Wardell Gray born 13 February 1921

Wardell Gray (February 13, 1921 – May 25, 1955) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.

Gray was born in Oklahoma and he lived in the “Deep Deuce” African-American neighborhood of Oklahoma City.  His family moved to Detroit when he was nine years old.  Gray was raised and came of age in the Motor City.  In early 1935, Gray began attending Northeastern High School, he was then transferred to Cass Technical High School. He left in 1936, before graduating. Advised by his brother-in-law Junior Warren, Gray as a teenager started learning the clarinet. However, after hearing Lester Young on record with Count Basie, he was inspired to switch to the tenor saxophone.

Gray's first musical job was in Isaac Goodwin's small band, a part-time band that played local dances. When auditioning for another job, he was heard by Dorothy Patton, a young pianist who was forming a band in the Fraternal Club in Flint, Michigan, she later hired him. After a year there, he moved to Jimmy Raschel's band, and then to the Benny Carew band in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Around this time, he met Jeanne Goings; they had a daughter, Anita, born in January 1941.

Earl Hines Orch., Gray far right

Near the Congo Club was the Three Sixes. A young dancer, Jeri Walker, knew Earl Hines, and when the Hines band came through Detroit in late 1943, she persuaded Hines to hire Gray on alto saxophone since there was no tenor saxophone job at the time. This was a break for the 21-year-old, as the Earl Hines Orchestra was not only nationally known but had nurtured the careers of emerging bebop musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker. Although most of them had left when Gray joined, playing with the Hines band was a stimulating experience.

                                    

He left Hines late in 1946, settling in Los Angeles, California; soon after arriving, he recorded the first session under his name. This was a quartet session for Eddie Laguna's Sunset label, and on it Wardell was supported by Dodo Marmarosa on piano. The date produced "Easy Swing" and "The Man I Love". 

Wardell and Dexter Gordon

In Los Angeles, Wardell worked with Benny Carter, blues singer Ivory Joe Hunter, and the small group that supported singer Billy Eckstine on a tour of the West Coast. But the real focus in Los Angeles was in clubs along Central Avenue  where Wardell held tenor battles with Dexter Gordon.

Their fame began to spread, and Ross Russell managed to get them to simulate one of their battles on "The Chase", which became Wardell's first nationally known recording and has been called "one of the most exciting musical contests in the history of jazz". The success of "The Chase" was the break Wardell needed, and he became increasingly prominent in public sessions in and around Los Angeles.

Wardell with Benny Goodman

During1947 Benny Goodman hired Wardell for a small group that he was setting up as part of his flirtation with bebop. The group opened at Frank Palumbo's Click Club in Philadelphia in May 1948. It was not a financial success and Goodman eventually broke it up, but by now Wardell was established on the East Coast as an up-and-coming musician. For a while in late 1948/early 1949 he worked with the Count Basie Orchestra, while also managing to record with Tadd Dameron and in quartet and quintet sessions with Al Haig. 

Wardell with Billie Holiday

When Basie broke up his big band he formed a septet which included Clark Terry and Buddy DeFranco. Wardell was part of the Basie septet during 1950–51. Due to the constant travelling, Wardell eventually decided to leave so that he could enjoy more home life. However, there are increasing signs of a lack of engagement around 1951/52, notably in a further live session with Dexter Gordon from February 1952, and it seems that he may have been becoming disillusioned with the music business.

L-R:- Billy Ecstine, Conte Candoli,
Don Lamond, Wardell Gray & Dexter Gordon

Around this time, Gray became involved with drugs; friends reported that this was taking its toll. His playing was now less fluent, and a studio session in January 1955, which was to be his last, shows strong but (by his own standards) rather unsubtle playing. Benny Carter hired him to participate in a new band which would integrate the Las Vegas casino entertainment. However, on opening night in July 1955, Wardell Gray's body was found in the Nevada desert, his neck broken.

The official report claimed that he had died of a drug overdose, although no autopsy seems to have been performed. The Nevada officials didn't seem overly concerned about the cause of death of a visiting black musician. There were rumours at the time that Wardell had been the victim of a gang-style execution over gambling debts. Also according to sax player Teddy Edwards was that a few of Carter’s band members found his body in his hotel room. They wanted no police trouble, so they put his body in a car and brought it to the desert. Even so, the mysterious circumstances of his death, subject to various innuendos are yet to be solved.    

(Edited from Wikipedia) 

Here’s a clip of Count Basie, piano; Wardell Gray, tenor sax; Buddy DeFranco, clarinet; and Clark Terry, trumpet.

Gene McDaniels born 12 February 1935

Gene McDaniels (February 12, 1935 – July 29, 2011) was an American singer, producer and songwriter. He had his greatest recording success in the early 1960s, reaching number three on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 singles chart with "A Hundred Pounds of Clay" and number five with "Tower of Strength", both hits in 1961. He had continued success as a songwriter with "Compared to What". 

The Sultans . L-R: Richard Beasley,
Weeley Davereaus, Willie Barns,
Gene McDaniels & Jimmy Farmer. 

Born Eugene Booker McDaniels in Kansas City, Kansas, McDaniels grew up in Omaha, Nebraska. As well as singing gospel music in church, he developed a love of jazz learning to play the saxophone and trumpet. After forming a singing group, the Echoes of Joy, later known as the Sultans, in his teens, he studied at the University of  Omaha Conservatory of Music before joining the Mississippi Piney Woods Singers, with whom he toured in California. In California McDaniels began singing in jazz clubs, achieving recognition with the Les McCann Trio, and came to the attention of Sy Waronker of Liberty Records. 

After recording two unsuccessful singles and an album, McDaniels teamed with producer Snuff Garrett, with whom he recorded his first hit, "A Hundred Pounds of Clay", which reached number 3 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart in early 1961 and sold over one million copies, earning gold disc status. Its follow-up, "A Tear", was less successful but his third single with Garrett, "Tower of Strength", co-written by Burt Bacharach, reached number 5 and won McDaniels his second gold record. "Tower of Strength" reached number 49 in the UK Singles Chart, losing out to Frankie Vaughan's chart-topping version. 

                                    

In 1962, McDaniels appeared performing "Another Tear Falls" in the movie It's Trad, Dad! directed by Richard Lester. He continued to have hit records, including "Chip Chip", "Point Of No Return", and "Spanish Lace". Each record was released in 1962, but his suave style of singing gradually became less fashionable, as the public started to favor British acts such as The Beatles. In 1965, "Point Of No Return" was recorded by the British R&B band Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames on their UK Columbia EP Fame At Last. Also in 1965, McDaniels moved to Columbia Records, with little success, and in 1968, after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, he left the US to live in Denmark and Sweden where he concentrated on songwriting. 

After the late 1960s, McDaniels turned his attention to a more black consciousness form of music, and his best-known song in this genre was "Compared to What", a jazz-soul protest song made famous (and into a hit) by Les McCann and Eddie Harris on their album Swiss Movement. It was also covered by Roberta Flack, Ray Charles, Della Reese, John Legend, the Roots, Sweetwater, and others. He returned to the US in 1971 and recorded thereafter as Eugene McDaniels. 

In the early 1970s, McDaniels recorded on the Atlantic label, which released his albums Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse and Outlaw. McDaniels also attained the top spot on the chart as a songwriter. In 1974, Flack reached number 1 with his "Feel Like Makin' Love" (not to be confused with the Bad Company song of the same name), which received a Grammy Award nomination. McDaniels received a BMI award for outstanding radio airplay; at the time he was given the award, the song already had over five million plays. In 1972  he recorded an album under the name “Universal Jones” for MGM, then back under “Gene McDaniels” for Natural Juices on Ode in 1975. 

In the 1980s, McDaniels recorded an album with the percussionist Terry Silverlight, which was not released. In 2005, McDaniels released Screams & Whispers on his own record label. In 2009, it was announced that McDaniels was to release a new album, Evolution's Child, which featured his lyrics, and a number of songs composed or arranged with pianist Ted Brancato. Some of the songs featured jazz musician Ron Carter on concert bass and Terri Lyne Carrington on drums. McDaniel's "Jagger the Dagger" was featured on the Tribe Vibes breakbeat compilation album, after it had been sampled by A Tribe Called Quest. 

McDaniels also appeared in films. They included It's Trad, Dad! (1962, released in the United States as Ring-A-Ding Rhythm), which was directed by Richard Lester. McDaniels also appeared in The Young Swingers (1963). He is briefly seen singing in the choir in the 1974 film Uptown Saturday Night. He was the original voice actor for "Nasus", a champion in the computer game League of Legends. 

In 2010 he launched a series of YouTube videos on his website, featuring his music and thoughts on some of his creations. His later years were spent by the ocean in Kittery Point, Maine, as a self-described "hermit,” where he died peacefully on July 29, 2011, at his home, survived by his third wife and six children. 

(Edited from Wikipedia & The Second Disc)

 

Chad Morgan born 11 February 1933

 Chad Morgan (11 February 1933 – 1 January 2025) was an Australian country music singer and guitarist known for his vaudeville style of comic country and western and folk songs, his prominent teeth and goofy stage persona. In reference to his first recording, he was nicknamed as "The Sheik of Scrubby Creek". 

Chadwick William Morgan was born in Wondai, Queensland, as the eldest of 14 children, to Dave and Ivy Morgan. From an early age he was raised by his grandparents, Bill and Eva Hopkins. After his grandfather died in 1947, with his grandmother, he moved back to Scrubby Creek to live with his mother and siblings. Both parents were amateur musicians; his father played accordion and his mother accordion and mandolin, while Morgan learned guitar. He left school at age 14 and found work cutting timber. 

From 1948, he worked on cattle farms near Rockhampton and began composing music. Morgan's lyrics use Australian slang including sheilas, drongos, dills and geezers. He was discovered through Australia's Amateur Hour, a radio talent contest, where he sang his original song "The Sheik of Scrubby Creek" and became a national finalist. By November 1952 he had recorded that track together with "You Can Keep Your Wimmln and I'll Stick to My Beer". 

                                    

He signed with Regal Zonophone Records (a subsidiary of EMI), which issued his debut single, "The Sheik of Scrubby Creek" in 1952. He was described as a "Queensland hillbilly" with a "deadpan, bumpkin style". He also undertook national service with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) at Amberley Base. Morgan was hospitalised for 14 months from December 1954 following a collision between his motorcycle and a car. His injuries included two broken ribs, broken hand and broken leg. 

Morgan's first wife was Pam Mitchell in 1957, with whom he had three children - Allan, Chad Jr. and Janelle. His heavy drinking caused the marriage to fail. Morgan married again on 14 September 1985 to Joanie, whom he had met the year before. After their marriage Morgan gave up drinking and smoking completely. Morgan toured extensively, including with the Slim Dusty Show, the All-Star Western Show and his own Chad Morgan Show. 

He released 18 studio albums and undertook regular live performances. At the 1987 Country Music Awards of Australia he was inducted into the Australian Roll of Renown, and was awarded an Order of Australia (OAM) on Australia Day (26 January) in 2004 for "service to country music". Morgan appeared in three films, Newsfront (1978), Dimboola (1979), and the biographical documentary I'm Not Dead Yet (2011). 

Morgan contributed one verse to the Gordon Parsons song "Pub With No Beer". He was dubbed the "clown prince of comedy" by Slim Dusty. He recorded a duet with John Williamson, "A Country Balladeer". He has had platinum and gold album sales and is one of Australia's most popular country music artists. Morgan performed at Sydney Opera House with Slim Dusty in April 1978. An album of the concert was released three years later, as 'One & Off The Road'. It was released the same year as 'Sheilas Drongos Dills & Other Geezers' which contained 20 of Morgan’s hits from the 1950s and 1960s. 

In 2009, Morgan wrote a song about his Aboriginal heritage, dedicated to his grandparents who raised him as a child, titled "The Ballad of Bill and Eva". It was recorded with his granddaughter, Caitlin Morgan. Artists who have impersonated Morgan in their shows include Col Elliott and John Williamson. Barry Humphries used Morgan as his inspiration for Les Patterson's teeth. Tex Morton once described Morgan as the only original country music artist in Australia. False rumours of his death began to surface after an announcement on radio station 4GY. The radio station later apologised for the rumour. 

Morgan was awarded a Lifetime Achievement award at the 2010 CMAA Country Music Awards of Australia, the first person to be honoured with this award. In January 2023, Morgan was touring rural Victoria, his career having spanned over 70 years. Morgan’s last-ever live show – dubbed his ''Farewell To Australia'' was on April 21, 2024 at the Twin Towns theatre in Tweed Heads. Chad Morgan died in a hospital at Gin Gin in Queensland on January 1, 2025, aged 91. 

(Edited from Wikipedia & The History Of Aussie Music) 

George York born 10 February 1910

George (February 10, 1910 – July 1974) and Leslie York (August 23, 1917 - February 21, 1984), known professionally as The York Brothers, were an American country music duo, popular from the late 1930s through the 1950s, known for their close harmony singing. Their country boogie style, a precursor to rockabilly, combined elements of hillbilly, jazz, and blues music. Originally from Kentucky, they are often associated with the city of Detroit, where they were based for several years, and which they paid tribute to in songs such as "Hamtramck Mama", "Detroit Hula Girl", and "Motor City Boogie". 

George and Leslie York  were both born in Louisa, Kentucky, United States. They were raised in a musical family. After finishing 8th grade George worked as a miner in Kentucky, but eventually moved to Denver, Colorado to pursue a career as a professional musician. After singing and playing guitar with various Denver bands, George moved to Portsmouth, Ohio, where he found work at radio station WPAY. Meanwhile, Leslie (who was seven years younger than George) finished 9th grade, and won a talent contest in Lexington, Kentucky. He joined his older brother in Portsmouth, and the two soon relocated to Detroit, Michigan. 

                                    

Detroit's auto industry in the late 1930s employed thousands of Southerners. Also at this time, sibling country music acts such as the Delmore Brothers and the Monroe Brothers were enjoying great popularity. Adopting "The York Brothers" as a stage name, they quickly found success as a live act in Detroit's country music taverns. In 1939 they recorded their first single, "Hamtramck Mama," which became a hit on the Detroit-based Universal label, selling some 300,000 copies in the Detroit area alone. The song's bawdy lyrics raised some protest among the politicians of the city of Hamtramck (within Detroit's borders). More successful singles followed, and in 1941 the brothers signed with Decca Records. Originally recording with just the two of them singing and playing acoustic guitars (with Leslie usually playing lead), they gradually added new instrumentation as they updated their sound. 

The start of the Second World War and the resultant shortage of shellac for production of records led to most labels cutting back on releases. The York Brothers were trimmed from the Decca roster after releasing six sides, although their popularity in the Midwest and South remained strong. They began performing with an expanded group and released several records on the Detroit-based Mellow label. By the start of 1944, however, both brothers were in the Navy, with George serving in the Pacific and Leslie in Europe. 

In 1946, with the war over, the brothers reunited and moved to Nashville, Tennessee. One of the few 'hillbilly acts' to successfully adapt to post-war tastes, they joined the Grand Ole Opry and signed with the new Bullet label. They released a new version of their earlier hit, "Hamtramck Mama," as well as originals and covers of popular songs. They survived the 1948 AFM recording ban with steady live work, including a six-week stint with the Louisiana Hayride, and remained with the Opry until 1950, when they returned to Detroit. 

While still in Nashville, George and Leslie had begun recording a long series of sides for Syd Nathan's Cincinnati-based King label, using top-notch studio musicians such as steel guitarist Jerry Byrd, guitarist Zeb Turner, and bassist Louis Innis. Many of their King efforts showed Western Swing, Latin, and R&B influences, and were consistently strong sellers. Some originals, such as "Mountain Rosa Lee", later came to be considered classics (in this case, within the bluegrass field). 

The York Brothers moved to Dallas, Texas, in 1953, along with their families. There they were regularly featured on the Big D Jamboree television show, and the WFAA Shindig radio program. They continued recording, including another session for Decca in 1957. Around this time, George began having problems with his voice, so Leslie took over the lead parts. Leslie recorded some solo material for Sage Records that year. In 1963 the brothers started their own label, York Bros. Records, and released several regionally popular singles, including "Monday Morning Blues." 

They eventually retired from performing, with George running a night club, and Leslie working various jobs. Both died in Dallas – George in 1974, and Leslie in 1984. 

(Edited from Wikipedia)

Joe Ely born 9 February 1947

Joe Ely (pronounced EE-lee) ( February 9, 1947 – December 15, 2025) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He was "one of the main movers" of Austin, Texas's progressive country scene in the 1970s and 1980s. He had a genre-crossing career, performing with Bruce Springsteen, Uncle Tupelo, Los Super Seven, The Chieftains, James McMurtry, The Clash, Lyle Lovett, John Hiatt, and Guy Clark. 

Born Earle Rewell Ely in Amarillo, Texas, Ely spent his teenage years in Lubbock and attended Monterey High School. His father Earl worked for the railways, and in Lubbock ran a used clothing store. He died when Ely was aged 13 and his wife was institutionalised. Ely went to live with relatives and contributed to finances by working as a dishwasher and cook in a cafe. He played violin from the age of eight and sang in the First Baptist Church choir. He sold his violin to buy an electric guitar and was expelled from Monterey High School for "singing 'Cherry Pie' by Marvin & Johnny in the middle of a school assembly". Ely "took to the road like his heroes Jack Kerouac and Woody Guthrie." He experienced "a drugs bust in Texas involving magic mushrooms", went to California where he bought a guitar, and in New York worked as a janitor in a theatre. 

He returned to Lubbock and in 1971, with fellow Lubbock musicians Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock, formed The Flatlanders. He recalled, "We never had any money, but we never needed any." There was always "just enough for a bag of rice or a couple of potatoes". According to Ely, "Jimmie Gilmore was like a well of country music. He knew everything about it. And Butch was from the folk world. I was kinda the rock and roll guy and we almost had a triad. We hit it off and started playing a lot together. That opened up a whole new world I had never known existed." 

                 Here's "Settle For Love" from above album. 

                                   

In 1972, the band recorded their first album. The band's initial breakup occurred just after their first album was cut and the three musicians followed individual paths, but have appeared together on each other's albums. Ely's first, self-titled album, was released in 1977. In 1978, his band played London, where he met British punk rock group the Clash. Impressed with each other's performances, the two bands later toured together, including appearances in Ely's hometown of Lubbock, as well as Laredo and Ciudad Juárez in Mexico, across the border from El Paso, Texas. 

Ely with Joe Strummer

The Clash paid tribute to Joe Ely by including the lyrics "Well, there ain't no better blend than Joe Ely and his Texas Men" in the lyrics of their song "If Music Could Talk", which was released in 1980 on the album Sandinista! Ely sang backing vocals on the Clash single "Should I Stay or Should I Go". Joe Strummer planned to record with Ely's band but died before that happened and was one of Ely's greatest regrets. 

On May 1, 1982, Ely presented the Third Annual Tornado Jam in Lubbock to a crowd of 25,000. The Jam included Linda Ronstadt, Leon Russell, Joan Jett, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, and the Crickets. The first Tornado Jam was a fundraiser to help Lubbock after the Tornado, hence the name. The second Annual Tornado Jam drew a crowd of 35,000. In the early 1980s, Ely toured with the Kinks, the Rolling Stones and Bruce Springsteen. In the 1990s, he collaborated with Dutch flamenco guitarist Teye, with whom he recorded Letter to Laredo (1995) and Twistin' in the Wind (1998). Throughout his career Ely issued a steady stream of albums, most on the MCA label, with a live album every 10 years or so. 

In the late 1990s, Ely was asked to write songs for the soundtrack of Robert Redford's movie The Horse Whisperer, which led to his reforming the Flatlanders with Gilmore and Hancock. A new album from the trio followed in 2002, and a third in 2004. In February 2007, Ely released Happy Songs from Rattlesnake Gulch on his own label, Rack 'Em Records. A book of Ely's writings, Bonfire of Roadmaps, was published in early 2007 by the University of Texas Press. In early 2008, Ely released a new live album featuring Joel Guzman on accordion, recorded at the Cactus Cafe in Austin, Texas, in late 2006. 

The Flatlanders released their album Hills and Valleys on March 31, 2009. In 2011, Ely released the acclaimed album, Satisfied at Last. "Treasure of Love" by the Flatlanders was released in 2021 on Ely's Rack'em Records. In September 2015, Ely released Panhandle Rambler and in 2016 he was the reigning "Texas State Musician", a one-year designation that he formally accepted in a ceremony at the State Legislature that spring. In October 2022, he was inducted to the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame. 

In September 2025, Ely announced he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and Lewy body dementia. He died from Parkinson's, dementia and pneumonia at his Taos, New Mexico home, on December 15, 2025, at the age of 78. 

(Edited from Wikipedia)

 

Tracy Pendarvis born 8 February 1936

Tracy Pendarvis (8th February 1936 - 25th January 1997) was an American  Rockabilly  singer. 

Born Tracy Rexford Pendarvis in the small central Florida town of Shamrock , he developed a love for music at an early age. He listened to the Grand Ole Opry from WSM in Nashville and also heard plenty of rhythm and blues. He soaked it all up and this showed in his music in later years.

Together with close buddy Johnny Gibson they jammed until the early morning, having fun and honing their skills in equal measure. In late ’57 they entered a talent contest on WDVH in Gainesville, Florida and won first prize, a record deal with the small Scott label. Pendarvis, Gibson and drummer Merrill “Punk” Williams were met at the door of 706 Union Avenue by Ernie Barton who arranged an audition with Sam Phillips. Sam the man with the best ears in world liked what he heard. The boys had a rockabilly sound which took him back four years, and he decided to give them a try. They also had the look, check out the well known photo of the hip rocker in the upturned collar.

There’s some conjecture as to how Tracy Pendarvis would have faired at Sun Records had he arrived there a couple of years earlier. It is suggested that with his voice he could have had a shot, but having said that, a lot of artists got overlooked due to the sheer volume of acts in that mid-’50s period. When he did arrive in 1959 Sam had lost a lot of artists and was able to devote more time to the ones he still had. Whether you make it in the music business seems to be more down to luck and fate than anything like real talent .

                                      

Sam produced the first session, augmenting the trio with session men Sid Manker on bass and Jimmy Wilson on piano. Sam must have been beaming from ear to ear when the guitar started to jingle jangle, and the drum started its marching beat. A couple of bars later and in comes Tracy with the lonesome a thousand guitars, a million stars. A Thousand Guitars was a brilliant record and Sam struggled to watch the boys finish the song as cash registers must have started flashing before his eyes. Sam had lost a bit of the wild-eyed enthusiasm over the last year or two but he wasted no time in getting this little peach pressed.

Unfortunately the b-side said it ­ Is it Too Late? Yes it was, three or four years too late in fact. In 1960 kids wanted to buy soppy-pop not rockabilly-rock. The pity of it all was that the single was a killer hit waiting to happen. It was the first Sun single of the ’60s and was released at a time when the majority of singles releases at that time were by the departed Johnny Cash or the boycotted Jerry Lee Lewis. The same fate befell the follow-up, South Bound Line and Is It Me.  The top side was another high quality release, sort of Mystery Train done Johnny Cash style, with Pendarvis’s vocals again very engaging.

For the third single Sam chose to try the formula which had worked with Carl Mann. Rocking up the standards was not a new notion but it was certainly back in vogue in 1961 and TP’s stab at Belle of the Suwannee was as good as anything else at that time.Following the failure of the third successive single, the singer and label parted company. Pendarvis started his own record production company, Descant Records, working in tandem with Bill Lowery’s NRC complex in Atlanta, Georgia. He worked on recordings by Lowery’s proteges including Jerry Reed, Joe South and Ray Stevens.

He had two releases under his own name for Descant but limited distribution would no doubt have hindered the sales of the these rockaballads. After a year Pendarvis folded Descant Records and moved to Chicago, playing the Illinois honkytonks before moving back to his native Florida. For the rest of his life Tracy worked in audio technology, installing a studio in his hometown of Tavares. In October 1992 he made his long awaited debut in Europe at the Hemsby Rock ‘n’ Roll festival. 

He died a couple of years later on the 25th January 1997 in Cross City, Florida. Looking back over his career half a century later, the bottom line is that Tracy was unlucky to be in the right place at the wrong time. 

(Edited from Bear Family notes) 

Oscar Brand born 7 February 1920

Oscar Brand (February 7, 1920 – September 30, 2016) was a Canadian-born American folk singer-songwriter, radio and TV host, and author. In his career, spanning 70 years, he composed at least 300 songs and released nearly 100 albums, among them Canadian and American patriotic songs. Brand's music ran the gamut from novelty songs to serious social commentary and spanned a number of genres. Brand also wrote a number of short stories. 

He was born on a wheat farm near Winnipeg, Manitoba. His father was an interpreter to Indians for the Hudson’s Bay Company and later ran a theatrical supply company and a pawnshop. Young Oscar fell in love with music while listening to player-piano rolls. His family moved to Minneapolis when he was 7, then to Chicago and finally to Brooklyn, where they sought treatment for Oscar, who had been born with a missing calf muscle. He graduated from Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, then roamed the country with his banjo, working on farms along the way. He later graduated from Brooklyn College with a degree in psychology. 

In 1942 he joined the Army, where he worked in the psychology section of an induction center and edited a newspaper for psychiatric patients. After his discharge, he moved to Greenwich Village and tried to insinuate himself into the world of music. One of his first initiatives was writing a book called “How to Play the Guitar Better Than Me.” 

His radio career began in December 1945, after he wrote a letter to New York stations offering to present a program of Christmas songs he claimed most people had never heard. WNYC, which at the time was owned by the city, accepted the challenge. His song about Santa’s distinctive body odor proved his point. At the show’s end, WNYC’s program director asked Mr. Brand what he was doing the next week. He boldly replied that he’d be right back in the same studio in the Municipal Building. 

                                    

The music he played included fiddlers to folk songs of the Appalachians to ethnic songs of the big cities. He also played what were then known as “race records” by the likes of Memphis Minnie and Tampa Red, precursors of rhythm and blues and rock ’n’ roll. Mr. Brand’s own singing voice had an offhand (and sometimes off-key) authenticity, which he applied to old, new and sometimes deliberately mangled songs, both on and off the air. 

In 1950 Mr. Brand was listed in “Red Channels: The Report of Communist Influence in Radio and Television,” a pamphlet that contained the names of artists who supposedly had Communist connections. Unlike some of his colleagues, he was never asked to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (he insisted that he never would have cooperated if he had been), and while he did lose some work, he continued to make money from his songwriting. Doris Day’s version of his song “A Guy Is a Guy” reached No. 1 on the Billboard chart in 1952. 

Oscar with Odetta

Brand's WNYC show began what Guinness World Records eventually verified as radio’s longest-running with a single host. (It beat out Alistair Cooke’s “Letter From America,” which ran for just under 58 years.) Mr. Brand never had a contract, but he kept coming back. His employers particularly appreciated that he never asked for compensation — nor did he ever receive any. He also established his own one-of-a-kind reputation. In 1959, The New York Times called him “one of radio’s most genial fanatics.” 

His guests included the Weavers, Lead Belly, Judy Collins, Harry Belafonte, Joan Baez, Phil Ochs, Harry Chapin, Emmylou Harris, B.B. King and Woody Guthrie’s son, Arlo, who as a teenager gave one of the earliest performances of his song “Alice’s Restaurant” on Mr. Brand’s show. Few have sung and strummed more prolifically. The hundreds of songs Brand recorded include election songs, children’s songs, vaudeville songs, sports car songs, drinking songs, outlaw songs and lascivious ditties about Nellie the Barmaid. 

He scored ballets for Agnes de Mille and commercials for Log Cabin Syrup and Cheerios. He wrote music for documentary films, published songbooks and hosted the children’s television shows “The First Look” and “Spirit of ’76” as well as, from 1963 to 1967, the Canadian television series “Let’s Sing Out.” He also wrote, with Paul Nassau, the music and lyrics for two shows that made it to Broadway, although neither had a long run: “A Joyful Noise” (1966) and “The Education of HYMAN KAPLAN (1968), based on stories by Leo Rosten. He was curator of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and served on the advisory panel that helped develop “Sesame Street.” 

In 1995, Mr. Brand won a Peabody Award for “more than 50 years in service to the music and messages of folk performers and fans around the world.” Mr. Brand’s last show aired on Sept. 24, 2016. He died on September 30, 2016, after a two week battle with pneumonia at his home in Great Neck, N.Y. He was 96. 

(Edited from New York Times & Wikipedia)