe In If Anymore | 2 | 9 |
| Total hits | 1 | ||
| Total weeks | 9 |
| Biggest climber awards | 2 |
| Star rater climbs | 2 |
| Biggest fallers | 1 |
| Weeks with oldest in the charts | 0 |
| Longest run in the charts (weeks) | 9 |
| Weeks with more than 1 in the charts | 0 |
| Biggest gap between hits (weeks) | 0 |
| Top 30 points ranking | =777 |
| Top 20 points ranking | =705 |
| Top 30 points | 196 |
| Top 20 points | 106 |
SA Singles Charts 