WNOX’s Mid-Day Merry-Go-Round, which aired from 1936 to 1961, was a pivotal program in the history of country music. Wildly popular throughout East Tennessee and bordering states, the show’s legacy outside of Knoxville will likely remain as something of a farm team for acts who would go on to make it big in Nashville. A few off-air and studio recordings from the 1950s have been found, but it’s long been thought that no recordings of the show’s earliest days survived. Turns out a recording of the Merry-Go-Round from Friday, November 11, 1937 has been in the Radio Archive of the University of Memphis for years, and it reveals a vastly different Merry-Go-Round than most might expect.…
Bing has acquired 12 million merits from his dead sibling and has the advantage of skipping advertisement. In the bartroom Bing catches Abi singing; he persuades her to go into Hot Shots, which offers a possibility for people to escape the slave-like world around them. Bing persuade Abi and, feeling there is nothing "genuine" worth purchasing, buys the ticket for Abi. The judges Wraith, Hope, Charity, and the public like Abi singing "Anyone Who Knows What Love Is", however they state there is no space for a "Above Average Singer" and rather allow Abi to end up as a porn actress in a television show called "Wraith Babes". Subsequent to incitation from the judges and the public, Abi agree. Bing comes back to his room without Abi and any merits.…
This paper examines the life and achievements of Hattie McDaniel. Hattie McDaniel paved the way for many black actors and performers today. Hattie was one of the first African American women on radio. On radio Hattie was known for her comedy and singing. Her first major acting role was in a film named Judge Priest. She was the first African American to win an Academy award. She won for her supporting role as Mammy in the film “Gone with the Wind.” Hattie McDaniel journey to success wasn’t easy. She went through many controversies and racial setbacks in order to gain her success in the entertainment industry. Her journey gave African American the push to change the portrayal of African Americans in radio, television and film.…
Born on October 19, 1945, in Texas, Jeannie Riley’s earliest memory was living in a house with no foundation. As a child, she already had dreams of becoming big in Nashville so she could give her parents a better life. While other young girls were learning how to do household chores, Jeannie spent her time teaching herself about country music and singing. Her uncle, Johnny Moore, was a part of a country singing band and he helped…
The delivery of her performances shared the many struggles and sadness of her difficult life and continue to become a part of so many lives. Holiday’s powerful emotions with which she sang moved anyone that would listen to her. Her unique voice, and improvisation skills, compensated for her lack of musical education. It was she who influenced Frank Sinatra as a young man and who in 1958, told Ebony about her impact: “With few exceptions, every major pop singer in the US during her generation has been touched in some way by her genius…. Lady Day [Billie Holiday] is unquestionably the most important influence on American popular singing in the last twenty years.” (Clarke, pg.96). Her ability to sing without using any words was the major impact on Sinatra many other succeeding singers such as Shelby Lynne, who admired and looked upon Lady Day’s unique talent and gift to convey raw emotion in…
When interviewing my grandma I had a lot of fun. It was neat learning from her experiences and being able to learn about some of her childhood that I did not already know about. Because she is always listening to her records I decided to start off with that subject. When I brought this up I found it interesting that her face lightened up and it was almost as if she was glowing. I asked her many things and I loved the way she went into so much detail about a specific artist. She talked about Rockabilly a lot! I can’t remember everything she said because she talked to fast but I do remember that she said “He was the best country western artist of the…
In the summer of 2004, Carrie Underwood auditioned for American Idol in St. Louis, Missouri. Her audition impressed the judges, and she was quickly catapulted into stardom, welcome to Hollywood! Carrie had dominated the voting poles, winning each week effortlessly. Simon Cowell even made the prediction she would win the entire competition. On May 5, 2005, Underwood won and became season four’s American Idol. She gained a healthy fan base during the course of the show, and the winnings included a recording contract. Today Carrie Underwood, worldwide, has sold nearly thirty million singles and more than fifteen million albums, in addition to her extensive collection of awards received. Her most recent chart topping single Two Black Cadillacs is a narrative, more on the dark side, with a dramatic yet thrilling metaphor. Underwood’s song, Two Black Cadillacs, exhibits the actions of two women scorned, the lengths they will go to acquire personal vengeance, and their ability for keeping a secret, secret.…
My major is choir. I chose this figure because she inspired me, not with her behavior, but with her talents. Whitney Houston was an important figure because she was an amazing talented lady. Her life wasn’t perfect; she went through many personal and family issues. She was going the right direction until things got bad.…
The film “Twenty Feet to Stardom” discussed about women with great voices working as backup singers. Backup singers may not seem as important to many people but in reality this women were very important to the actual songs. These artists like Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Claudia Lennear and share their story of how sacrificing and rewarding their careers were. Even though they were shadows of many legends, they still carry a pride and satisfaction with what they did. These women carry a lot of history; they started in the 50s when colored women started to become backup singers. They were popular due to the fact that they brought emotion and soul with their voice. As a woman they had to work hard and be like a chameleon with their voice. Every song was different; they had to work with different demands that were being asked. Yet, they were great with that they did because of the passion they had about singing. These women were dedicated and proud with what they did even though they did not get much credit. Even though they are not well known they work with great celebrities like the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Ray Charles, and many more that were seeking for great voices. These women were very important for the artist that was seeking them to work with as backup singers. Few were able to become singers but not many were successful, one great singer was Darlene Love she was famous in her time and she went on to become an actress. These women come from what people call “old school”, but, they are still popular. In the presentation three wonderful ladies name Charlotte Crossley, Dr. Mable John, Claudia Lennear spoke a bit about their careers, but they motivated Mt.Sac students to follow their dreams and not give up. They mentioned that all of them began as dreamers and worked hard to develop their careers.…
Her album 12 Greatest Hits has been on the country music charts for 624 consecutive weeks in a row, after almost 60 years (Bronson, 1999). An album was also released in Cline’s honor with many famous singers who found inspiration from her singing her most popular songs (The Associated Press, 2003). She is still a top-selling artist and had an amazing career in country music that affected many people through screen films, and two musicals were based on her life (Levine and George-Warren, 2006). Sweet Dreams, a movie based on Cline’s life, aired in 1986 and showed how she changed country music forever (“Patsy Cline,” 2006).…
Throughout her important career, Mahalia Jackson used her powerful voice and inspiring interpretation of spirituals to move audiences around the world. Even though, her talents were rejected by many people, this didn’t stop her from reaching her dreams. In the early days, as a soloist and member of church choirs, she recognized that music was her life and later, as a world figure, her natural gift brought people…
One of the biggest country stars of the 90’s and 2000’s Faith Hill of course! Faith Hill’s movie star good looks surely helped her cause, and her much celebrated marriage to fellow country star Tim McGraw gave her a career purists, but she had the star power of a diva even before her pop success.…
Ella Fitzgerald, also known as “The First Lady of Song” or “Lady Ella”, was an extraordinary singer highly known in the Harlem Renaissance for her joyful scat singing. Born in Virginia then moving to New York, Fitzgerald grew up during the 1920s and got her breakthrough in the early 1930s. She joined an orchestra/band and produced her first number one single, “A-Tisket, A-Tasket”. Fitzgerald’s contributions to the Harlem Renaissance included her various styles of singing; style of singing that include swing and traditional pop. Fitzgerald is shaped into the woman that she once was through her background, accomplishments, challenges and hardships; she also leaves a legacy that would continue on to influence many generations to come.…
Gene Autry was truly born to be a standout entertainer. Autry excelled in multiple forms of entertainment such as radio, music, television, motion pictures and live theater. Before Autry, Country-Western music was a genre that was mainly listened to in rural areas in the Southern United States. Autry is known as the sole pioneer of the "Singing Cowboy" genre of entertainer. With all of Autry’s accomplishments in the entertainment industry came a nationwide love for Country-Western music. Autry is the only entertainer in history to hold five stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in radio, movies, television, music, and theater. Autry is also one of the only entertainers to be inducted into the Grammy Hall of fame for two different accomplishments in music. Gene Autry is the greatest entertainer of 20th century America because of his impact on all facets of the entertainment industry.…
Singer/actress Lena Horne's primary occupation was nightclub entertaining, a profession she pursued successfully around the world for more than 60 years, from the 1930s to the 1990s. In conjunction with her club work, she also maintained a recording career that stretched from 1936 to 2000 and brought her three Grammys, including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1989; she appeared in 16 feature films and several shorts between 1938 and 1978; she performed occasionally on Broadway, including in her own Tony-winning one-woman show, Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music in 1981-1982; and she sang and acted on radio and television. Adding to the challenge of maintaining such a career was her position as an African-American facing discrimination personally and in her profession during a period of enormous social change in the U.S. Her first job in the 1930s was at the Cotton Club, where blacks could perform, but not be admitted as customers; by 1969, when she acted in the film Death of a Gunfighter, her character's marriage to a white man went unremarked in the script. Horne herself was a pivotal figure in the changing attitudes about race in the 20th century; her middle-class upbringing and musical training predisposed her to the popular music of her day, rather than the blues and jazz genres more commonly associated with African-Americans, and her photogenic looks were sufficiently close to Caucasian that frequently she was encouraged to try to "pass" for white, something she consistently refused to do. But her position in the middle of a social struggle enabled her to become a leader in that struggle, speaking out in favor of racial integration and raising money for civil rights causes. By the end of the century, she could look back at a life that was never short on conflict, but that could be seen ultimately as a triumph.…