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Why we didn't go to our sister's funeral: The two surviving Beverley Sisters break nearly a decade's silence following sibling's death

Published: 19:09 EST, 18 September 2015 | Updated: 20:35 EST, 18 September 2015

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Before Teddie and Babs, the two remaining Beverley Sisters, sit down and talk to me, there is a pause; a reflective moment when they seem confounded, half-expectant.

'We still can't believe Joy isn't sitting here between us,' says Teddie. 'We refuse to believe it,' chimes Babs. 'We can't think that she's not going to walk through the door.'

'We haven't accepted it. It will come to us very slowly,' concludes Teddie. 'There's no question that we actually still feel Joy's presence here between us.'

So close: The Beverley Sisters, from left, Teddie, Joy (who passed away on August 31) and Babs

They blink away tears and move their chairs nearer to each other, closing the gap between them that their elder sister used to fill. The chasm left by Joy's death, aged 91, last month following a stroke is physical, palpable — because the trio spent their lives literally side by side.

Whenever they performed, gave interviews or appeared in public, the line-up was unchanging. On one side was Babs, on the other was Teddie, and in the middle, flanked by her younger twin siblings, Joy.

No matter which hit it was — I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, How Much Is That Doggy In The Window? or their matchless signature tune Sisters — the formation did not vary: Teddie, Joy, Babs, that glorious combo, The Beverley Sisters.

Once Britain's highest-paid female entertainers, 'The Bevs' were the saucy, glamorous, funny Spice Girls of their day (although these natural-born performers could actually sing).

They were as close as their three-part harmonies, living in adjacent houses in North London and dressed identically. They spoke, as they sang, in chorus and appeared on This Is Your Life and Desert Island Discs as a trio. They even all shared a birthday: the twins, now 88, were born exactly three years after Joy, on May 5, 1927.

Clearly, they still consider themselves a single entity. 'It's one of The Beverley Sisters speaking,' announces Teddie when she calls to fix a time for our interview. In the words of their theme song, written for them by Irving Berlin, 'There were never such devoted sisters.'

Same line-up: Whenever they performed, gave interviews or appeared in public, the line-up was unchanging. On one side was Babs, on the other was Teddie, and in the middle, flanked by her younger twin siblings, Joy

Younger: Siblings (left to right) Babs, Joy and Teddie pose at the Imperial War Museum at a younger age

As prototype pop stars they garnered a vast fan base in the Fifties and Sixties, and became global celebrities. When, in 1958, Joy married the England and Wolves football captain Billy Wright, the couple got stuck in traffic and huge crowds on the way to Poole Register Office.

Billy asked a policeman, holding back the hordes, what was going on. 'Billy,' exclaimed the policeman, 'these people have all come to see you and Joy get married.'

They were famously daring, too, shocking prissy Fifties TV bosses with their see-through blouses and midriff-revealing dresses; outraging critics with their risque lyrics. (One song featured the admiral's daughter who never got her bathing costume wet — because she swam naked.)

'We wanted to pierce the Fifties bubble of correctness and primness,' says Teddie. 'We were shy personally, but bold professionally,' adds Babs.

It would have destroyed us. I don't think we could have coped with kind people saying how sorry they were. Because we still can't quite believe Joy's not here

Babs

They often entertained the Royal Family, notably at the Palladium. 'We wore completely sheer tops to one performance and we said to the Queen Mum: 'Do you think we're rude?' and she roared her head off.

'She was a great sport. So warm. We went to Windsor to perform for her. She loved to dance. And she taught us the song, 'Horsey, Horsey, Don't You Stop.' '

Unlike celebrities of today, however, The Beverley Sisters' personal lives remained just that.

Today the twins have only agreed to a rare interview — breaking almost a decade's silence — in honour of their elder sister.

'We vowed we wouldn't say anything more after we got our MBEs in 2006,' begins Teddie. 'But this is for Joy,' says Babs.

'I've had plenty of cries for her,' says Teddie. 'It's music that sets me off. A girl sang Somewhere (There's A Place For Us) on X Factor last week and I wept buckets. That's what kills me. Music.

'We were extremely lucky we had Joy, and in all the years we were together the bond never wavered, not for a heartbeat,' she continues.

'We never had a bad word. Not with Billy either. He was a darling. None of us could have married a man who was jealous or objected to our closeness.'

There was a line in their Irving Berlin song that ran: 'Lord help the mister who comes between me and my sister.'

Royal meeting: The Beverely Sisters are pictured meeting the Queen in July 2002 following a performance

And even though Joy and Billy shared 36 blissful years together until his death in 1994, the Posh and Becks of their era, they still lived next door to the twins.

'Billy was perfect in that sense,' says Babs. 'He was part of the team.'

As the joke back then went: 'So Billy Wright's married one of The Beverley Sisters. Which one?'

'The middle one … you know, the centre half.'

Then Babs tells me about the last song the Bevs ever sang together, at Joy's house — next door to theirs in Whetstone, near Barnet — at a family gathering a few weeks before her death on August 31.

'We were having a lovely time reminiscing,' she says, 'And we all sang a comic song our father used to sing on the stage.'

The sisters' beloved parents, George and Victoria Chinery, had a music hall act, Coram and Mills. The twins, inveterate entertainers that they are, raise their voices in flawless harmony recalling that last time they sang with Joy during the impromptu concert in her living room.

'Twas just getting dark in the fish shop; the winkles had just gone to bed,' they begin, to the delight of onlookers in the hotel lounge where we are chatting.

I've had plenty of cries for her. It's music that sets me off. A girl sang Somewhere (There's A Place For Us) on X Factor last week and I wept buckets. That's what kills me. Music

Teddie

'We all sang. Joy was faultless, as always. She corrected our harmonies once or twice,' smiles Teddie, 'But we all remembered the lyrics. It was a jolly day, we had a great giggle; it was the last time we sang together.

'And though we had no idea we'd lose her so soon, when we chatted about Dad that day we remember her saying 'I'm looking forward to seeing him again.' And that was a comfort to us when she died.'

Joy's unexpected death just a few weeks later left her sisters completely distraught. They couldn't bear to go to her funeral, a small, private, family affair held last week.

'It would have destroyed us,' says Babs. 'I don't think we could have coped with kind people saying how sorry they were. Because we still can't quite believe Joy's not here. Of course, we said our own prayers for her, but I know once I start to cry I'll never stop.'

Nor can they face living in their house next to hers. Instead they've decamped to their holiday home near Brighton, close to the house Teddie's daughter Sasha, her husband and their daughter Francesca share.

'Joy had said to me once when we were making tea, 'I hope I die before you two. I hope I'm first to go',' says Teddie. 'She didn't want to be left without us.

'When I think about her now, I know if anyone is in the heavenly choir, Joy will be. As long as she's the soloist and the others follow her phrasing!'

The Bevs had a mischievous sense of humour. Their closeness was not cloying because it was leavened by their capacity to joke and tease.

Together: When the siblings (seen at Buckingham Palace in March 2006) sang, Joy always took the melody

When they sang, Joy always took the melody. Even as a girl in the East End she turned heads: she had natural poise; a fabulous head of blonde curls — and of course, such a voice!

The twins tossed a coin to see which part they would take at the very start of their career. Teddie lost, and Babs chose to sing the first soprano harmony; her twin took the lower one.

And so it continued for the next 60 years.

They were born in Bow, East London — money was tight but they were never impoverished — on Joy's third birthday.

Babs says: 'In the middle of the night, Dad crept into Joy's bedroom and said: 'You have another birthday present — in fact it's a pair of presents' and Joy said, 'Earrings?' and Dad said, 'No, they're alive' and then Joy said, 'Rabbits?' '

Their laughter is like the tinkling of a crystal chandelier.

Their adored mother instilled an ethos of caring and sharing from their early childhood. 'A little less 'I' and a little more 'we',' was her catchphrase: it defined their lives.