By the age of five, Thelma Carpenter knew she loved to sing and could often be heard on the "Kiddies Hour" radio show. At the age of 11, she already had her own show on WNYC and at 15, she entered an amateur contest, at the Apollo Theater in New York, where singing "Stormy Weather" won her a week's booking. She was hired by Teddy Wilson when she was 16 as a vocalist for his band. The group was together for a year, but before Carpenter left the group, she managed to recorded two music pieces with them. She later joined the Count Basie Orchestra in 1943 and toured extensively and with them gaining worldwide attention. Eddie Cantor hired her as his singing star of this popular radio show in 1945. Carpenter starred on Broadway in the hit revue
After several years with the "Tennessee Ten", Florence joined a new show called "Dixie to Broadway" in 1924. With her widely recognized theme song, "I'm a Little Blackbird Looking for a Bluebird", the show was a phenomenal success. In June of 1925, Florence received vaudeville's highest honor. She was the star attraction at the Palace Theatre. By heading the bill at the Palace, she became the first black performer to have that honor.
After a turbulent adolescence, Holiday started singing in dance club in Harlem, where she was heard by the maker John Hammond, who praised her voice. She marked a recording contract with Brunswick Records in 1935. Coordinated efforts with Teddy Wilson yielded the hit "What a Little Moonlight Can Do", which turned into a jazz standard. All through the 1940s, Holiday had standard accomplishment on names, for example, Columbia Records and Decca Records. By the late 1940s, in any case, she was plagued with legitimate inconveniences and medication manhandle. After a short jail sentence, she played out a sold-out show at
In 1933 Billie audition as a dancer when she was 18, but the judges said she was not good enough so they asked her if she could sing-she could. In 1939 Billy sang at a café called Café Society and the song was “Strange Fruit”. Holiday wanted the song to be recorded but it was forbidden because it was “too inflammatory” Strange Fruit is a song about racism. She did not want to sing it on many radio stations because they banned all the intense words in the song. She could have been killed by the Koo Klucks Klan if she sang that song. Promoters objected Billie Holiday because of her race. The style of her voice-often tries to sound like a horn instrument because she likes the sliding sound. She refused to sing like other singers. Billie slyly said on a radio interview,”I always wanted to sound like an instrument.” She changed her name to Billie Holiday because her favorite film star, Billie Dove. In 1944 Billie Holiday received the Esquire Magazine Gold Award for Best Leading Female Vocalist. She would then receive some more awards in the following years to come. She got the nickname “Lady Day”. She was discovered by John Hammond, a young producer at Monette’s, a Harlem night club. When he heard Billie’s voice he was
By 1856 Lotta Crabtree started expanding where she performed and started traveling to other campgrounds for different audiences to expand her name. She did just that and three years later she became a household name in Miss Lotta the San Francisco Favorite. At the age of 12, she became famous and thats a major feat for a woman and a girl of her...
Her lasting career was not given to her easily, therefore, creating an inspiring story full of hardships and success. Ever since she was a little girl, her dream was to become a successful and famous dancer. In New York City, when she was trying to fulfill her dream, she was unable to find a job in the theatre department. Instead of being discouraged, she decided to make something good come from it. She choreographed her own routines, created her own costumes, and organized solo recitals for audiences to enjoy. This event led her to the biggest adventure in her life that would later impact the world. She was invited to return back to London to pursue her education in the performing arts, so that she could further improve her talents that would make up her entire career.
“During her Austin days, Janis wasn't comfortable singing in public. She was shy and without any particular style. She sang the blues like Bessie Smith and also imitated Jean Richie and Rosie Maddox. There was something special about Bessie Smith, though. Janis identified with her to the point of feeling that she was Smith reincarnated. Janis once said that she became a singer because Grant Lyons loaned her his Bessie Smith and Leadbelly records. She learned to sing the blues by listening to Bess...
At 10 years old, she started to perform for television and receiver shows in Knoxville. Importantly, she had her first performance at the Grande Ole Opry community where she moved to after high school. She lurched into a tour and produced her first record where she started to gain awards, eventually made it to the topmost of country music
Shirley Temple Black was easily the most popular and famous child star of all time. She got her start in the movies at the age of three and soon progressed to super stardom. Shirley could do it all: act, sing and dance and all at the age of five! Fans loved her as she was bright, bouncy and cheerful in her films and they ultimately bought millions of dollars worth of products that had her likeness on them. Dolls, phonograph records, mugs, hats, dresses, whatever it was, if it had her picture on there they bought it. Shirley was box-office champion for the consecutive years 1935 to 1938, beating out such great grown-up stars as Clark Gable, Bing Crosby, Robert Taylor, and many more. By 1939, her popularity declined. Although she starred in some
Ruby Blevins was born is Hot Springs, Arkansas. She was the last Blevins’ kid born into an eleven kid family. All of her life she attended school at Hope Public School District. Growing up in the Blevins family, which was a very musical family, she learned how to the guitar, by watching other people, and taking weekly violin lessons.She got her first job at a music store, and this skyrocketed her musical
Ella Jane Fitzgerald was born April 25, 1917 (“Ella Fitzgerald”). The location was Newport News, Virginia. She was born to be the daughter of Temperance “Tempie” and William Fitzgerald (“This Day in History”). As a child, Ella and her mother moved to Yonkers, New York to live with her mother’s new husband after William Fitzgerald’s death. She grew up there for most of her childhood. Although today Ella is known as the “Queen of Jazz, ” she lived a normal childhood. When she was younger, she collected signatures from famous people. She is also known as the “Master of Scat Singing” (“Ella Fitzgerald Was Known as The Master of Scat Singing”). Although this is true, Ella’s original dream was to be a dancer.
She started taking piano lessons at the age of five, and showed her musical talent by playing the
She played a concert in 1883 at the Music Hall in Boston at the age of 16. According to the article, “Synesthesia and Feminism: a Case Study on Amy Beach (1867-1944), author Jeremy Logan (2015) talks about Amy’s success as a young composer and states “Amy Marcy Cheney debuted as a professional concert pianist in Boston on 21 October 1883, playing Ignaz Moscheles’ G minor Concerto and Chopins Rondo in E. Adolf Neuendorff (1843-1897) conducted her debut performance” (p. 131). She shocked the crowd with her talent and was praised highly for being talented with the piano. Then her career grew from there. She then joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra. According to the book New Historical Anthology of Music by Women, author James R. Briscoe (2004) discusses Amy’s performance with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and says “In 1885, a momentous year for her, Amy Cheney played for the first time with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, began a lifetime association with the music publisher, Author P. Schmidt” (p. 198). She performed Chopin’s F minor Concerto at the first concert she conducted with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. She continued to play with them for several shows until she married Henry Harris Aubrey Beach in 1885. He did not particularly like Amy performing concerts and asked her to stop performing concerts. He only allowed her to perform for charity events. He didn’t believe that Amy had to keep
Ethel’s life before Broadway speaks a lot to her career on Broadway. Ethel Agnes Zimmerman was born in the neighborhood of Astoria in New York. Merman showed her love for singing as a child, singing in the church that she went to with her parents. Also, she went to Vaudeville shows to watch stars like Fanny Brice perform (Kenrick). Ethel’s parents believed that she should gain an education because show business was not a viable career choice, especially for women in this period. She became a stenographer but continued to sing as nightclubs in New York for extra money (Kenrick). When her performances began getting recognition and her name more acclaimed, she shortened it to Merman and began performing in the Vaudeville Circuit at the Palace Theater (PBS).
She eventually got transferred to the day time talk show arena and after boosting a third-rated talk show to first place, she launched her own production company and became internationally syndicated.
It was during her time in Elsbury that Altha attended high school. Ultimately, owed to the fact her father was the band teacher, she instantaneously took to the music program like a duck to water. Honestly, playing the French Horn in band class, singing sopr...