Popular Music Archives, ca. 1890-ca. 1970

Cantor, Eddie, 1892-1964

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Eddie Cantor was born Edward Israel Iskowitz on January 31, 1892 in New York City. He was orphaned at age of two and raised by his grandmother. Cantor was a vaudeville performer and singing waiter and appeared in Gus Edwards' Kid Kabaret, in Ziegfeld's Midnight Frolics in 1916 and star in successive Ziegfeld Follies, 1917-1919. He starred in two silent films, Kid Boots (1926) and Special Delivery (1927); had own radio show through the 1930s, and was the highest paid radio star by 1936. After a h...

Blake, Eubie, 1887-1983

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Jazz composer and pianist. From the description of Autograph card signed : [New York?], 1979 Jan. 24. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270904411 American ragtime pianist and composer. From the description of Autograph note signed with his initials on his visiting card, dated : [Brooklyn, N.Y., n.d., 1963-1983], to an unidentified recipient, [1963-1983]. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270899295 American composer. From the description of Eub...

Porter, Cole, 1891-1964

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Cole Porter was born in Peru, Indiana on June 9, 1891. As a boy he took lessons in piano and violin, and began writing songs while in prep school. He attended Yale College (Class of 1913), where he composed fight songs that are still used today. After graduating, he went on to Harvard Law School, but he had little interest in law and soon began studying music instead. Porter would later complete his musical education at the Schola Cantorum in Paris. Porter's first Broadway show, See America F...

Kern, Jerome, 1885-1945

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Composer and songwriter Jerome Kern (1885-1945) is best remembered for his Broadway and film work including the lovely melodies from Showboat, "Old Man River," "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man," and "Bill," as well as standards such as "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" and "The Way You Look Tonight". The collection consists primarily of show music, including some holograph sketches. There are many full and vocal scores in the hand of Kern's orchestrators and arrangers, especially Frank Saddler and Robert Russ...

Berlin, Irving, 1888-1989

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Irving Berlin (1888-1989), a writer and composer of popular songs, wrote "I Like Ike", which was used by Eisenhower's staff during the 1952 presidential campaign. Eisenhower presented Berlin with a special gold medal from the U.S. Congress in 1955 in recognition of his patriotic and popular songs. ...

Gershwin, George, 1898-1937

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George Gershwin was a composer and pianist; his best-known works are Rhapsody in Blue (1924), An American in Paris (1928), "I Got Rhythm" (1930), and the opera Porgy and Bess (1935), which included the hit "Summertime". Gershwin moved to Hollywood and composed numerous film scores. He died in 1937 of a malignant brain tumor....

Hammerstein, Oscar, II, 1895-1960

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Oscar Hammerstein II, lyricist, librettist, theatrical producer. He is best known for his collaborations with composer Richard Rodgers, whose musicals include Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I, and The Sound of Music....

Crosby, Bing, 1903-1977

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American singer. From the description of Bing Crosby letter to Harry Ruby, 1964 Feb. 22. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 716080707 From the description of Bing Crosby autograph letter to Joe Roddy, undated. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 716080729 From the description of Bing Crosby letter to Look magazine, 1944 July 14. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 716080749 Although Bing Crosby studied law at Gonzaga University in Spokane, he was more interested in playi...

Kolodin, Irving, 1908-1988

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Irving Kolodin, music critic, author of several books and teacher at the Juilliard School, was born in 1908 and died in 1987 in New York, after suffering a stroke in the previous year. In 1926 he began his studies at the Institute of Musical Art, which later became part of the Juilliard School. In 1931 he got his first assignment as music critic at the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Soon after, in 1932, Kolodin joined the staff at The New York Sun under W. J. Henderson, where he ...

Waller, Fats, 1904-1943

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Lombardo, Guy

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Miller, Glenn, 1904-1944

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Alton Glenn Miller (March 1, 1904 – disappeared December 15, 1944) was an American big-band trombonist, arranger, composer, and bandleader in the swing era. He was the best-selling recording artist from 1939 to 1942, leading one of the best-known big bands. Miller's recordings include "In the Mood", "Moonlight Serenade", "Pennsylvania 6-5000", "Chattanooga Choo Choo", "A String of Pearls", "At Last", "(I've Got a Gal In) Kalamazoo", "American Patrol", "Tuxedo Junction", "Elmer's Tune", and "Litt...

Presley, Elvis, 1935-1977

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Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), also known simply as Elvis, was an American singer, musician and actor. He is regarded as one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century and is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King". His energized interpretations of songs and sexually provocative performance style, combined with a singularly potent mix of influences across color lines during a transformative era in race relations, led him to ...

Ellington, Duke, 1899-1974

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Duke Ellington (b. Edward Kennedy Ellington, April 29, 1899, Washington, DC–d. May 24, 1974, New York, NY) was a composer, pianist, and jazz orchestra leader. He began piano lessons at 7 and wrote his first composition, "Soda Fountain Rag", in 1914. Ellington became a more serious piano student as a teenager after hearing poolroom pianists in Washington, DC. Ellington moved to Harlem, ultimately becoming part of the Harlem Renaissance in the early 1920s. He began a regular booking at the Cott...

Dorsey, Tommy, 1905-1956

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Von Tilzer, Harry, 1872-1946

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Harry Von Tilzer (b. July 8, 1872 in Goshen, Indiana; d. January 10, 1946 in New York) was a songwriter, music publisher and performer. The family name was Gumm, but Harry added "Von" to his mother's maiden name to use as a professional pseudonym. His other brothers, with the exception of H. Harold, followed suit. At an early age, he worked in a circus and medicine show as a singer and tumbler. He performed his own songs on the vaudeville circuit and published his first song in 1892...

C.W. Post College. B. Davis Schwartz Memorial Library. Special collections.

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The Popular Music Archives includes the collections of the National Academy of Popular Music and the Songwriter's Hall of Fame, as well as the personal libraries of Irving Kolodin, music critic and annotator, and Leonard Feist, former executive director of the National Music Publisher's Association. From the description of Popular Music Archives, ca. 1890-ca. 1970. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 155560993 ...

Williams, Bert, 1874-1922

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Egbert Austin "Bert" Williams was a comedian, vaudeville performer and actor. He teamed with George Walker from 1895 to 1909 in vaudeville as "Two Real Coons." From 1910-1919 he performed with the Ziegfeld Follies. From the description of Bert Williams jokebooks, n.d. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122431182 Egbert Austin “Bert” Williams was once described by comedian W. C. Fields as the funniest man he had ever seen and the saddest he had ever known. Born in An...

John, Elton, 1907-

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Lennon, John

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Epithet: weaver of Preston British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000270.0x0001f1 ...

Blackwell, Otis, 1931-2002

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Jolson, Al, 1886-1950

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Composer. From the description of Autograph note signed : [New York], to Irene [Gallagher], 1921 Jan. 4. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270914110 Although many people view Al Jolson as little more than a singer of long ago, the voice of "The Jazz Singer", the first full-length 'talking movie", he was known as The World's Greatest Entertainer, a superstar before the word was coined, a man whose musical heritage created much of the entertainment industry we know today. His car...

Joel, Billy, 1949-

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William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man" after his signature 1973 song of the same name, Joel has had a successful music career as a solo artist since the 1970s. From 1971 to 1993, he released twelve studio albums that spanned the genres of pop and rock music, and in 2001 released a one-off studio album of classical music compositions. Joel is one of the world's best-selling music artists; and the fourth-best-sell...

Gorney, Jay, 1896-1990

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Jay Gorney (1896-1990) was a composer, writer, producer and teacher. From the description of Jay Gorney papers, scores and sound recordings, 1896-1993. (New York Public Library). WorldCat record id: 79418844 Composer, writer, producer. From the description of Reminiscences of Jay Gorney : oral history, 1958. (Columbia University In the City of New York). WorldCat record id: 122362068 Composer, producer, writer and teacher, Jay Gorney was bor...

Mccartney, Paul

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Tanguay, Eva, 1878-1947

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National Academy of Popular Music.

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Rogers, Richard, 1956-

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Correspondence to Lewis and Sophia Mumford from Richard Rogers and his wife, Su Rogers. From the description of Letters, 1964, n.d., to Lewis and Sophia Mumford. (University of Pennsylvania Library). WorldCat record id: 155875310 ...

Bayes, Nora, 1880-1928

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Songwriter's Hall of Fame.

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Edwards, Gus, 1879-1945

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Composer of "School days" and other songs. From the description of Autograph card signed : [n.p.], [193-?]. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 270906679 ...

Feist, Leonard, 1910-1996

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Leonard Feist, publisher and copyright expert, was the son of music publisher Leo Feist. After graduating from Yale in 1932, the younger Feist joined his father's company. When Leo Feist, Inc. was sold to MGM in the late 1930s, Leonard Feist began a career as an independent publisher, in which he was involved in the publication of concert, educational, and sacred music. In 1956, he assumed the presidency of Associated Music Publishers, Inc., and in 1966, he became presid...

Sinatra, Frank

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The son of italian immigrants, Frank Sinatra began singing and doing impersonations in school which led to his future career as singer with the Hoboken Four in 1935. The quartet broke up in 1936 and Frank started working his way through the music industry until he finally got his big break in 1940. He would become one of Hollywood's leading men for the next two decades and a constant music hall draw after that until very close to the day he died in 1998. (Adapted from the Official Sinatra Family...