Prefix

C
H

Hi
gh

Artist

Track

Playing

1944_10
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12

Glenn Miller & His Orchestra

It Must Be Jelly ('Cause Jam Don't

Shake Like That)

YES

The Glenn Miller Orchestra was a

swing/jazz big band formed by Glenn
Miller in 1937. It was arranged around
a clarinet and tenor saxophone playing
melody, while three other saxophones
played the harmony. This arrangement
was different from usual and allowed
Miller to develop his own style and
sound, which made him and his
orchestra one of the greatest of the
swing era.
History
Miller originally formed a band around
193536. They sang with Brunswick
Records, but struggled with financial
troubles and the band folded in 1937.
But they reformed in 1938, and under
new management they got significant
radio airplay and achieved a large
amount of success. Through Miller's
demand for professionalism at all
times, perseverance, hard work, and
musical genius, he created his own
distinctive style, different from the
regular swing bands of the time, which

Miller spent the last night before

his disappearance at Milton Ernest
Hall, near Bedford. On December
15, 1944, Miller was to fly from the
United Kingdom to Paris, France, to
play for the soldiers there. His
plane, a single-engined UC-64
Norseman, USAAF serial 44-70285,
departed from RAF Twinwood Farm
in Clapham, on the outskirts of
Bedford and disappeared while
flying over the English Channel.
[90] There were two others on
board the plane: Lt. Col. Norman
Baessell and pilot John Morgan.
A 2014 article in the Chicago
Tribune reported that, despite
many theories that had been
proposed, Miller's plane crashed
because it had a faulty carburetor.
The plane's engine had a type of
carburetor that was known to be
defective in cold weather and had a
history of causing crashes in other
aircraft by icing up. The theory

earned him 70 top ten singles in just

four short years - and launched the
band to the uppermost heights of
popularity.

1944_09
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16

Gordon Jenkins & His Orchestra

Gordon Hill Jenkins (May 12, 1910
May 1, 1984) was an American
arranger, composer and pianist who
was an influential figure in popular
music in the 1940s and 1950s,
renowned for his lush string
arrangements. Jenkins worked with the
Andrews Sisters, Johnny Cash, The
Weavers, Frank Sinatra, Louis
Armstrong, Judy Garland, Nat King

that the plane was hit by a bomb

jettisoned by Allied planes
returning from an aborted bombing
raid on Germany is discredited by
the log of a plane-spotter that
implies that the plane was heading
in a direction that would avoid the
zone where such bombs were
jettisoned.
When Miller disappeared, he left
behind his wife, the former Helen
Burger, originally from Boulder,
Colorado, and the two children
they had adopted in 1943 and
1944, Steven and Jonnie. In
February 1945, Helen Miller
accepted the Bronze Star medal for
Miller.
Always

YES

1944_09
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14

Cole, Billie Holiday, Harry Nilsson, and

Ella Fitzgerald, among others.
Ink Spots

11

Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians

Long Ago (And Far Away)

NO

1
0

11

Dick Haymes

How Blue the Night

YES

Richard Benjamin "Dick" Haymes

(September 13, 1918 March 28, 1980)
was an Argentine actor and singer. He
was one of the most popular male
vocalists of the 1940s and early 1950s.
He was the older brother of Bob
Haymes, an actor, television host, and
songwriter.

Haymes was born in Buenos Aires,

Argentina in 1918.[1][2] His
mother, whom Haymes
predeceased, was Irish-born
Marguerite Haymes (18941987), a
well-known vocal coach and
instructor. Dick Haymes became a
vocalist in a number of big bands,
worked in Hollywood, on radio, and
in films throughout the
1940s/1950s.

Someday I'll Meet You Again

NO

Though never achieving the

immensely popular status of fellow
baritone crooners like Bing Crosby,
Frank Sinatra, or Perry Como,
Haymes was nonetheless just as
respected for his musical ability.
On September 3, 1942, Sinatra
introduced Haymes on radio as
Sinatra's replacement in the
Tommy Dorsey band. Prior to
joining Dorsey's group, Haymes
sang with the Harry James

1944_09
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12

Billy Butterfield & His Orchestra (Vocal

Margaret Whiting)
Billy Butterfield (January 14, 1917 in
Middleton, Ohio March 18, 1988) was
a band leader, jazz trumpeter,
flugelhornist and cornetist.
He studied cornet with Frank Simon,
but later switched to studying
medicine. He did not give up on music
and quit medicine after finding success
as a trumpeter. Early in his career he
played in the band of Austin Wylie. He
gained attention working with Bob
Crosby (19371940), and later worked
with Artie Shaw, Les Brown, and Benny
Goodman.
On October 7, 1940, during his brief
stay with Artie Shaw's orchestra, he
performed what has been described as
a "legendary trumpet solo" on the hit
song "Stardust." Between 1943 and
1947, taking a break to serve in Uncle
Sam's army, Billy led his own
orchestra. On September 20, 1944,
Capitol recorded the jazz standard
"Moonlight In Vermont", which
featured a vocal by Margaret Whiting
and a trumpet solo by Billy.

orchestra.
My Ideal

YES

1944_09
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11

Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys

James Robert Wills (March 6, 1905
May 13, 1975), better known as Bob
Wills, was an American Western swing
musician, songwriter, and bandleader.
Considered by music authorities as the
co-founder of Western swing, he was
universally known as the King of
Western Swing (after the death of
Spade Cooley who used the moniker
"King Of Western Swing" from 1942 to
1969.)
Wills formed several bands and played
radio stations around the South and
West until he formed the Texas
Playboys in 1934 with Wills on fiddle,
Tommy Duncan on piano and vocals,
rhythm guitarist June Whalin, tenor
banjoist Johnnie Lee Wills, and Kermit
Whalin, who played steel guitar and
bass. The band played regularly on a
Tulsa, Oklahoma radio station and
added Leon McAuliffe on steel guitar,
pianist Al Stricklin, drummer Smokey
Dacus, and a horn section that
expanded the band's sound. Wills
favored jazz-like arrangements and the
band found national popularity into the
1940s with such hits as "Steel Guitar
Rag", "New San Antonio Rose", "Smoke

We Might as Well Forget It

YES

1944_09
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13

On The Water", "Stars And Stripes On

Iwo Jima", and "New Spanish Two
Step".
Freddie Slack & His Orchestra
Frederick Charles Slack (August 7,
1910 August 10, 1965) was an
American swing and boogie-woogie
pianist and bandleader.
Life and career[edit]
Born in La Crosse, Wisconsin, he
learned to play drums as a boy. Later
he took up xylophone and at 13
changed to piano. He studied with a
local teacher throughout high school.
At 17 his parents moved to Chicago
where he continued his musical
training. He met Rosy McHargue, a well
known clarinetist, who took him to
hear many leading musicians including
Bix Beiderbecke and Earl Hines. His
first job was with Johnny Tobin at the
Beach View Gardens. He later moved to
Los Angeles where he worked with
Henry Halstead, Earl Burtnett and
Lennie Hayton, before joining Ben
Pollack in 1934.
He played with the Jimmy Dorsey Band
in the 1930s and was a charter
member of the Will Bradley Orchestra

Cuban Sugar Mill

After forming his own band in 1942
and signing with the newly
founded Capitol Records, he
recorded three songs at the third
Capitol recording session on May
21, 1942. His recording of "Cow
Cow Boogie," sung by the 17-yearold Ella Mae Morse, was the second
record Capitol issued on July 1, and
by July 25 it had reached number 1
on the hit parade. It was Capitol's
first gold single.

YES

when it formed in 1939. Known to

bandmates as "Daddy Slack," he played
the piano solo on Bradley's recording
of "Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar",
one of the early white boogie-woogie
hits and a classic of the Big Band era.
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11

David Rose & His Orchestra

Poinciana (Song of the Tree)

NO

1
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1
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8

11

Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians

Take it Easy

NO

10

Jo Stafford

It Could Happen To You

NO

10

Stan Kenton & His Orchestra

Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me

NO

10

Artie Shaw & His Orchestra

It Had to Be You

YES

In addition to hiring Buddy Rich, he

signed Billie Holiday as his band's
vocalist in 1938, becoming the first
white bandleader to hire a full-time
black female singer to tour the
segregated Southern U.S.[8] However,
after recording "Any Old Time" she left
the band due to hostility from
audiences in the South, as well as from
music company executives who wanted
a more "mainstream" singer.[8] His
band became enormously successful,
and his playing was eventually
recognized as equal to that of Benny
Goodman: longtime Duke Ellington

The long series of musical groups

Shaw formed included such talents
as vocalists Billie Holiday, Helen
Forrest and, Mel Torm; drummers
Buddy Rich and Dave Tough,
guitarists Barney Kessel, Jimmy
Raney, and Tal Farlow and
trombonist-arranger Ray Conniff,
among countless others. He
composed his "Theme" song, the
haunting, morose "Nightmare,"
with its Hasidic nuances, rather
than use a more "accessible" song.
It was as if Shaw was saying in
musical terms that he and his band

1944_08
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10

clarinetist Barney Bigard cited Shaw as

his favorite clarinet player.[9] In
response to Goodman's nickname, the
"King of Swing," Shaw's fans dubbed
him the "King of the Clarinet." Shaw,
however, felt the titles were reversed.
"Benny Goodman played clarinet. I
played music," he said.[10] In 1938
DownBeat Magazine's readers agreed
with Shaw's evaluation and named
Artie Shaw as the King of Swing.
Ella Mae Morse

weren't inviting anyone to dance a

la Goodman's "Let's Dance" nor
were they getting sentimental over
anything, a la Tommy Dorsey's "I'm
Gettin' Sentimental Over You.

The Patty Cake Man

NO

10

Woody Herman & His Orchestra

Milkman, Keep Those Bottles Quiet

YES

Herman was born Woodrow Charles

Thomas Herman in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, on May 16, 1913. His
parents were Otto and Myrtle Herman.
His father had a deep love for show
business and this influenced Woody
Herman at an early age. As a child he
worked as a singer and tap-dancer in
Vaudeville, then started to play the
clarinet and saxophone by age 12.In
1931, he met Charlotte Neste, an
aspiring actress; they married on
September 27, 1936. Woody Herman
joined the Tom Gerun band and his first
recorded vocals were "Lonesome Me"
and "My Heart's at Ease". Herman also
performed with the Harry Sosnick

In 1946 the band won Down Beat,

Metronome, Billboard and Esquire
polls for best band, nominated by
their peers in the big band
business. Along with the high
acclaim for their jazz and blues
performances, classical composer
Igor Stravinsky wrote the Ebony
Concerto, one in a series of
compositions commissioned by
Herman with solo clarinet, for this
band. Herman recorded this work
in the Belock Recording Studio in
Bayside New York.

1944_08
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10

orchestra, Gus Arnheim and Isham

Jones. Isham Jones wrote many popular
songs, including "It Had to Be You" and
at some point was tiring of the
demands of leading a band. Jones
wanted to live off the residuals of his
songs; Woody Herman saw the chance
to lead his former band, and eventually
acquired the remains of the orchestra
after Jones' retirement.
Ella Fitzgerald & Ink Spots

10

Woody Herman & His Orchestra

The Music Stopped

NO

1
0

10

Kay Armen Feat. The Balladiers

How Sweet You Are

YES

She appeared in a number of roles,

notably in NBC 1959 sitcom Love
and Marriage, and on screen in
1955 MGM musical Hit the Deck
and 1961 film Hey, Let's Twist!. She
was also a songwriter with
compositions including "Be Good to
Yourself", "My Love and I" and "Its
a Sin to Cry Over You"

10

Armenuhi Manoogian better known by

her stage name Kay Armen (Chicago,
Illinois November 2, 1915 New York
City, New York, October 3, 2011), was a
popular American Armenian singer
during the 1940s and 1950s.[1] Her
career in show business spanned
almost six decades, as she worked in
radio, television, onstage and in film.
She also wrote many songs, performed
in nightclubs and recorded many
records.
Andy Russell
Andy Russell (born Andrs Rbago;
September 16, 1919 April 16, 1992)

In 1935, as a 15-year-old student in

junior high school, he began his

Cow-Cow Boogie

NO

Besame Mucho

YES

was an American popular vocalist,

specializing in traditional pop and Latin
music. He sold 8 million records in the
1940s to early 1950s singing in a
romantic, baritone voice in his
trademark bilingual English and
Spanish style. He had chart-busters,
such as "Bsame Mucho," "Amor,"
"What a Diff'rence a Day Made,"
"Laughing on the Outside (Crying on
the Inside)," "Without You," and "The
Anniversary Waltz." He also performed
on many radio programs, most notably
Your Hit Parade, in several movies, and
on television.

career as an up-and-coming
teenage idol by singing with a local
swing band headed by don Ramn
Cruz.[4] This band was composed
mainly of Mexican and MexicanAmerican musicians and played
primarily in East Los Angeles.[20]
He also sang with the Stan Kenton
Orchestra, and other groups, until
one day he was told that he also
would have to play an instrument
to stay with the band. Russell
recalled wistfully how he dealt with
this curious dilemma:
They said to me one night and
broke my heart, they says, "Andy,
we can't afford to have you as just
a singer. You've got to play some
instrument." I said, "But, gee, I'm a
singer." And they said, "Yeah, we're
paying you two dollars, two-fifty a
night and it's too much. You know,
the guys wanna split the rest of
the money." So I said, "What can I
learn in a hurry so I can join the
band?...Drums would be the
easiest thing." So I got a bunch of
the old records and started to learn
to play drums. Down in the cellar
I'd learn to play drums and keep
good time. This was when I was in
junior high and I was learning to

1944_08
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10

Xavier Cugat & His Waldorf-Astoria

Orchestra Feat. Carmen Castillo
Cugat was born as Francisco de Ass
Javier Cugat Mingall de Bru y Deulofeu
in Girona, Spain. His family emigrated
to Cuba when Xavier was five. He was
trained as a classical violinist and
played with the Orchestra of the Teatro
Nacional in Havana. On 6 July 1915,
Cugat and his family arrived in New
York as immigrant passengers on
board the S.S. Havana. Cugat appeared
in recitals with Enrico Caruso, playing
violin solos.

play drums. Later on I got a

teacher to teach me how to read,
and before you knew it, I took
drums seriously and I became one
of the top drummers on the east
side of L.A.--swing drummers. And I
was playing drums with all these
bands and then I'd sing.
Amor
In the late 1920s, as sound began
to be used in films, Cugat put
together another tango band that
had some success in early short
musical films. And by the early
1930s, he began appearing with his
group in feature films. His first
notable appearance occurred in
1942, in the Columbia production
You Were Never Lovelier with Rita
Hayworth, Fred Astaire, and
Adolphe Menjou.
Most of Cugat's subsequent movies
were made at Metro-GoldwynMayer studios, including Week-End
at the Waldorf (1945), Holiday in
Mexico (1948), A Date with Judy
(1948), Luxury Liner (1948), and
the Esther Williams musicals
Bathing Beauty (1944), This Time
for Keeps (1947), On an Island with

YES

You (1948), and Neptune's

Daughter (1949).
In 1931, Cugat had taken his band
to New York for the 1931 opening
of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, and
he eventually replaced Jack Denny
as the leader of the hotel's
resident band. For 16 years, Cugat
helmed the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel's
orchestra, shuttling between New
York and Los Angeles for most of
the next 30 years.
One of his trademarks was to hold
a Chihuahua while he waved his
baton with the other arm.
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Stan Kenton & His Orchestra

King Cole Trio

1944_07
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1
0

Tony Pastor & His Orchestra

Tony Pastor (born Anthony Pestritto)
(October 26, 1907 October 31, 1969)
was an Italian American novelty singer
and tenor saxophonist who began
playing saxophone when he was 16. He
played tenor sax with John Cavallaro
(1927), Irving Aaronson (192830), and

How Many Hearts Have You

Broken?
Straighten Up and Fly Right

NO

Dance With A Dolly (With a Hole In

Her Stocking)

YES

YES

1944_07
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1
4
1

Austin Wylie (1930), then opened his

own night club in Hartford, Connecticut
and led the band there for three years.
After that, he played with Smith Ballew
(1934), Joe Venuti, Paul Fredricks,
Vincent Lopez, and Artie Shaw's first
(193637) and second (193739)
orchestras. In November 1939 when
Shaw walked off the bandstand in the
Cafe Rouge located inside the Hotel
Pennsylvania (essentially quitting his
own band), Pastor was soon coaxed
into leading his own big band, which he
did from 1939 to 1959.
Glenn Miller & His Orchestra

Blue Rain

NO

Pied Pipers

Mairzy Doats

YES

The Pied Pipers is an American popular

singing group originally formed in the
late 1930s. Originally they consisted of
eight members who had belonged to
three separate groups: Jo Stafford from
The Stafford Sisters, and seven male
singers: John Huddleston, Hal Hopper,
Chuck Lowry, Bud Hervey, George Tait,
Woody Newbury, and Dick Whittinghill,
who had belonged to two groups
named The Four Esquires and The
Three Rhythm Kings.Multiinstrumentalist Spencer Clark was also
a member at one point.

1944_07
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1
3

Perry Como

Long Ago (and Far Away)

YES

Young Como started helping his family

at age 10, working before and after
school in Steve Fragapane's barber
shop for 50 a week. By age 13, he had
graduated to having his own chair in
the Fragapane barber shop, although
he stood on a box to tend to his
customers. It was also around this time
that young Como lost his week's wages
in a dice game. Filled with shame, he
locked himself in his room and did not
come out until hunger got the better of
him. He managed to tell his father
what had happened to the money his
family depended on. His father told
him he was entitled to make a mistake
and that he hoped his son would never
do anything worse than this. When
Perry was 14, his father became unable
to work because of a severe heart
condition. Como and his brothers
became the support of the household
Andrews Sisters

In 1929, the 17-year-old Como met

Roselle Belline at a picnic on
Chartiers Creek that attracted
many young people from the
Canonsburg area. Como, who
attended the cookout with another
girl, did not spot Roselle until
everyone was around the campfire
singing and the gathering was
coming to a close. When it came
Como's turn to sing, he chose More
Than You Know, with his eyes on
Roselle for the entire song. The
teenage sweethearts were married
July 31, 1933. They raised three
children, Ronnie, David, and Terri,
with traditional, non-showbusiness values. Because Perry
Como believed his professional life
and his personal life should be kept
separate, he declined repeated
interview requests from Edward R.
Murrow's Person to Person.
Straighten Up And Fly Right

YES

The Andrews Sisters were an American

close harmony singing group of the
swing and boogie-woogie eras. The
group consisted of three sisters:
contralto LaVerne Sophia (July 6, 1911

They started their career as

imitators of an earlier successful
singing group, the Boswell Sisters
who were popular in the 30s. After
singing with various dance bands

 May 8, 1967), soprano Maxine

Angelyn "Maxene" (January 3, 1916
October 21, 1995), and mezzo-soprano
Patricia Marie "Patty" (February 16,
1918 January 30, 2013). Throughout
their long career, the sisters sold well
over 75 million records (the last official
count released by MCA Records in the
mid-1970s). Their 1941 hit "Boogie
Woogie Bugle Boy" can be considered
an early example of rhythm and blues
or jump blues.

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and touring in vaudeville with the

likes of Ted Belasco, and comic
bandleader Larry Rich, they first
came to national attention with
their recordings and radio
broadcasts in 1937, most notably
via their major Decca record hit,
"Bei Mir Bist Du Schn"
(translation: "To Me, You Are
Beautiful"), originally a Yiddish
tune, the lyrics of which Sammy
Cahn had translated to English and
"which the girls harmonized to
perfection."They followed this
success with a string of bestselling records over the next two
years and they became a
household name by the 1940s.

Jo Stafford

Instrumental to the sisters' success

over the years were their parents
(Olga and Peter), their orchestra
leader and musical arranger, Vic
Schoen (19162000), and Jack and
David Kapp, who founded Decca
Records.
I Love You

Johnny Long & His Orchestra

Time Waits for No One

Johnny Long (September 12, 1914

(disputed) October 31, 1972) was an

As a freshman at Duke University,

Long joined with ten other

NO
YES

American violinist and bandleader,

known as "The Man Who's Long on
Music". He was raised on a farm in
Newell, North Carolina, currently a
subdivision of Charlotte. He started
practicing with the violin at the age of
six, but injured two fingers on his left
hand when he was bitten by a pig.He
then learned to use his right hand to
play the violin, and continued to do so
until his death.

1944_07
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1
6
3

Mills Brothers

freshmen to create a school band

named The Duke Collegians. During
their second year, they were
adopted as the official school band.
The band stayed together
throughout their school years and,
upon graduation, renamed
themselves The Johnny Long
Orchestra, with Long as the
bandleader. For a number of years
they toured the country and were
eventually signed on to Vocalion
Records (owned by ARC) in 1937
for the release of Just Like That.
They performed their first national
radio broadcast in 1939 on The
Fitch Summer Bandwagon Show,
which boosted their national
popularity.
Till Then

Enric Madriguera & His Orchestra

I Love You

Enric R. Madriguera (Barcelona, 17

February 1904 7 September 1973)
was a violinist of Catalan origin who
was playing concerts as a child before
he studied at the Barcelona
Conservatory. (The Castilian form of his
name is Enrique, which he sometimes
used on records.) Whilst still in his
twenties he was lead violinist at

NO
YES

1944_06
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Boston's and Symphony orchestras

before becoming the conductor of the
Cuban Philharmonic
Frank Sinatra

1
0
9

Kay Armen

The Dreamer

NO

Mairzy Doats

YES

1
1
1
8

Al Trace And His Sily Symphonists vocal

by Red Maddock And Group
Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians

Together

NO

Three Suns And Artie Dunn, SymesKaufman

How Many Hearts Have You Broken

YES

White Christmas

NO

The group was formed in 1939 by

brothers Al Nevins (guitar) and Morty
Nevins (accordion) and their cousin,
radio and vaudeville veteran Artie
Dunn (vocals, electronic organ). They
became a popular nightclub attraction;
during a New York engagement in
1944, they were signed to appear in
short musical films for the Soundies
movie jukeboxes. They performed nine
songs for the cameras.
1944_06
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1
4

Ink Spots

I'll Get By (As Long as I Have You

YES

1944_06
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1944_06

1
1
1

Woody Herman & His Orchestra

Do Nothin' Till You Hear from Me

NO

Red Foley

Smoke on the Water

YES

2
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1944_05
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1944_05
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1944_04
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1944_04
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1944_04
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1944_04

1
1
5
1
4
1
6
6

Betty Hutton

His Rocking Horse Ran Away

YES

Merry Macs

Pretty Kitty Blue Eyes

NO

Ella Mae Morse

Milkman, Keep Those Bottles Quiet

NO

10

Duke Ellington & His Famous Orchestra

Do Nothin' Till You Hear From Me

YES

1
3
1
6
1
3
1
7
1
4
3

Bing Crosby & Andrews Sisters

Victory Polka

YES

Russ Morgan & His Orchestra

Good Night, Wherever You Are

NO

Mary Martin

I'll Walk Alone

YES

Evelyn Knight

YES

Jo Stafford

Dance with a Dolly (With a Hole in

Her Stocking)
Long Ago (And Far Away)

Bing Crosby

White Christmas

NO

Andy Russell

NO

Bing Crosby

I Dream Of You (More Than You

Dream I Do)
Long Ago (And Far Away)

1
2
1

Betty Hutton

It Had To Be You

NO

21

Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra

Boogie Woogie

NO

Johnny Long & His Orchestra

No Love, No Nothin'

NO

Andy Russell

Amor

NO

YES

NO

6
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0
9

Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians

Speak Low (When You Speak, Love)

NO

1
1
7

Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra

My Ideal

YES

Glen Gray & Casa Loma Orchestra

My Shining Hour

NO

1
2
1
1
8

Ella Mae Morse

No Love, No Nothin'

YES

Four King Sisters

It's Love-Love-Love

YES

Judy Garland

The Trolley Song

YES

And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine

YES

Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel

Gumm) was an American singer,
actress, and vaudevillian. She was
renowned for her vocals[1] and
attained international stardom which
continued throughout a career that
spanned more than 40 years as an
actress in musical and dramatic roles,
as a recording artist and on concert
stages
Stan Kenton & His Orchestra (Vocal
Anita O'Day)

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1
8

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Helen Forrest & Dick Haymes

It Had To Be You

NO

1
0

Harry James & His Orchestra

Cherry

YES

Harry Haag James was a musician who

His was the first "name band" to

1944_03
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1
7

is best known as a trumpet playing

band leader who led a big band from
1939 to 1946. He broke up his band for
a short period in 1947 but shortly after
he re-organized his band and was
active again with his band from then
until his death in 1983. He was
especially known among musicians for
his astonishing technical proficiency as
well as his superior tone, and was
extremely influential on up and coming
trumpet players from the late 1930s
into the 1940s. He was also an actor in
a number of motion pictures that
usually featured his bands in some
way.
Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra (Vocal
Frank Sinatra)
Thomas Francis "Tommy" Dorsey, Jr.
was an American jazz trombonist,
trumpeter, composer, and bandleader
of the Big Band era. He was known as
"The Sentimental Gentleman of Swing",
because of his smooth-toned trombone
playing. Although he was not known
for being a notable soloist, his
technical skill on the trombone gave
him renown amongst other musicians.
He was the younger brother of
bandleader Jimmy Dorsey. After Dorsey
broke with his brother in the mid-

employ vocalist Frank Sinatra, in

1939. James signed Sinatra to a
one year contract, of which Sinatra
worked seven months before going
to sing for Tommy Dorsey He
wanted to change Sinatra's name
to 'Frankie Satin' but Sinatra
refused.[citation needed] His later
band included drummer Buddy
Rich. His featured vocalist was
Helen Forrest. Johnny MacAfee was
featured on the sax and vocals and
Corky Corcoran was a youthful sax
prodigy.
I'll Be Seeing You
As Dorsey became successful, he
made business decisions in the
music industry. He loaned Glenn
Miller money to launch Miller's
successful band of 1938, but
Dorsey saw the loan as an
investment, entitling him to a
percentage of Miller's income.
When Miller balked at this, the
angry Dorsey got even by
sponsoring a new band led by Bob
Chester, and hiring arrangers who
deliberately copied Miller's style
and sound. Dorsey branched out in

YES

1930s, he led an extremely popular

and highly successful band from the
late 1930s into the 1950s. He is best
remembered for standards such as
"Song of India", "Marie", "On Treasure
Island", "The Music Goes 'Round and
Around", and "You".

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Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra

the mid-1940s and owned two

music publishing companies, Sun
and Embassy. After opening at the
Los Angeles ballroom, The
Hollywood Palladium, on the
Palladium's first night, Dorsey's
relations with the ballroom soured
and he opened a competing
ballroom, The Casino Gardens circa
1944. Dorsey also owned for a
short time a trade magazine called
The Bandstand.
When They Ask About You

Bing Crosby

Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral

NO

Frank Sinatra

I Couldn't Sleep A Wink Last Night

YES

Ella Mae Morse

Shoo Shoo Baby

NO

Martha Tilton

I'll Walk Alone

YES

Tilton had a major success from 1942

to 1949 as one of the first artists to
record for Capitol Records. Her first
recording for Capitol was "Moon
Dreams", Capitol 138, with Orchestra
and The Mellowaires, composed by
Johnny Mercer and Glenn Miller pianist
Chummy MacGregor in 1942. "Moon
Dreams" would be recorded by Glenn
Miller in 1944 and by Miles Davis in

Martha was an American popular

singer during America's swing era
and traditional pop period. She is
best known for her 1939 recording
of "And the Angels Sing" with
Benny Goodman.
Tilton was born in Corpus Christi,
Texas. Her family moved to Edna,
Kansas, when she was 3 months

NO

1950. Among her biggest hits as a solo

artist were "I'll Walk Alone", a wartime
ballad which rose to #4 on the charts
in 1944; "I Should Care" and "A
Stranger in Town," which both peaked
at #10 in 1945; and three in 1947:
"How Are Things in Glocca Morra" from
Finian's Rainbow, which climbed to #8;
"That's My Desire", which hit #10; and
"I Wonder, I Wonder, I Wonder", which
reached #9.

old. They relocated to Los Angeles

when she was 7years old. While
attending Fairfax High School in
Los Angeles, she was singing on a
small radio station when she was
heard by an agent who signed her
and began booking her with larger
stations. She then dropped out of
school in the 11th grade to join Hal
Grayson's band.
After singing with the quartet
Three Hits and a Miss, she joined
the Myer Alexander chorus on
Benny Goodman's radio show,
Camel Caravan. Goodman hired
Tilton as a vocalist with his band in
August 1937. She was with
Goodman in January 1938, when
the band performed the first jazz
performance at Carnegie Hall. She
continued to appear as Goodman's
star vocalist through the end of
1939.
Dance with a Dolly (With a Hole in
Her Stocking)

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2

Russ Morgan & His Orchestra

YES

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5
1
0
1

Bing Crosby

Poinciana (Song Of The Tree)

NO

Helen Forrest & Dick Haymes

Together

NO

Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra

Star Eyes

NO

7
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6
2
0

Lawrence Welk & His Orchestra

Don't Sweetheart Me

YES

Lawrence Welk was an American

musician, accordionist, bandleader,
and television impresario, who hosted
The Lawrence Welk Show from 1951 to
1982. His style came to be known to
his large number of radio, television,
and live-performance fans (and critics)
as "champagne music".

NO
YES

Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra

Welk's big band performed across

the country but particularly in the
Chicago and Milwaukee areas. In
the early 1940s, the band began a
10-year stint at the Trianon
Ballroom in Chicago, regularly
drawing crowds of nearly 7,000.
His orchestra also performed
frequently at the Roosevelt Hotel
in New York City during the late
1940s. In 1944 and 1945, Welk led
his orchestra in many motion
picture "Soundies," considered to
be the early pioneers of music
videos
They're Either Too Young or Too Old

Helen Forrest

Time Waits For No One

Helen Forrest served as the "girl

singer" for three of the most popular
big bands of the Swing Era (Artie Shaw,
Benny Goodman, and Harry James),
thereby earning a reputation as "the
voice of the name bands

1938-1943: Shaw, Goodman, &

James
After seeing Forrest at the
Madrillon, bandleader Artie Shaw
asked her to go on tour with him;
Shaw was looking for new talent
when vocalist Billie Holiday decided
to leave the band. Helen was hired
in 1938. For a time she and Holiday
were both working with Shaw's

In 1996, Welk was ranked #43 on TV

Guide's 50 Greatest TV Stars of All
Time

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In 1941, she approached Harry James,

offering to work for him under one

condition: that she be permitted to

sing more than one chorus. Although
James was looking for a more jazzoriented singer, he allowed Forrest to
audition. The band voted her in and
she was hired. Several decades later,
Forrest explained in an interview,
"Harry James was wonderful. When I
joined him, I said, 'There's only one
condition: I don't care how much you
pay me, I don't care about
arrangements. The one thing I want is
to start a chorus and finish it. I want to
do verses, so don't put me up for a
chorus in the middle of an
instrumental.' He said, 'You got it,' and
that was it."

band. In some venues, AfricanAmerican performers were

required to remain off stage until
they performed.
Helen joined Benny Goodman in
December 1939, with whom she
recorded a number of celebrated
songs, including the hit song "The
Man I Love." Helen recorded 55
studio recordings with Goodman.
She told the Pop Chronicles radio
series: "Benny would look right
above your eyebrows, in the
middle, right on top of the brow.
He was a very strange man."

1944-1960s: Solo career

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Forrest left Harry James in late 1943 in

pursuit of a solo career, saying "three
years with a band is enough." She
signed a recording contract with Decca
and co-starred with Dick Haymes on a
CBS radio show from 1944 to 1947
Bing Crosby & Andrews Sisters

Helen Forrest & Dick Haymes

Long Ago (And Far Away)

YES

1944_02

Pied Pipers

The Trolley Song

NO

Is You Is Or Is You Ain't (Ma' Baby)

NO

1
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4
1
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Bing Crosby

Amor

NO

Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five

Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby

YES

Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five

created many of the most influential
songs of the early R&B and Rock n' Roll
era, including Let The Good Times Roll,
Keep A-Knockin', and Caldonia. Carl
Hogan's opening riff to Ain't That Just
Like A Woman later became one of
rock's most recognizable riffs in Chuck
Berry's Johnny B. Goode.
David Rose & His Orchestra

Holiday For Strings

YES

David Rose was an American

songwriter, composer, arranger,
pianist, and orchestra leader. His most
famous compositions were "The
Stripper", "Holiday for Strings", and
"Calypso Melody". He also wrote music
for many television series, including
It's a Great Life, The Tony Martin Show,

Recipient of four Emmy awards,

Rose was born in London, to Jewish
parents, and raised in Chicago,
Illinois. The family name was
originally Rosinski. Rose's career in
music began when he worked with
Ted Fio Rito's band when he was
sixteen. Rose also worked as a

Tympany Five was a successful and

influential rhythm and blues and jazz
dance band founded by Louis Jordan in
1938. The group was composed of a
horn section of three to five different
pieces and also drums, double bass,
guitar and piano.

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1

Little House on the Prairie, Highway To

Heaven, Bonanza, and Highway Patrol
under the pseudonym "Ray Llewellyn."
Rose's work in composing music for
television programs earned him four
Emmys. In addition, he was musical
director for The Red Skelton Show
during its 21-year-run on the CBS and
NBC networks. He was a member of Phi
Mu Alpha Sinfonia, the national
fraternity for men in music.

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Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians

Gaetano Alberto "Guy" Lombardo was a
Canadian-American bandleader and
violinist.
Forming The Royal Canadians in 1924
with his brothers Carmen, Lebert, and
Victor, and other musicians from his
hometown, Lombardo led the group to
international success, billing
themselves as creating "the sweetest
music this side of Heaven". The
Lombardos are believed to have sold
between 100 million and 300 million
phonograph records during their
lifetimes.

standby pianist for NBC Radio. It

was here, in the early 1930s, that
he first gained a reputation, while
arranging for the Frank Trumbauer
orchestra and later leading a house
band at station WGN. He composed
several early swing originals such
as "Break It Down" with Frankie
Trumbauer, "Transcontinental,"
"Plantation Moods," and a piece
recorded under three different
titles: "I've Got It", "Itchola", and
"Jigsaw Rhythm," his original
version with the WGN band
including Louis Prima.
It's Love-Love-Love
After that solitary Gennett session,
they recorded two sessions for
Brunswick (a rejected session in
Cleveland in late 1926 and an
issued session for Vocalion in early
1927). The band then signed to
Columbia and recorded prolifically
between 1927 and 1931. In early
1932, they signed to Brunswick and
continued their success through
1934 when they signed to Decca
(193435). They then signed to
Victor in later 1935 and stayed
until mid 1938 when again they
signed to Decca.

YES

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7

Ella Fitzgerald & Ink Spots

Ella Jane Fitzgerald was an American
jazz singer often referred to as the
First Lady of Song, Queen of Jazz, and
Lady Ella. She was noted for her purity
of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing
and intonation, and a "horn-like"
improvisational ability, particularly in
her scat singing.
After tumultuous teenage years,
Fitzgerald found stability in musical
success with performances on many
stages in the Harlem area, including
her rendition of the nursery rhyme "ATisket, A-Tasket" that helped boost her
to fame. In 1942, Fitzgerald left the
amateur performances behind, signed
a deal with Decca Records, and started
her solo career by redefining the art of
scat singing. It was not until her
manager, Norman Granz, built Verve

In 1938, Lombardo became a

naturalized citizen of the United
States.
Although Lombardo's "sweet" bigband music was viewed by some in
the jazz and big-band community
of the day as "corny", trumpeter
Louis Armstrong famously enjoyed
Lombardo's music
I'm Making Believe
In vocal jazz, scat singing is vocal
improvisation with wordless
vocables, nonsense syllables or
without words at all. Scat singing
is a difficult technique that
requires singers with the ability to
sing improvised melodies and
rhythms using the voice as an
instrument rather than a speaking
medium.
Fitzgerald made her singing debut
at age 17 on November 21, 1934,
at the Apollo Theater in Harlem,
New York. She pulled in a weekly
audience at the Apollo and won the
opportunity to compete in one of
the earliest of its famous "Amateur
Nights". She had originally
intended to go on stage and dance,
but, intimidated by the Edwards

YES

Records based on her vocal abilities

that she recorded some of her more
widely noted works. Under this label,
Fitzgerald focused more on singing
than scatting, providing perhaps her
most career-defining works in her
interpretation of the Great American
Songbook

Sisters, a local dance duo, she

opted to sing instead in the style of
Connee Boswell. She sang
Boswell's "Judy" and "The Object of
My Affection", a song recorded by
the Boswell Sisters, and won the
first prize of US $25.00
In January 1935, Fitzgerald won the
chance to perform for a week with
the Tiny Bradshaw band at the
Harlem Opera House.[9] She met
drummer and bandleader Chick
Webb there. Webb had already
hired singer Charlie Linton to work
with the band and was, The New
York Times later wrote, "reluctant
to sign her....because she was
gawky and unkempt, a 'diamond in
the rough'." Webb offered her the
opportunity to test with his band
when they played a dance at Yale
University.[9] She began singing
regularly with his orchestra
throughout 1935 at Harlem's Savoy
Ballroom.[9] Fitzgerald recorded
several hit songs with them,
including "Love and Kisses" and "(If
You Can't Sing It) You'll Have to
Swing It (Mr. Paganini)".But it was
her 1938 version of the nursery
rhyme, "A-Tisket, A-Tasket", a song

she co-wrote, that brought her

wide public acclaim.

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Ella Fitzgerald & Ink Spots

Webb died on June 16, 1939,[15]

and his band was renamed Ella and
her Famous Orchestra with
Fitzgerald taking on the role of
nominal bandleader. She recorded
nearly 150 songs with the
orchestra before it broke up in
1942; in her New York Times
obituary of 1996, Stephen Holder
wrote that "the majority of them
(were) novelties and disposable
pop fluff".
Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall

Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five

G.I. Jive

NO

Bing Crosby

I'll Be Seeing You

NO

NO

1944_01
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2
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Dinah Shore

I'll Walk Alone

Dinah Shore (born Frances Rose Shore)

was an American singer, actress,
television personality, and the topcharting female vocalist of the 1940s.
She reached the height of her
popularity as a recording artist during
the Big Band era of the 1940s and
1950s, but achieved even greater
success a decade later, in television,
mainly as hostess of a series of variety
programs for Chevrolet.
After failing singing auditions for the
bands of Benny Goodman and both
Jimmy Dorsey and his brother Tommy
Dorsey, Shore struck out on her own to
become the first singer of her era to
achieve huge solo success. She had a
string of 80 charted popular hits,
lasting from 1940 into the late 1950s,
and after appearing in a handful of
films went on to a four-decade career
in American television, starring in her
own music and variety shows in the
1950s and 1960s and hosting two talk
shows in the 1970s. TV Guide magazine
ranked her at #16 on their list of the
top fifty television stars of all time.
Stylistically, Shore was compared to
two singers who followed her in the
mid-to-late 1940s and early 1950s,

In March 1939, Shore debuted on

national radio on the Sunday
afternoon CBS radio program, Ben
Bernie's Orchestra. In February
1940, she became a featured
vocalist on the NBC Radio program
The Chamber Music Society of
Lower Basin Street, a showcase for
traditional Dixieland and Blues
songs. With Shore, the program
became so popular that it was
moved from 4:30 Sunday afternoon
to a 9:00 Monday night time slot in
September. In her prime-time
debut for "the music of the Three
Bs, Barrelhouse, Boogie-woogie
and the Blues", she was introduced
as "Mademoiselle Dinah 'Diva'
Shore, who starts a fire by rubbing
two notes together!" She recorded
with the two Basin Street bands for
RCA Victor; one of her records was
the eponymous "Dinah's Blues."
In March 1939, Shore debuted on
national radio on the Sunday
afternoon CBS radio program, Ben
Bernie's Orchestra. In February
1940, she became a featured
vocalist on the NBC Radio program

YES

Doris Day and Patti Page.

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1
5
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Merry Macs

The Chamber Music Society of

Lower Basin Street, a showcase for
traditional Dixieland and Blues
songs. With Shore, the program
became so popular that it was
moved from 4:30 Sunday afternoon
to a 9:00 Monday night time slot in
September. In her prime-time
debut for "the music of the Three
Bs, Barrelhouse, Boogie-woogie
and the Blues", she was introduced
as "Mademoiselle Dinah 'Diva'
Shore, who starts a fire by rubbing
two notes together! She recorded
with the two Basin Street bands for
RCA Victor; one of her records was
the eponymous "Dinah's Blues."
Mairzy Doats

Bing Crosby

I Love You

NO

Glen Gray & Casa Loma Orchestra

My Heart Tells Me

YES

The future members of the band first

came together in 1927 as the Orange
Blossoms, one of several Detroit-area
groups that came out of the Jean
Goldkette office. The band had adopted
the Casa Loma name by the time of its
first recordings in 1929, shortly after it
played an eight-month engagement at
Casa Loma Hotel in Toronto. The band

The Casa Loma Orchestra was a

popular American dance band
active from 1927 to 1963. From
1929 until the rapid multiplication
in the number of swing bands from
1935 on, the Casa Loma Orchestra
was one of the top North American
dance bands. With the decline of
the big band business following the

YES

never actually played the Casa Loma

under that name, still appearing as the
Orange Blossoms at that time.

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3

Bing Crosby

end of World War II, it disbanded in

1947. However, from 1957 to 1963,
it re-emerged as a recording
session band in Hollywood, made
up of top-flight studio musicians
under the direction of its most
notable leader of the past, Glen
Gray. The reconstituted band made
a limited number appearances live
and on television and recorded
fifteen LP albums for Capitol
Records before Gray died in 1963.
San Fernando Valley

Mills Brothers

You Always Hurt The One You Love

The Mills Brothers, sometimes billed as

The Four Mills Brothers, and originally
known as The Four Kings of Harmony,
were an American jazz and pop vocal
quartet of the 20th century who made
more than 2,000 recordings that
combined sold more than 50 million
copies, and garnered at least three
dozen gold records. The Mills Brothers
were inducted into The Vocal Group
Hall of Fame in 1998.

In 1928, after playing May's Opera

House in Piqua between Rin Tin Tin
features, the brothers
accompanied the Harold
Greenameyer Band to Cincinnati
for an audition with radio station
WLW. The band was not hired, but
the Mills brothers were. With the
help of Seger Ellis, WLW Cincinnati
DJ and a music legend of the '20s,
they quickly became local radio
stars and got their major break
when Duke Ellington and his
Orchestra played a date in
Cincinnati. When the youngsters
sang for Duke, he called Tommy

War years
Through 1939 the group enjoyed
remarkable success in Europe. Herbert
recalls,

NO
YES

We left England for the last time just

three days before war was declared on
Germany and the only boat we could
get was to Australia. We were overseas
from then on except for two months in
1940 and then we went back to South
America. We didn't get back until 1941.
In the meantime the Ink Spots were
coming up, and people had sort of
forgotten us.
In the period between John Jr.'s death
and their return to the States, they rerecorded "Lazy River." It was followed
by "Someday You'll Want Me to Want
You," "Swing Is the Thing," "Long
About Midnight," "Organ Grinder's
Swing," and "The Song is Ended." They
honored Duke Ellington with a swing
version of his "Caravan," and then
produced a series of classic recordings;
"South of the Border," which they
performed in a tour of South America,
along with "Ain't Misbehavin'," "It
Dont Mean a Thing," "Jeepers
Creepers," "Three Little Fishies," and
"Basin Street Blues."

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Bing Crosby & Andrews Sisters

Rockwell at Okeh Records, who

signed them and brought the group
to New York.
In September 1930, Ralph Wonders
urged broadcasting executive
William S. Paley, at CBS Radio in
New York, to turn on his office
speaker and listen to an audition of
four young men. For the audition
they were "The Mills Brothers," but
they had been known by many
other names. They were billed as
"The Steamboat Four" when they
sang for Sohio. They had been
called the "Four Boys and a Guitar"
on their Sunday shows. When Paley
heard their performance, he
immediately went downstairs and
put them on the air. The next day,
the Mills Brothers signed a threeyear contract and became the first
African-Americans to have a
network show on radio.
The Mills Brothers were sponsored
by some of the largest advertisers
in early radio; Standard Oil, Procter
& Gamble, Crisco, and Crosley
Radio.
A Hot Time in the Town of Berlin

NO

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8

Harry James & His Orchestra (Vocal

Dick Haymes)
Harry Haag James was a musician who
is best known as a trumpet playing
band leader who led a big band from
1939 to 1946. He broke up his band for
a short period in 1947 but shortly after
he re-organized his band and was
active again with his band from then
until his death in 1983. He was
especially known among musicians for
his astonishing technical proficiency as
well as his superior tone, and was
extremely influential on up and coming
trumpet players from the late 1930s
into the 1940s. He was also an actor in
a number of motion pictures that
usually featured his bands in some
way.
With financial backing from Goodman,
in January 1939 James debuted his own
big band in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
but it didn't click until 1941 when he
added a string section.This big band
became known as Harry James and His
Music Makers. His hit "You Made Me
Love You" was in the Top 10 during the
week of December 7, 1941. He was in
two featured roles in two films, Private
Buckaroo and Springtime in the
Rockies. He toured with the band into

I'll Get By (As Long As I Have You)

His was the first "name band" to
employ vocalist Frank Sinatra, in
1939. James signed Sinatra to a
one year contract, of which Sinatra
worked seven months before going
to sing for Tommy Dorsey He
wanted to change Sinatra's name
to 'Frankie Satin' but Sinatra
refused.[citation needed] His later
band included drummer Buddy
Rich. His featured vocalist was
Helen Forrest. Johnny MacAfee was
featured on the sax and vocals and
Corky Corcoran was a youthful sax
prodigy.

YES

1944_00
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2
3
2
1
2
1

the 1980s. He started recording with

the minor label Varsity in 1940. To this
day the Harry James Orchestra still
exists, now led by Fred Radke
Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra

Besame Mucho

NO

Bing Crosby & Andrews Sisters

Don't Fence Me In

NO

Andrews Sisters

Shoo-Shoo Baby

YES

LaVerne Sophia, Maxine Angelyn

"Maxene", and Patricia Marie "Patty

The Andrews Sisters broke up.

Patty traces the breakup to the
deaths of their parents: "We had
been together nearly all our lives,"
Patty explained in 1971. "Then in
one year our dream world ended.
Our mother died (in 1948) and then
our father (in 1949). All three of us
were upset, and we were at each
other's throats all the time."

During World War II they entertained

the Allied forces extensively in
America, Africa and Italy, visiting Army,
Navy, Marine and Coast Guard bases,
war zones, hospitals, and munitions
factories. They encouraged U.S.
citizens to purchase war bonds with
their rendition of Irving Berlin's song
Any Bonds Today?. They also helped
actress Bette Davis and actor John
Garfield found California's famous
Hollywood Canteen, a welcome retreat
for servicemen where the trio often
performed, volunteering their personal
time to sing and dance for the soldiers,
sailors and marines (they did the same
at New York City's Stage Door Canteen
during the war). While touring, they
often treated three random servicemen

When Maxene and LaVerne learned

of Patty's decision from newspaper
gossip columns rather than from
their own sister, it caused a bitter
two-year separation, especially
when Patty decided to worsen
matters by suing LaVerne for a
larger share of their parents'
estate. Maxene and LaVerne tried
to continue the act as a duo and
met with good press during a 10-

to dinner when they were dining out.

They recorded a series of Victory Discs
(V-Discs) for distribution to Allied
fighting forces only, again volunteering
their time for studio sessions for the
Music Branch, Special Service Division
of the Army Service Forces, and they
were dubbed the "Sweethearts of the
Armed Forces Radio Service" for their
many appearances on shows such as
"Command Performance", "Mail Call",
and "G.I. Journal.

day tour of Australia, but a

reported suicide attempt by
Maxene in December 1954 put a
halt to any further tours (Maxene
spent a short time in the hospital
after swallowing 18 sleeping pills,
an occurrence that LaVerne told
reporters was an accident). The
sisters' private relationship was
often troubled and Patty blamed it
on Maxene: "Ever since I was born,
Maxene has been a problem," she
said.
The trio reunited in 1956 and
signed a new recording deal with
Capitol Records, for whom Patty
was already a featured soloist. By
this point however, rock-and-roll
and doo-wop were dominating the
charts and older artists were being
pushed by the wayside. The sisters
recorded a dozen singles through
1959, some of which attempted to
keep up with the times by
incorporating rock sounds. None of
these achieved any major success.
In addition, they produced three hifi albums, including a vibrant LP of
songs from the dancing 1920s with
Billy May's orchestra. In 1962, they
signed with Dot Records and

1944_00
1

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8

Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby, Jr. was an
American singer and actor. Crosby's
trademark warm bass-baritone voice
made him one of the best-selling
recording artists of the 20th century,
with over half a billion records in
circulation
In 1910, seven-year-old Harry Crosby
Jr. was forever renamed. The Sunday
edition of the Spokesman-Review
published a feature called "The
Bingville Bugle". Written by humorist
Newton Newkirk, The Bingville Bugle
was a parody of a hillbilly newsletter

recorded a series of stereo albums

until 1964, both re-recordings of
earlier hits which incorporated upto-date production techniques, as
well as new material, including "I
Left My Heart In San Francisco",
"Still", "The End of the World",
"Puff the Magic Dragon", "Sailor",
"Satin Doll", "Mr. Bass Man", the
theme from Come September, and
the theme from A Man and a
Woman. They toured extensively
during the 1960s, favoring top
nightclubs in Las Vegas, Nevada,
California, and London, England
Swinging On A Star
With 1,077,900,000 movie tickets
sold, Crosby isby that measure
the third most popular actor of all
time, behind Clark Gable
(1,168,300,000) and John Wayne
(1,114,000,000). The Quigley
Publishing Company's International
Motion Picture Almanac lists
Crosby in a tie for second on the
"All Time Number One Stars List"
with Clint Eastwood, Tom Hanks,
and Burt Reynolds.[35] Crosby's
most popular film, White
Christmas, grossed $30 million in
1954 ($263 million in current

YES

filled with gossipy tidbits, minstrel

quips, creative spelling, and mock ads.
A neighbor, 15-year-old Valentine
Hobart, shared Crosby's enthusiasm for
"The Bugle" and noting Crosby's laugh,
took a liking to him and called him
"Bingo from Bingville". Eventually the
last vowel was dropped and the
nickname stuck.

value). Crosby won an Academy

Award for Best Actor for Going My
Way in 1944, and was nominated
for the 1945 sequel, The Bells of
St. Mary's. He received critical
acclaim for his performance as an
alcoholic entertainer in The
Country Girl, and received his third
Academy Award nomination.