Tommy McClennan born 4 January 1905

Tommy McClennan (January 4, 1905 – May 9, 1961) was an American Delta blues singer and guitarist. 

McClennan was born in Durant, Mississippi, and grew up in the town. He is shown with his mother Cassie and his siblings in the 1910 census in Carroll County, and in 1920 the family was living on a plantation near Sidon in Leflore County. McClennan and his wife Ophelia were also enumerated in the 1930 Leflore County census, with his occupation listed as teamster. His name was variously spelled McClinton, McLindon, McCleland, and McClenan on these documents, although the McClennan spelling was used on all of his recordings. 

Ishman Bracey

While growing up, he taught himself to play guitar influenced by Delta masters Rubin Lacy, Charley Patton, Ishman Bracey and Tommy Johnson. At a young age he began to play on the streets of Greenwood, Mississippi for nickels and dimes, while working the cotton fields during the day. Later he worked in juke joints and for dance parties, playing both the guitar and the piano Other bluesmen remembered him from elsewhere in the Delta, including Bolivar County and Vance, but he was best known around Greenwood, where Booker Miller, a protege of Charley Patton, knew him as “Sugar,” and Yazoo City, where local resident Herman Bennett, Jr., and others called him “Bottle Up,” after his most popular song, “Bottle It Up and Go.” When Miller quit playing in 1937, he sold his guitar to McClennan. 

Honeyboy Edwards

In the Greenwood area, McClennan’s performing partners included Robert Petway and Honeyboy Edwards. When Samuel Charters traveled to Yazoo City doing research for his book “The Country Blues” in the 1950s, he learned that McClennan had lived on the Sligh plantation and liked to hang out on Water Street at the Ren Theater, an adjacent barroom, and a pool hall. Bennett also recalled him from the Cotton Club, a popular blues spot on Champlin Avenue. 

                                    

McClennan began his recording career in 1939 after white Chicago record producer Lester Melrose came looking for him. Big Billl Broonzy recounted that Melrose had to make a hurried exit when his presence angered locals who thought he was recruiting laborers to leave Mississippi. In Chicago McClennan, “one of the most ferocious blues singers to get near a microphone,” in the words of Charters, unleashed his gruff, unbridled blues in the studio, sometimes further energizing the recordings with lively comments urging himself on. Among McClennan’s most notable numbers were “Bottle It Up and Go,” “Cross Cut Saw,” “Travelin’ Highway Man,” and “New Highway No. 51 Blues.” McClennan, famed for his raucous, uninhibited singing and guitar playing, frequented this section of Yazoo City when he lived on the nearby J. F. Sligh plantation. 

Big Bill Broonzy

According to Broonzy, McClennan was chased from a Chicago party when revelers objected to the controversial lyrics McClennan sang in “Bottle It Up and Go.” McClennan’s friend Robert Petway also recorded sixteen songs for Bluebird. Petway (aka Petaway or Pettiway) shared a similar, if less rough-hewn and exuberant, performing style with McClennan. They were of similar diminutive height with McLennan standing just 4 feet 10 and weighing somewhere around 133 pounds, and were sometimes taken to be brothers. Their recording careers both ended in 1942,  At this point, Lester Melrose of Bluebird Records had decided to release McClennan from his services, citing his unreliability and alcoholism, although Bluebird and RCA Victor continued to release McClennan singles for several years. McClennan moved to Chicago but there are few reports of him performing there. 

Robert Petway

Honeyboy Edwards would  later recall in his biography running into McClennan again, in 1962. Destitute and living in a truck trailer he had converted into a makeshift house, Edwards attempted to bring McClennan back to the stage. His unskilled guitar playing was now clearly absent, but his mighty vocals remained. And McClennan's constant desire for alcohol had not diminished either; a fact that rekindled the word of his unreliability and ultimately brought forth an end to this second opportunity at fame. 

Edwards returned him to his life in the slums, and shortly afterwards, McClennan took sick and was hospitalized in Chicago. Unable to speak at all, McClennan died there of bronchopneumonia on May 9, 1961 alone and penniless, although blues researchers have been unable to agree or confirm the date or circumstances of his death. Throughout his life, he was a sickly man, who may have suffered from tuberculosis, and he was definitely plagued by chronic alcoholism. 

In retrospect McClennan's music can now be considered as some of the most compelling and important of its period, alongside the recognized legends, Son House, Robert Johnson, and Charley Patton. 

(Edited from Mississippi Blues Trail and Casscade Blues Association)

Victor Borge born 3 January 1909

Victor Borge (January 3, 1909 – December 23, 2000) was a Danish-American actor, comedian, and pianist who achieved great popularity in radio and television in both North America and Europe. His blend of music and comedy earned him the nicknames "The Clown Prince of Denmark," "The Unmelancholy Dane," and "The Great Dane." 

Born Børge Rosenbaum in Copenhagen, Denmark, into a Jewish family, his parents, Bernhard and Frederikke Rosenbaum, were both musicians. His father was a violinist in the Royal Danish Chapel, and his mother played piano.Borge took up piano like his mother at the age of 3, and it was soon apparent that he was a prodigy. He gave his first piano recital when he was 8 years old, and in 1918 was awarded a full scholarship at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, studying under Olivo Krause. Later on, he was taught by Victor Schiøler, Liszt's student Frederic Lamond, and Borge played his first major concert in 1926 at the Danish concert-hall Odd Fellow Palæet (The Odd Fellow Mansion).

After a few years as a classical concert pianist, he started his now famous "stand up" act, with the signature blend of piano music and jokes. He married American Elsie Chilton in 1933, the same year he debuted with his revue acts. Borge started touring extensively in Europe, where he began telling anti-Nazi jokes. When the Nazis occupied Denmark during World War II, Borge was playing a concert in Sweden, and managed to escape to Finland. He traveled to America on the USS American Legion, the last passenger ship that made it out of Europe prior to the war, and arrived August 28, 1940 with only 20 dollars, three of which went to the customs fee. 

Even though Borge didn't speak a word of English upon arrival, he quickly managed to adapt his jokes to the American audience, learning English by watching movies. He took the name of Victor Borge, and, in 1941, he started on Rudy Vallee's radio show, but was hired soon after by Bing Crosby for his Kraft Music Hall. From then on, it went quickly for Borge, who won Best New Radio Performer of the Year in 1942. Soon after the award, he was offered film roles with stars such as Frank Sinatra (in Higher and Higher). 

                                     

While hosting The Victor Borge Show on NBC from 1946, he "developed many of his trademarks, including repeatedly announcing his intent to play a piece but getting "distracted" by something or other, making comments about the audience, or discussing the usefulness of Chopin's Minute Waltz as an eggtimer. Or he would start out with some well-known classical piece like Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" op. 27 and suddenly drift into a harmonically suitable pop or jazz tune like "Night and Day" (Cole Porter)." 

Borge appeared on Toast of the Town hosted by Ed Sullivan several times during 1948, and became a naturalized citizen of the United States the same year. He started the Comedy in Music show at John Golden Theatre in New York City on October 2, 1953. Comedy in Music became the longest running one-man show with 849 performances when it closed on January 21, 1956, which feat placed it in the Guinness Book of World Records. 

After divorcing his wife Elsie, he married Sarabel Sanna Scraper in 1953. Continuing his success with several tours and shows, Borge played with some of the world's most renowned orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic and London Philharmonic. Always modest, he felt very honored when he was invited to conduct the Danish Royal Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1992. 

His later television appearances included his use of his "Phonetic Punctuation" routine on The Electric Company in a filmed sketch; He would also use it on the record to follow during the "Punctuation" song. He guest starred many times on Sesame Street and was the star guest on the fourth season of The Muppet Show. 

Aside from his musical work, Borge wrote two books, My Favorite Intermissions and My Favorite Comedies in Music (with Robert Sherman), and the autobiography Smilet er den korteste afstand ("The Smile is the Shortest Distance") with Niels-Jørgen Kaiser. Victor Borge continued to tour until his last days, performing up to 60 times per year when he was 90 years old.  

Borge died in Greenwich, Connecticut, after more than 75 years of entertaining. He died peacefully, in his sleep, the day after returning from a concert in Denmark. In accordance with Borge's wishes, he had part of his ashes interred at Putnam Cemetery in Greenwich, with a replica of the iconic Danish statue The Little Mermaid sitting on a large rock at the grave site, and the other part in the Western Jewish Cemetery (Mosaisk Vestre Begravelsesplads), in Copenhagen. (Edited from Wikipedia)

 

Doris Drew born circa 1925

Doris Drew (born c. 1925) was an American pop and jazz singer in the late 1940s and 1950s. 

She was born in San Antonio, Texas. Not much is known about her earlier life until 1949 when she was the band's vocalist with Ziggy Elman in Los Angeles until 1952, performing on tracks such as "The Wedding Samba"; she has also sung with Mel Henke (La Dolce Henke) and The Pied Pipers (Favorite Christmas carols). Under her own name, she released the singles "A Rose Was a Rose" and "Singin' in the Rain" for MGM in mid-1949;  Billboard magazine described her vocals as a mix of Kay Starr and Doris Day.  

In 1951 she married comedian Larry Allen (Al Leibovitz). That same year, she recorded the song "Sweet Violets" with the Cliff Parman Orchestra and Jack Halloran Chorus; in the early 1950s, she also recorded songs such as "Beautiful Brown Eyes", "Since You Went Away from Me" and "In My Sentimental Heart" for Mercury Records. In 1956, she sang a duet with Mel Tormé on the Tennessee Ernie Ford TV show ("Tea for Two"). 

                                   

In September 1957, Drew recorded an album under her own name (Delightful Doris Drew) for Mode Records, on which she was accompanied by Don Fagerquist, Bob Enevoldsen, Herb Geller, Dave Pell, Marty Paich, Al Viola, Max Bennett and Mel Lewis, and recorded standards such as "I Only Have Eyes For You", "If I Should Lose You", "Something to Remember You By" and "There Will Never Be Another You". In the same year, she performed with Don Fagerquist Octet on the show KABC Stars of Jazz, where she performed the songs "He's My Guy" and "I Cried for You". 

 In the field of jazz, she was involved in 20 recording sessions between 1949 and 1957.  In addition, she performed on several television variety shows of the day. She also performed on stage with Frank Sinatra at one point. She then released the pop single "I'm Alone But Never Lonely"/"French Fried Potatoes" (Kahill 1025) in 1957 before retiring from the music scene. 

The last piece of information I found is that in 1966, she had a singing role in the animated film Alice in Wonderland or What's a Nice Kid Like You Doing in a Place Like This? (directed by Alex Lowy), and that dear music lovers is all I can find, no other information about her is available. If anyone has any more to add then please do. 

(Edited from Wikipedia, Discogs & Last fm) 

If anyone has any more to add to this small bio, then please let me know.

Benny Barnes born 1 January 1936

Benny Barnes (January 1, 1936 – August 15, 1987) was an American country music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He is best known for his 1956 hit "Poor Man's Riches". Barnes also owned various Southeast Texas nightclubs in the 1960s and 1970s and continued recording and performing into the 1980s. 

Benjamin Milam Barnes, Jr. was born in Beaumont, Texas. After starting out playing a toy ukulele around age ten, the young Barnes eventually switched to guitar and appeared on various Beaumont-area amateur programs through his middle teen years. Following his first marriage at the age of seventeen and a subsequent series of jobs in the oilfield or related industries, Barnes was befriended and mentored by the budding country star George Jones, a hometown hero who also mentored him and had him play rhythm guitar in his road band. 

In late 1955 Barnes first came to Houston’s Gold Star Studios as an instrumentalist accompanying Jones on new recordings, at which time Jones introduced him to Starday co-owner and session producer H. W. “Pappy” Daily and suggested that Barnes audition as a prospective featured singer for the label. In March 1956 Barnes returned to Gold Star to make his debut recordings for Starday, resulting in the release of “Once Again” backed with “No Fault of Mine” on 45 rpm disc. The limited but encouraging commercial success of that record led to other sessions that spawned three minor releases on the Dixie label, also owned by Daily. 

Barnes’s big break came in August 1956 when he recorded “Poor Man’s Riches.” First issued on Starday, the song promptly became a regional bestseller and was then leased to and reissued nationally by the Nashville-based Mercury label, whereby it later peaked at Number 2 on the Billboard country charts. This led to him making appearances on the Grand Old Opry and becoming a regular on the Louisiana Hayride, but he found a follow-up hit hard to find. In 1959, he recorded ‘Gold Records In The Snow’, a tribute to Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper and Richie Valens. 

                                   

Barnes continued to make records with Daily at Gold Star Studios through 1959, which the producer issued on various labels, including Mercury, Starday, Dixie, and D. However, despite some modest sales and radio airplay, Barnes could never replicate the phenomenal commercial success of “Poor Man’s Riches.” That trend continued through the rest of Barnes’s career as he issued additional tracks on Mercury, the most noteworthy of which, “Yearning,” crested at Number 22 in the Billboard country rankings in 1961. 

At this point, Barnes also operated The Blue Lantern in Beaumont. He ran his bar for several years, during which time he wrote a song called ‘Bar With No Beer’ which, to anybody except perhaps Barnes and his family, was literally nothing but a very slight variation of Australian Gordon Parsons’ ‘Pub With No Beer’ (a major hit, in 1959, for Slim Dusty). 

Billy made many recordings, namely for Hallway (1962-65), Musicor (1965-68), and Kapp (1968). In 1970, Barnes moved to California where he worked for a year, but he soon returned to Beaumont and bought a night club at the Houston Highway called The Benny Barnes Melody Club, where, with his band the Ranch Hands, he proved to be a popular entertainer recording for the Mega label in1972.  He kept the club until 1973. Then recorded for the Starday label and in 1976 the Playboy label where ‘I’ve Got Some Getting Over You To Do’ made the charts reaching at a modest number of 94, in 1977. 

Benny Barnes died too young at the age of 51.  A lifetime spent in smoke filled bars took its inevitable toll. When he became ill and started chemotherapy in June 1987, several musicians including Johnny Preston, Billie Jo Spears, and Jones,  performed at benefits to help pay for his medical bills.. According to Enterprise archives, Barnes spent the last three weeks of his life at St. Elizabeth Hospital. He died on Aug. 18, 1987.

One of the best honky-tonk singers was gone. Pappy Daily said of Barnes : "I thought Benny was a fine singer. He was a great artist with a fine stage act. I never could understand why he didn't make it big."

(Edited from Texas State Historical Association, AllMusic, Beaumont Enterprise, Bear Family liner notes & Wikipedia) (* some sources also give date of death as Aug 27th)