Kemp, Hal

Orchestra and band leader James Hal Kemp was born in Marion, Ala., on 21 March 1904, the son of T. D. Kemp, Sr., and Leila Rush Kemp. He was graduated from Central High School in Charlotte, N.C., and, beginning in 1922, attended the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Kemp's musical success led to a career as a big band leader that earned him national and international recognition.

From the description of Hal. Kemp papers, 1918-1992 [manuscript]. WorldCat record id: 40911135

James Hal Kemp, orchestra and band leader, was born in Marion, Ala., on 21 March 1904. He was the son of T. D. Kemp, Sr., and Leila Rush Kemp, a poet. Kemp began his musical training while working at Marion's Bonita Theater, playing piano. After his family moved to Charlotte, N.C., he attended and was graduated from Central High School in that city. While in school, he organized his first dance band, a five-piece combo called the Merrymakers.

In 1922, Kemp entered the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, where he organized a campus band known as the Carolina Club Orchestra. This band performed in Europe during summer vacations. Kemp was active on campus and held memberships in the Musical Club, band, orchestra, glee club, and Delta Sigma Phi and Lambda Phi Epsilon fraternities. He also served as president of Wigue and Masque, the dramatic arts association. During his time at UNC, Kemp also formed a seven-piece combo, the forerunner of his nationally-known orchestra. Members of the combo included Skinnay Ennis, John Scott, and Saxie Dowell.

Kemp never completed his academic pursuits at the University of North Carolina. His musical success, however, soon led to the launching of a professional career that earned him national and international recognition. His orchestra played in New York during the mid 1920s and toured throughout Europe and the United States. In 1932, Kemp married Dallas, Tex., debutante Betsy Slaughter. The couple moved to Shogum Lake, N.J. They had two children: Sally and Hal, Jr.

Hal Kemp was a proficient trumpet, clarinet, and saxophone player. He was recognized for the clean, smooth style in the saxophone and brass sections of his orchestra, as well as his unusual choral arrangements. In addition, he arranged When the Summer is Gone (How I'll Miss You), the band's theme song. Other popular tunes recorded by the band included Got a Date with an Angel, Lamplight, and Remember Me.

The band played on a number of radio shows, including Penzoil Parade and Chesterfield Program . Bandleader Kay Kyser credited Kemp with encouraging him to enter the field. Several vocalists also achieved fame with Kemp's band, among them Maxine Gray and Bob Allen. Kemp's band was the first to be featured in a motion picture, Radio City Revels of 1938 . In addition, the band was named by Variety magazine as the favorite sweet-swing band of 1938 and received the Associated Collegiate Press All-American Musical award for that year.

In 1938, Kemp's marriage to Betsy Slaughter ended in divorce, and he married Martha Stephenson in January 1939. He served as a guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony in 1939, partially fulfilling his secret ambition to be a symphony conductor. An automobile accident cut short his dreams, however. He sustained severe injuries, including a punctured lung, in a head-on collision in Madera, Cal. Kemp developed pneumonia and died 21 December 1940 at the age of 36.

Adapted from James Hal Kemp by William B. Allen in the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography (1988).

From the guide to the Hal Kemp Papers, 1918-1992, (Southern Historical Collection)