Blue Barron born 19 November 1913

Blue Barron (November 19, 1913 – July 16, 2005), born Herschel Freidman, was an American orchestra leader in the 1930’s and early 1950s during the "Big Band" era. His band's more subdued tone was referred to as "Sweet" music to distinguish it from the "Swing" bands of the era. Barron's orchestra began in the New 
York City area but later toured the U.S. and performed at popular venues in Los Angeles where they also appeared in several motion pictures and recorded a number of LPs.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, Freidman studied at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio  before going into show business. (Musical references give differing spellings for his name, including Freedlin, but a niece of the bandleader believes the spelling Freidman is correct.)

Originally an impresario in his home town, he formed his own band in the mid-30s and took the name Blue Barron after briefly managing the band of the young Sammy Kaye. With a clear eye on the cash register, he adopted a musical policy that catered for the sweetest levels of popular taste. Heralded by his sugary signature 

tune, ‘Sometimes I’m Happy’, he became very successful, securing important hotel and dance hall circuit bookings in the late 30s and throughout the 40s

His first group played on the Floating Palace showboat at Troy, New York, in October 1936. A newspaper report said the group "made an overnight hit at the Floating Palace and remained there for 22 weeks. In 1937, the orchestra made its network radio debut from the Southern Tavern in Cleveland, and that exposure helped to publicize Barron's name. The band opened in the Green Room of the Edison on January 5, 1938. Barron was heard not only on NBC's Red and Blue radio networks, but also on the CBS and 
Mutual systems where his own makeshift orchestra was sometimes augmented by jazz guest stars of distinction.

Singer Tommy Ryan fronted the band while Barron served in the US Forces during World War II, and when he returned, Barron had popular record successes with ‘Chi-Baba, Chi-Baba’, ‘You Were Only Fooling (While I Was Falling In Love)’, ‘Powder Your Face With Sunshine’, ‘Whose Girl Are You’, ‘Are You Lonesome Tonight?’ and ‘Let Me In.’  Barron hit number 1 for two weeks in 1949 with "Cruising Down The River". The record sold over one million copies, gaining gold disc status.

                               

The Blue Barron orchestra stayed at the Edison Hotel throughout the 1940's and also played on the road and appeared in the movie shorts "Melody Master: Blue Barron and His Orchestra (1939)," "Paramount Headliner: Blue Barron and His Orchestra" (1940) and "Blue Barron and His Orchestra (1952)."

He was able to work in the industry until the Big Band era gave way to new musical forms. For his contribution to the recording industry, he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1724 Vine Street.

The band continued until 1956 before changing musical trends made it no longer financially viable. Barron still led bands at sporadic engagements into the 1960s and also performed with his wife, singer Patty Zych (aka Patty Clayton), on the hotel circuit. He then exited the music business and pursued  a career in real estate management.

He died in his sleep on 16 July, 2005 in Baltimore, Maryland, age 91 and is interred in Arlington Cemetery of Chizuk Amuno in Baltimore.

(Compiled and edited from Wikipedia, Big Band Library, New York Times & All Music)

Georgia Carroll born 18 November 1919

Georgia Carroll (November 18, 1919 – January 14, 2011) was an American singer, fashion model, and actress, best known for her work with Kay Kyser's big band orchestra in the mid-1940s.

The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Roger Carroll, she was born in Blooming Grove, Texas, where her father raised sheep. Her family moved to Dallas, Texas, where she graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School.

One of Carroll's early jobs was modelling for a department store in Dallas, Texas. She eventually went to New York City and worked for the John Powers modelling agency. While she worked as a model in New York, she took vocal lessons. Aged 17, she made the cover of 'Redbook' and her face continued to be featured 
throughout the 1930's and 40's in fashion magazines (Cosmopolitan, Vogue, Ladies Home Journal), on calendars and in advertising

She had her first brush with celebrity when she was the model for "The Spirit of the Centennial" statue at the 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition at Fair Park in Dallas, Texas. The statue still stands in front of what is now The Women's Museum. She was a 1937 graduate of Woodrow Wilson High School in Dallas and has been inducted into the school's Hall of Fame along with many other well-known graduates.

Carroll came to Hollywood when producers wanted her to play Daisy Mae in a film version of the Li'l Abner. Her height cost her that opportunity, however, when she turned out to be taller than the actor selected to play the title character. Her acting career began in 1941 when she appeared in several uncredited small roles in films such as Maisie Was a 

Lady with Lew Ayres and Ann Sothern, Ziegfeld Girl with Judy Garland, as well as You're in the Army Now and Navy Blues, in both of which she appeared with the Navy Blues Sextette.

She appeared as Betsy Ross in the James Cagney musical Yankee Doodle Dandy in 1942. She also did modelling during this time, appearing in advertisements for Jewelite hairbrushes, among other products. Anne Taintor used some of these advertisements featuring Carroll to express the voice of the modern woman.

In 1943, Carroll joined Kay Kyser's band, (Kay Kyser's Kollege of Musical Knowledge), as a featured vocalist. Capitalizing on her good looks, she was given the nickname "Gorgeous Georgia Carroll", probably as a joking reference to the professional wrestler George Wagner, who used the name "Gorgeous George".

                            

As a member of Kyser's band, Carroll appeared in three films: Around the World, Carolina Blues, and most notably the Second World War-era "morale booster" Thousands Cheer which gave fans a chance to see Kyser and his band in Technicolor. 
Kyser's band has a featured performance near the end of the film, with Carroll delivering a key solo interlude of the Arthur Freed/Nacio Herb Brown standard, "Should I?"

Carroll and Kyser fell in love soon after she joined the band. A popular story often goes that one night in 1944 the two were pulled over for speeding in Nevada. After introducing themselves, Kyser, who wanted to avoid a ticket, quickly made up a story that they were in a hurry to get married. Knowing that publicity over the traffic stop would soon catch up to them, they decided it was best to find a Justice of the Peace and marry that night, in order to avoid negative press. But according to
Carroll, “We were playing a show in the desert for the service men. Kay was supposed to be headed for Los Angeles but headed for Nevada because that was the only place to get married in a hurry. I knew where he was going but just hoped I was doing the right thing. The story about worrying over the press catching wind of the speeding ticket is not true. Kay and Carroll went on to become one of the most successful couples in show business.

Georgia continued as vocalist with the Kay Kyser band, as well making appearances on television, retiring from performing in 1946. She concentrated on raising her family, collecting antiques and being active in the Chapel Hill historical preservation movement. Kyser himself retired from performing in 1951. The couple, who had three children, remained married until his death in 1985. 

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is custodian of a large archive of documents and material about Kay Kyser which was donated by Carroll.

Georgia Carroll died in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on January 14, 2011, age 91. (Compiled and edited from Wikipedia & IMDB)

Camillo Felgen born 17 November 1920

Camillo Jean Nicolas Felgen (17 November 1920 in Tétange – 16 July 2005 in Esch-sur-Alzette) was a Luxembourgish singer, lyricist, disc jockey, and television presenter.

Camillo Felgen was born on 17 November 1920 in Tetingen in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. He attended elementary school, then high school and teacher training institute. From 1941 to 1945 he was elementary school teacher. Afterwards,he was an interpreter for the occupation forces, a reporter for a French-language newspaper in Luxembourg, and studied acting, singing and opera in Brussels and Liège. Was eventually hired by Radio Luxembourg as a choral singer and received a contract as a French newsreader. When he made his first recordings in Paris in 1951, he created (with the orchestra Marcel Coestier) the signature tune of his home station: "Bonjour mes amis".

In 1951, he had his first international hit record, "Bonjour les amies" ("Hello Friends"). The song went on to become the theme song for this national broadcaster. In 1953, he recorded his first German-language record, "Onkel Toms altes Boot" ("Uncle Tom's Old Boat"), in Berlin. He appeared in small roles in the German films “When Conny and Peter Do It Together” (1958) and “Five Sinners” (1960).

In 1958, Camillo Felgen was appointed by Radio Luxembourg as Program Director of the new program in German. On April 6, 1958, Camillo's first hit parade, the first ever German-language, was heard. Immediately afterwards he invented the "Merry Waves of Radio Luxembourg". Camillo became known as the father of the

 hit parade presenting in one of his many programs “The Big Eight” top hits from all over the world. It was the success barometer for the record industry. Camillo's dark sexy voice enchanted women's souls at dusk and gave him corporeal letters (about 350 a week).

He represented his home country in the Eurovision Song Contest 1960 with "So laang we's du do bast", becoming the first Luxembourger and the first male contestant to represent Luxembourg and the first participant to sing in Luxembourgish. He finished last with only one point. Two years later he entered the contest again, this time doing much better by finishing in 3rd place with the song "Petit bonhomme". He did at times do the commentary in German too.

                              

One of the greatest hits of Felgen was "Ich hab Ehrfurcht vor schneeweißen Haaren" ("I Respect Your Grey Hair"), a cover of singer-guitarist and entrepreneur Bobbejaan Schoepen. Another 

was "Sag warum", in 1959, based on a melody by Phil Spector. In 1962 he recorded the original instrumental Tornados world hit Telstar, with vocals: Sometime a new day awakes.

Camillo Felgen also wrote German lyrics for cover versions of international songs, using the pseudonyms of Lee Montague (writing for Petula Clark, The Searchers, The Honeycombs, among others) and Jean Nicolas (writing for Connie Francis, Caterina Valente, Greetje Kauffeld and Lill-Babs, among others).

A legendary meeting took place in Paris in 1964. There, Felgen met the Beatles, who recorded their two German titles She Loves You and I Want To Hold Your Hand. The lyrics came from a'Jean Nicolas' – which was a pseudonym of Felgens. He has also worked as a copywriter for colleagues such as Peter Alexander (I count my worries every day), Connie Francis (beautiful stranger), the Everly Brothers (When you kiss me), Ralf Paulsen (Bonanza) and many others.

He was best known as the host of the television series  'Spiel ohne Grenzen' (Play Without Borders) .125 episodes from 1965 to 1973. Camillo was also instrumental in the idea of ​​the "Golden Lion of Radio Luxembourg." Amongst others, Petula Clark ("Downtown") and Roy Black ("All in White") received the coveted trophy. In 1968, Chief Speaker Camillo Felgen said goodbye to his listeners to work freely. Thirteen episodes of the television series Spiel ohne Grenzen were waiting for him, as well as contracts in the show business. His successor, Frank Elstner (then 26), handed Camillo a farewell gilded microphone to which he spoke his first words 20 years ago at Radio Luxembourg.

Although he had long since retired from the front row, he guested now and then on radio and television specials. In 1986 he married his third wife Marianna, with whom he also ran a boutique for ball gowns in Luxembourg. He died in Esch-sur-Alzette on 16 July 2005, at the age of 84. One of the most popular voices in the fields of radio, television and record is silent forever.

At the anniversary celebration of 50 years of RTL RADIO Luxembourg on 15 July 2007, Camillo was awarded the "Honorary Lion". His widow accepted the award. Camillo had the spontaneous idea for the Lion Award, but never got one himself. RTL RADIO program director Holger Richter: "We would not be here without him today!"

(Compiled and edited from Wikipedia & radiojournal.de)

C.W. McCall born 15 November 1928

William Dale Fries, Jr. (born November 15, 1928) is an American singer, activist and politician  best known by his stage name C. W. McCall and for his truck-themed outlaw country songs.

Fries was born November 15, 1928, in Audubon, IA, and while he displayed musical promise as a child, he was more interested in graphic design. While attending the University of Iowa, Fries studied music and played in the school's concert band, but his major was in fine arts, and after graduation he began handling the art chores at an Omaha, NE, television station. After five years there, he was hosting his own program, on which he drew caricatures of celebrities.

In 1972, while working for the Omaha advertising firm of Bozell & Jacobs, Bill Fries created a television campaign for the Old Home Bread brand of the Metz Baking Company. The advertisements told of the adventures of truck driver C.W. McCall, his dog Sloan, and of the truck stop that McCall frequented, The Old Home Café. Bill based the character and his environment on his own upbringing in western Iowa. The commercials were very successful. So successful, that the Des Moines Register 

published the air times of the commercials in the daily television listings.

From those commercials came the first of the C.W. McCall songs, named after the restaurant: “Old Home Fill-er Up An’ Keep On A-Truckin’ Café”. While Bill provided the lyrics to the song and the voice of C.W. McCall, his collaborator Chip Davis wrote the music. Soon C.W.’s first album, Wolf Creek Pass, was released; its title song was a misadventure of a truck with brake failure.

                            

C.W. McCall’s popularity reached its peak in January 1976, when “Convoy” — from his second album, Black Bear Road — reached the number one position on both the pop and country charts of Billboard. It sold over two million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A. in December 1975. Though McCall is not a one-hit wonder, "Convoy" has since become his signature song.

Like most musical acts, C.W. McCall toured the country, with Bill singing the words of C.W. and the "Fort Calhoun Nuclear Power Plant Boys" playing the music. In reality, the “Boys” were Chip Davis and an eclectic mix of musicians, who spent their non-C.W. McCall time recording albums of Chip’s music. Chip was a pioneer of “New Age” music, and his albums, recorded under the group name of “Mannheim Steamroller”, were also successful. But the fact that Chip Davis was the music behind C.W. McCall was not a well-known fact.

At least three other songs reached Billboard's pop Hot 100, including "Old Home Filler-Up an' Keep on a-Truckin' Cafe", "'Round the World with the Rubber Duck" (a pirate-flavoured sequel to "Convoy"), as well as the environmentally-oriented "There Won't Be No Country Music (There Won't Be No Rock 'n' Roll)". A dozen McCall songs appeared in Billboard's Hot Country Singles chart, including the sentimental "Roses for Mama" (1977).

In 1978, the movie Convoy was released based on the C.W. McCall song. The film starred Kris Kristofferson, Ali MacGraw, Burt Young and Ernest Borgnine and was directed by Sam Peckinpah. It featured a new version of the song, written specially for the film.

The albums that followed were not as successful as the first two and by 1980 Bill Fries had retired from the music business. In 1986, McCall (William Fries) was elected mayor of the town of Ouray, Colorado, ultimately serving for six years.

The last album to be released was 1990’s The Real McCall: An American Storyteller. This album, the first C.W. McCall recording to be released on audio CD, contained one new song and fifteen re-recordings of songs from the previous albums.

In 2009, McCall was inducted into the Iowa Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. In 2014, Rolling Stone magazine ranked "Convoy" #98 on their list of 100 Greatest Country Songs.

Bill Fries lives in Ouray, Colorado with his wife Rena.

(Compiled and edited from Wikipedia & AllMusic)

Buck Clayton born 12 November 1911

Buck Clayton (born Wilbur Dorsey Clayton in Parsons, Kansas on November 12, 1911-died in New York City on December 8, 1991) was an American jazz trumpet player, fondly remembered for being a leading member of Count Basie’s 'Old Testament' orchestra and leader of mainstream orientated jam session recordings in the 1950s. His principal influence was Louis Armstrong.

Buck Clayton first rose to national fame as the lead soloist with the first great Count Basie band that roared out of Kansas City in late fall, 1936. Ironically, while Clayton’s understated, bell-like sound is associated with the hard swinging Kansas City style, he actually spent little time in Kansas City. By the time he arrived at the famed Reno Club, a small dive on 12th Street, Clayton had already led a colourful career as a band leader, ranging from Los Angeles to Shanghai.

Born in Parsons, Kansas, Clayton grew up in a musical family. Clayton’s father, a minister, taught him the basics of music. Picking up the trumpet as a teenager, Clayton performed with the church band, featuring his mother on organ. He first heard the clarion call of jazz during a stopover by the George E. Lee band in Parsons. After high school, Clayton followed his muse to California, where he began his professional career.

In Los Angeles, Clayton joined Charlie Echols' 14-piece band, playing taxi dances and ballrooms. Clayton and other band members soon left Echols to join forces with Broadway producer Earl Dancer and work in movies. When Dancer, a chronic gambler, disappeared with the payroll, Clayton took over leadership of the group. Just 23 years old, Clayton led his new band to China.

In 1934, the Clayton band opened at the palatial Canidrome Ballroom in Shanghai, China, becoming one of the first bands to play the Orient. Madame Chiang Kai- Shek and other celebrities flocked to the Canidrome nightly to sway to a potent mixture of hot jazz and classical music performed by the band, decked out in tails.

The Clayton band spent the next two years at the Canidrome, with ashort jaunt to Japan. A melee with a former Marine that turned the dance floor into a roiling free-for-all cost Clayton the job at the Canidrome. Unable to find steady work in Shanghai, Clayton and what remained of the band returned to the United States.

Back in the Los Angeles, Clayton reformed the big band and played several seasons at Sebastian’s Cotton Club and Club Araby. In the summer of 1936, Clayton left for New York to join Willie Bryant’s band at the original Cotton Club. On his way east, Clayton stopped off in Kansas City and joined the Basie Band at the Reno Club, replacing Hot Lips Page as star soloist. Clayton’s solo excellence, arrangements and compositions bolstered the national rise of the Basie band. Clayton remained with the Basie band until he was drafted in 1943.

                 Here's "Love Me Or Leave me" from above album.

                               

After his honourable discharge in 1946 he prepared arrangements for Count Basie, Benny Goodman and Harry James and became a member of Norman Granz’s 'Jazz at the Philharmonic' package, appearing in April in a concert with Young, Coleman Hawkins and 

Charlie Parker, and in October participated in JATPs first national tour of the United States. He also recorded at this time for the H.R.S. label. In 1947 he was back in New York, and had a residency at the Café Society, Downtown, and the following year had a reunion with Jimmy Rushing, his fellow Basie alumnus, at the Savoy Ballroom. Clayton and Rushing worked together occasionally into the 1960s.

From September 1949 Clayton was in Europe for nine months, leading his own band in France. Clayton recorded intermittently over the next few years for the French Vogue label, under his own name, that of clarinetist Mezz Mezzrow and for one session, with pianist Earl Hines. In 1953, he was again 
in Europe, touring with Mezzrow; in Italy, the group was joined by Frank Sinatra.

Sidelined by lip surgery in 1967, Clayton focused on composing and arranging for other groups. He returned to playing in the early 1970s and toured internationally with his own group. When his lip gave out for good in the late 1970s, Clayton returned to directing, composing and arranging, while teaching at Hunter College in New York. 

In 1987, Clayton formed a big band to perform his compositions. Clayton continued creating and leading his “Swinging Dream Band” until his death in 1991. 

(Info from All about jazz.com & Wikipedia)

Mose Allison born 11 November 1927

Mose John Allison Jr. (November 11, 1927 – November 15, 2016) was an American jazz and blues pianist, singer, and songwriter. He became notable for playing a unique mix of blues and modern jazz, both singing and playing piano.

He was born outside Tippo, Mississippi on his grandfather's farm, which was known as The Island "because Tippo Bayou encircles it." He took piano lessons from age five. His father, a piano stride player himself, encouraged the young Mose in his playing but also taught him the meaning of “work on the farm.” Mose picked cotton, played piano in grammar school and trumpet in high school, and wrote his first song at age thirteen.

In his youth, he had easy access, via the radio, to the music of Pete Johnson, Albert Ammons, and
Meade "Lux" Lewis. Allison also credited the songwriter Percy Mayfield, "the Poet Laureate of the Blues," as being a major inspiration on his songwriting. In high school he listened to the music of Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Louis Jordan, and another of his prime inspirations, Nat Cole of the King Cole Trio. He went to college at the University of Mississippi for a while and then enlisted in the U.S. Army for two years. Shortly after mustering out, he enrolled at Louisiana State University, from which he was graduated in 1952 with a BA in English with a minor in Philosophy.

He worked in nightclubs throughout the Southeast and West, blending the raw blues of his childhood with the modern pianistic influences of John Lewis, Thelonius Monk and Al Haig. In 1956 he moved to New York City and launched his jazz career as a piano accompanist with artists such as Stan Getz, Gerry Mulligan, Al Cohn, Zoot Sims, and Phil Woods. His debut album, "Back Country Suite", was issued on the Prestige label in 1957. His keyboard playing retained a delightful eccentricity throughout his career, an uncategorisable style of whirling runs and marching left-hand countermelodies that was his alone. He formed his own trio in 1958.

It was not until 1963 that his record label allowed him to release an album entirely of vocals. Entitled "Mose Allison Sings", it was a collection of songs that paid tribute to artists of the Mojo Triangle: Sonny Boy Williamson (2) ("Eyesight to the Blind"), Jimmy Rogers ("That's All Right") and Willie Dixon ("The Seventh Son"). However, it was an original composition in the album that brought him the most attention – "Parchman Farm". This was his most requested song for more than two decades, but he dropped it from his playlist in the 1980's because some critics felt it was politically incorrect.

                            

Allison’s best songs surfaced ever more prolifically in the period between 1960 and 1964, with I Don’t Worry About a Thing, Your Mind Is on Vacation and Don’t Forget to Smile appearing on an impeccable series of albums for Atlantic. He began to tour 

internationally through the 60s and 70s, and his bluesy vocals and the enthusiasm of such influential fans as Morrison helped him avoid the effects of the rock-driven downturn in jazz’s fortunes in that period.

Allison wrote some 150 songs. His own performances have been described as "delivered in a casual conversational way with a melodic southern accented tone that has a pitch and range ideally suited to his idiosyncratic phrasing, laconic approach and ironic sense of humour."

His 1987 recorded album "Ever Since The World Ended" - Blue Note 48015 received the highest rating (5 starts) in Down Beat February 1988. Prestige Records tried to market Allison as a pop star, but Columbia and later Atlantic tried to market him as a blues artist. Because he sang blues, Jet magazine thought that he was black and wanted to interview him.

Allison was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2006. Allison's March 2010 album, "The Way of the World", "marked his return to the recording studio after a 12-year absence."

In 2012, Allison was honoured with a blues marker on the Mississippi Blues Trail in his hometown of Tippo. On January 14, 2013, Allison was honoured as a Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts at a ceremony at Lincoln Centre in New York. The NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship is the nation's highest honour in jazz.

Allison died of natural causes on November 15, 2016, four days after his 89th birthday, at his home in Hilton Head, South Carolina.  (Compiled and edited from Wikipedia, discogs.com & The Guardian)

Natalie Lamb born 10 November 1932

Natalie Paine (née Natalie Elston, born November 10, 1932 in New York - October 7, 2016 ) was an American blues and jazz singer who performed as Natalie Lamb. During the late '60s and '70s, Lamb was one of the top singers in trad jazz and classic blues, styles of music that were very much out of vogue. 

Natalie Elston was born in New York City, USA, on November 10th 1932. She attended Hunter College, eventually graduating with a doctorate from Columbia University. For the next thirty years, she worked in the city's public school system, also appearing from time to time as a 'folk' singer in halls and clubs, before settling down to sing classic 'blues' after hearing an album of 'Odetta' songs.

In 1965, going on-stage under the pseudonym 'Natalie Lamb', she joined with pianist Sammy Price in forming a duo. A recording that she made that year with Price for Columbia may have given her some fame, but it was never released. In the following years, she also worked with various 'blues' and old-time 'jazz' ensembles, such as with the 'Red Onion Jazz Band' (even appearing on a 'live' recording with them from the New York Town Hall in 1969) and with the 'Peruna Jazzmen'.

             Here's "Some Of These days" from above album.

                          

In 1973, she recorded her own 'live' album, "Natalie Lamb Wails the Blues", accompanied on this by Kenny Davern and Art Hodes. She then collaborated with Bill Davison, Slide Harris, Tommy Gwaltney and Dick Wellstood on the long-player "Jazz Hayloft Style, Volumes 1 & 2" (1974), and with Claude Hopkins on 

"Sophisticated Swing" (also 1974). In 1979, she was featured on the album "Natalie Lamb/Sammy Price and the Blues" (it also included performance by Doc Cheatham), followed by her input on the records "Jazz of The Connecticut Traditional Jazz Club" in 1982 and 1998's "Blues 'Round the Clock".

In addition to all this, she performed at many European 'trad jazz' festivals, and took part in a total of 20 recording sessions throughout her active career in 'jazz' from 1969 to 1999. Natalie Lamb died after a long illness in Annapolis on October 7th 2016, aged 83. Wedded twice (latterly to Bruce Paine), she is survived by him, as well as by her two daughters and one son from her first marriage to William M. Ludlam.

(Compiled and edited from Wikipedia, AllMusic, Capital Gazette & Legacy).