Stretton was interested in music and performance from a young age, although he did not have any formal musical training. In 1892, when he was five, he sneaked into a music hall performance at the Haymarket Theatre in Liverpool, and drew attention to himself by singing from the audience and then being invited onto the stage to sing. When he was around nine (1896), as a result of this performance, his mother allowed him to join The Five Boys (later The Eight Lancashire Lads) clog dancing and singing troupe. He toured music halls in Britain with this group for the next two years.[5][3]: 1, 68
From 1903 onwards he used the stage name Gordon Stretton derived from his father's middle name and the well-known American-born singer and dancer Eugene Stratton.[5]
He started a sole career with music hall engagements in North Wales and the adjacent areas of Cheshire and Shropshire. He also had some tuition in singing from a minister in Llandudno. As his reputation developed, he appeared in a pantomime in Liverpool in 1904-5 that also included the young American Billie Burke.[3]: 1, 2
He joined the Jamaican Choral Union as a singer and musical director in the UK and was with them in Jamaica in January 1907 when there was a particularly severe earthquake. Following the earthquake, they returned to the UK and held benefit concerts in 1907 and 1908, with the choir's expenses paid by the Liverpool businessman Alfred Lewis Jones.[5][3]: 2, 222
In 1908 he continued his solo career, moving to London and signing with an agent. Taking advantage of current popular trends he styled himself the "Natural Artistic Coon". He also had an opportunity to travel more widely in 1909 with bookings in South Africa (although he was not permitted to disembark) and Sydney in Australia.[3]: 102 In Sydney he performed at the Tivoli Theatre and met boxer Jack Johnson who was performing exhibition matches in the theatre.[3]: 103 On returning to the UK Stretton continued to develop his career through meeting and working with African American performers such as Seth Weeks and the Versatile Three (Anthony Tuck, Charles Wenzel Mills, Charles Wesley Johnson). His musical skills developed as he gained experience of the syncopated music in ragtime and jazz that became popular in Europe from 1910 onwards.[3]: 104
Between 1913 and 1919 he was occasionally the percussionist with the Versatile Three (later Versatile Four when joined by Gus Haston) replacing Charlie Johnson.[6] Their musical style prefigured jazz and the rapid tempo required faster and close movement by dancers.[7] This American group from Chicago was very popular in music halls as well as at the more exclusive Murray's Club.[8]: 59 Edward, Prince of Wales (future King Edward VIII) visited Murray's and Stretton met him.[3]: 2, 112 Stretton also performed in touring shows including Dark Town Jingles (later renamed Dusky Revels) directed by the American arranger and pianist William Henry "Billy" Dorsey who had made musical arrangements for the Versatile Four. This revue started touring the UK in 1916.[8]: 63
Stretton played initially with Louis Mitchell's Jazz Kings but in 1923 he formed his own group Orchestre Syncopated Six which made several recordings for Pathé.[3]: 144 These included "Fate" and "Tu Verras."[1] Among the band's singers were Sadie Crawford.[3]: 145
From Paris, he visited Brazil with his jazz band and performed the opening song at a Copacabana club.[5]
He settled in Buenos Aires, Argentina from the late 1920s after being hired by businessman Augusto Álvarez to act in one of the local entertainment companies, at the cinema theatre "Select Lavalle". Stretton performed with his own group at the Cafe L'Aiglon and was included in the Argentine Theatre Yearbook in 1926. In 1927 he performed for Buenos Aires' Grand Carnival balls. In 1928 he embarked on a three-month tour around Argentina, employing the Brazilian composer and musician Luiz Americano as part of his group.[3]: 282 By 1929 he had founded Gordon Stretton's Symphonic Jazz Band.[1] He accompanied Edward, Prince of Wales, during his tour of Argentina.[5]
Radio broadcasting developed in Argentina from August 1920 onwards, and Stretton became an early contributor. He began appearing on radio in 1929 and by the mid-1930s he hosted his own radio show Hullo Jazz on the Buenos Aires radio station LR8 Paris. He also led a live performance by his current 14-piece band.[3]: 225, 226, 282 In 1931 Stretton again performed in Brazil at the El Dorado theater, appearing with singers including Carmen Miranda and the American Little Esther.[3]: 145, 283
During the Second World War, Stretton wrote and performed songs to raise money for the British airforce and International Red Cross.[3]: 235
In 1936 Stretton was one of the founding members of the Argentinian performing rights society, SADAIC.[3]: 227 Also in the same year banjoist Tony Tuck who had been in the Versatile Three and Versatile Four moved from the US to Argentina and joined Stretton's band.[6] Later, in 1948, Vic Filmer from the UK also became part of Stretton's group.[3]: 283
In July 1953 Stretton was co-author of a requiem in a radio broadcast across Argentina on the first anniversary of Eva Perón's death.[3]: 243, 244
In the 1960s Stretton owned and ran a dance academy.[3]: 284
He finally retired in the 1970s, although his last performance was when he was 92 in 1980 at the Cafe Tortoni in Buenos Aires with the jazz singer Lona Warren. The show, Melodies of Hollywood was a tribute to his decades performing and broadcasting jazz.[3]: 247, 284
Stretton performed in several musical styles during his career, adopting new ones as the twentieth century progressed. As he gained independence and a personal reputation in Wales and northern England, he performed in the popular styles of the American blackface minstrel show and also Edwardian romantic ballad songs. His earliest writing credits are for romantic ballads.[3]: 140, 141 After he moved to London and met American musicians, he moved into jazz both performing, writing and directing. This genre was the basis of his reputation for the rest of his career.[3]: 104
