Jimmy Wilson (possibly January 21, 1918, 1921 or 1923 –
February 5, 1965 or February 24, 1966) was an American West Coast blues singer,
best known for his 1953 hit "Tin Pan Alley".
Details of Wilson's life are sketchy and uncertain. He may
have been born Jimmie Ned Wilson in Gibsland, Louisiana in 1918, or (according
to other sources) near Lake Charles, Louisiana a few years later.
Rising Star Gospel Singers
Jimmy Wilson was never interviewed, and the very little known
about him comes from the memories of a couple of musicians who worked with him
at various times. He started out singing with a gospel quartet, the Pilgrim
Travelers in California and toured the West Coast ,but his first recordings
were with the Rising Star Gospel Singers by Bob Geddings in 1946. He switched
to R&B at the instigation of west coast producer-songwriter Geddins who began
to record him in Oakland in 1951.
Initially Wilson was with Bob Geddins' Cavaliers, but further
recordings were made under Wilson's own name, often accompanied by guitarist
Lafayette Thomas. Some of the masters were purchased by Aladdin Records which
was based in Los Angeles, and Wilson recorded for Aladdin in 1952 before
returning to record for Geddins' Big Town Records in 1953.
Most of his records sold well locally, without crossing over
to the mainstream. The one exception was Jimmy’s ‘signature song’, the original
version of the blues standard ‘Tin Pan Alley’ which reached number 10 on the US
Billboard R&B chart in 1953 and helped to establish Geddins as a major
figure in West Coast blues. In 1954 he had a local on the subsidiary Rhythm
label with “Strangest Blues.”
Wilson failed to capitalize on the success of "Tin Pan
Alley". Jimmy moved away from North California and continued recording in
Louisiana, where he recorded for Goldband Records. His 1958 song "Please
Accept My Love" was later recorded by B. B. King and Elton Anderson. His
last recordings were for Duke Records in Houston in 1961. Wilson became an
alcoholic and died on arrival at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, Texas on February
24, 1966. Virtually forgotten by the record-buying public, he was buried at Lincoln
Memorial Cemetery in Dallas.
(Edited from Wikipedia, Wirz’ American Music, Jasmine & Acrobat liner notes)
Lucille Dumont (January 20, 1919 – July 29, 2016) known as Quebec’s
grande dame of chanson, was a pioneering Canadian singer, radio and television
host, and vocal educator who played a pivotal role in popularizing the chanson
style in Quebec, adapting French art-song traditions to local themes and
promoting emerging Quebecois songwriters throughout her seven-decade career.
Outside the realm of folk music, most popular singers in
Quebec at the time imitated American or French singers, and did French or
American repertoire. During the first part of her career, Ms. Dumont followed
suit, singing chansons that were popular in Paris, and modelling her
performance on French stars such as Lucienne Boyer and Lys Gauty. Like them,
she sang with expressive diction, a quick vibrato and a melting, lyrical style
that could make a simple phrase feel like a caress.
She was born Lucelle Dumont in Montreal's Centre-Sud, a
district which, then as now, knew more than its share of poverty. She was just
16 when she made her broadcast debut. Under her mentor, Léo Le Sieur, an
organist and composer who guided her into broadcasting, Ms. Dumont quickly
became a star in Quebec. On October 16, 1935, at age 16, Dumont made her
professional debut. She sang and acted as host on numerous programs on Montreal
radio station CKAC, an early media-convergence play by La Presse. She often
performed with the station's own orchestra. Her talents were also showcased
through a variety of shows at Radio-Canada, with titles such as Variétés
Françaises, Sur les boulevards and Le moulin qui jazz, the title of which
riffed on a 1934 hit song for Ms. Gauty. On stage, Ms. Dumont starred in
musical revues at Montreal's Monument-National and other theatres.
In 1945, she became the first performer of Insensiblement, a
chanson by French songwriter Paul Misraki that was later recorded by Jean
Sablon, Charles Aznavour and jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. Signing with RCA
Victor in 1947, she released dozens of recordings, including Quebec-themed hits
like René Tournier's Mon Saint-Laurent, si grand, si grand and her signature
song Le ciel se marie avec la mer by Jacques Blanchet, for which she won first
prize at the 1957 Concours de la chanson canadienne.
In 1952, she appeared on Radio-Canada's first TV broadcast,
on a program called Le Café des Artistes. A series of regular performing and
hosting gigs on TV followed. For four years in the late 1950s, her weekly
variety show À la Romance directly followed the Saturday night hockey game,
whose colour commentator was her sportscaster husband, Jean-Maurice Bailly. By
that time, she had honed her TV performance skills to a captivating degree. She
coddled each song with her warm, expressive voice, and beguiled the camera with
a smile or a wink in mid-phrase.
At about the same time, she was turning her attention to
Quebec chanson, giving a platform in Quebec and abroad to the work of young
talents such as Gilles Vigneault, Jacques Blanchet and Stéphane Venne. In 1957,
her performance of Blanchet's poetic Le ciel se marie avec la mer won first
prize at the Concours de la chanson canadienne. It became her signature song.
Some of Ms. Dumont's Quebec chansons made proud reference to
the province and Montreal in their lyrics and titles. She had lasting success
with René Tournier's Mon Saint-Laurent, si grand, si grand and Blanchet's Au
parc Lafontaine, a tribute to the historic park in Montreal's Le
Plateau-Mont-Royal district. Both were waltzes performed with lavish orchestral
arrangements.
Quebec chanson, with its sophisticated themes and melodic
finesse, stood apart from the wave of youth-oriented, beat-heavy music reaching
the province from the United States and England in the early 1960s. But chanson
as a Quebec creation served as a point of cultural pride, and had an effect on
the character of the province's popular music that lingers to this day. Ms.
Dumont remained a fixture on Radio-Canada till the mid-seventies, performing
and hosting French stars such as Mr. Aznavour and Jacques Brel. In 1968, she
opened a studio, Atelier de la Chanson, and continued teaching into old age.
Known as the "Grande Dame de la Chanson," she
performed with a young Céline Dion and Jean-Pierre Ferland on Quebec television
in 1989, spanning more than half a century from her debut. She was regularly
feted in Quebec as a national treasure. She retired in 1999 and became an
Officer of the Order of Canada, and entered l'Ordre national du Québec in 2001.
Though she was mainly an interpreter of song, she received a legacy award from
the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2006. She died in Montreal on July 29,
2016 at the age of 97.
Horace Parlan (January 19, 1931 – February 23, 2017) was an
American pianist and composer known for working in the hard bop and post-bop
styles of jazz. In addition to his work as a bandleader Parlan was known for
his contributions to the Charles Mingus recordings Mingus Ah Um and Blues &
Roots.
He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States and
was adopted by a minister and his family and was exposed to church music
throughout his youth. Parlan was stricken with polio, resulting in the partial
crippling of his right hand.
His first piano teacher was not sympathetic, but after
seeing classical pianist Vladimir Horowitz in concert in Pittsburgh, Parlan was
drawn back to music. He was about 12 when he began to study with James Miller,
who also taught another budding Pittsburgh jazz pianist, Ahmad Jamal. Miller
encouraged Parlan to develop his left hand, which led to his idiosyncratic
style, with his right hand often pointed at a sharp angle toward the keyboard.
Parlan studied at the University of Pittsburgh, with an eye
toward becoming a lawyer, before deciding to pursue a career in music. Between 1952 and 1957, he worked in
Washington, D.C., with Sonny Stitt. From 1957 to 1959, Parlan was part of a
band led by Mingus, the mercurial bassist and composer then at the height of
his creativity. He appeared on two of Mingus’s landmark albums, “Blues and
Roots” and “Mingus Ah Um,” both from 1959. On the latter recording, Parlan’s
driving piano helped some of Mingus’s best-known tunes, including “Goodbye Pork
Pie Hat,” “Fables of Faubus,” “Boogie Stop Shuffle” and “Better Git It in Your
Soul.”
Between 1960 and 1963 he recorded seven albums for the Blue
Note label, including “Up & Down” and “Speakin’ My Piece,” with such
bandmates as guitarist Grant Green and saxophonists Stanley Turrentine and
Booker Ervin. Also during the early 1960s, Parlan was in demand as a top
sideman .He played with Booker Ervin in 1960 and 1961, then in the Eddie
"Lockjaw" Davis-Johnny Griffin quintet in 1962. From 1963 to 1966 Parlan
played with Rahsaan Roland Kirk. "The work situation in New York in the
late ‘60s, for me at least, was not optimal," said the soft-spoken Parlan
in an interview. "I was doing a lot of commercial jobs playing in East
Side clubs. I wasn't all that happy."
As musical tastes changed, he found it harder to make a
living in jazz and moved in 1972 to Copenhagen, Denmark, where Gordon, Ben
Webster and other expatriate jazz stars then lived. Parlan worked primarily in
Europe for the rest of his career. He later settled in the small village of
Rude in southern Zealand. In 1974, he completed a State Department tour of
Africa with Hal Singer. In 1977, he made a well-received recording of
spirituals with saxophonist Archie Shepp, “Goin’ Home,” and the two made
several appearances over the next few years at jazz clubs and colleges in the
United States. The duo later recorded two more albums.
While living in Denmark, Parlan frequently recorded for the
Copenhagen-based SteepleChase label and became a more prolific composer. He became
a Danish citizen in 1995. Filmmaker Don McGlynn made a documentary about Parlan
in 2000. That year he also received the 2000 Ben Webster Prize awarded by the
Ben Webster Foundation. Describing the obstacles he overcame to become a
pianist, Parlan told Jazz Times magazine in 2001: “I was not equipped to speak
musically in the manner of [Art] Tatum or [Oscar] Peterson or any of the
pianists I admire. I had to find a groove of my own.”
His final recording, “My Little Brown Book,” appeared in
2007. He lived for years in the countryside with his wife, Norma Parlan. He
died February 23, 2017, at a nursing home in Naestved, Denmark, at the age of
86. He had been suffering from multiple ailments, including diabetes and
failing eyesight.
(Edited from Billboard Obit, Wikipedia, AllMusic and
All About Jazz)
Dodo Greene, (born Dorthea Hawkins; January 18, 1924 - July
21, 2006) was an American jazz vocalist who performed in clubs and venues in
Buffalo, and along the East Coast and Chicago, before releasing two albums in
the 1960s, and touring internationally.
A native of Buffalo, New York, Greene was exposed to music
through family gatherings and local events, where the rhythmic sounds of jazz
and rhythm and blues permeated neighborhood life. She began singing at age 7 or
8 when she was chosen for recurrent appearances on the Buster Brown Shoes
Amateur Hour radio program, where she frequently won prizes including shoes for
her family. She continued to sing
throughout her teens, although she was planning a career in medicine. Her first
big break arrived when she filled in for a sick vocalist in Cozy Cole's band.
He asked her to join his group, but she refused. Eventually, she decided to
pursue a career in music and began singing regularly at venues along the East
Coast, as well as Chicago.
She got her first big singing job at the Club Moon-Glow, a
nightclub at Michigan and William Street. She also sang at other local clubs on
the east side of Buffalo and the Cold Springs district, including The
Musician's Club, The Buffalo Club, the Pine Grill, Mandy's and the Little
Harlem.Slowly, she built up a following among audiences and fellow vocalists
like Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, and Dinah Washington, and was able to play
venues in London and Germany. In 1959 she moved to New York City to perform
with Cab Calloway's revue at the Winter Garden Theatre. She became known at
that time as the "buxom blues singer". It was also about this time
that she perfected a Louie Armstrong imitation, including his trademark throaty
growl and hanky and adopted her trademark bleached blonde hairstyle.
Dodo Greene's debut studio album, Ain't What You Do, was
released in 1960 by Time Records, marking her entry into professional recording.
Recorded in New York City in January 1959, the album features Greene's warm,
R&B-inflected vocals backed by a robust ensemble including trumpeter Burt
Collins, trombonist Slide Hampton, pianist Ray Bryant, and drummer Frank Dunlop
on select tracks. Spanning 12 songs, it draws on jazz and pop standards with
themes of romance and melancholy, highlighted by interpretations of "Manhattan,"
"Black Coffee," and "Baby, Won't You Please Come Home."
Greene's sophomore effort, My Hour of Need, issued in 1962
by Blue Note Records, stands as her most prominent release and the label's
first album featuring a female vocalist under exclusive contract. Produced by
Blue Note co-founder Alfred Lion and engineered by Rudy Van Gelder, the
sessions occurred across multiple dates in 1962 at Van Gelder Studio in
Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, involving luminaries like tenor saxophonist Ike
Quebec, guitarist Grant Green, organist Sir Charles Thompson, and drummers Billy
Higgins and Al Harewood. The album's 12 tracks predominantly cover blues-tinged
standards and ballads evoking emotional vulnerability and resilience.
While My Hour of Need achieved modest
commercial traction through associated singles like "You Are My Sunshine"
b/w "Little Things Mean a Lot," it did not yield major chart success,
reflecting Blue Note's primary focus on instrumental jazz during the era.
Unreleased outtakes from September and November 1962 sessions, featuring
additional collaborators like Dionne Warwick on tambourine, were later compiled
on a 1996 CD reissue by Blue Note, expanding the album to 20 tracks.
Greene faded away from the spotlight in the years following
the release of her lone Blue Note album. There is no apparent record of her
recording again. In 1997 Ms. Greene was honored in Buffalo's Hall of Fame,
along with music great Harold Arlen. She
was a woman of great talent, boundless energy and an indomitable spirit who
continued to "wow" her audiences mostly at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo,
New York, right up until her death in her home on July 21, 2006 after a long
illness.
(Edited from AllMusic,
Grokipedia & Michigan Street Buffalo)
Charlene Bartley (born circa 1922 - ?) was a big band and
jazz singer who was based in Boston and was a regular entertainer in Boston
hotels that hosted live music in their lounges in the 40's and 50's.
The exact birth date of Charlene Bartley is not known but
possibly prior to 1922 as although there is no information regarding her early life;
her trail starts off on March 3, 1938, when she married a truck driver Raymond
Bartley. They had a daughter named Joyce Lee who was 8-years-old when they
divorced in 1946. At that time it was reported that Ms. Bartley was
26-years-old, so either she married quite young or she shaved a few years off
her age. If the latter is the case, she would have been born earlier than 1922.
It is not known whether Charlene was her birth name, but Bartley was her
married name. Of course, she could have gotten married again and no longer went
by the name Bartley.
What is known is that as a singer, she hailed from Los Angeles,
and the Boston bandleader Al Donahue initially brought her back East. Donahue
hired Bartley in California in late 1947. They recorded a few sides on the
Tune-Disk label just before the second recording ban took effect. One of them,
“My Old Fashioned Gal,” ended up on the Boston Crystal-Tone label (Crystal-Tone
523) in 1948. Donahue was back in Boston, with Bartley singing, in 1949.
Bartley toured with Donahue in the early 1950s, but when he
relocated to the Sunshine State permanently, she gave up the road and settled
in Boston although during 1954 she appeared for one appearance on the Al Donahue TV
show. He held an annual residence at the Statler Hotel, and
Bartley sang with him there through 1957. She also recorded a single on his
Aldon Records label in 1956, but by that time she was on the staff at Boston’s
WHDH-AM. There she met guitarist Don Alessi, one of the Park Squares, a
vocal-and-instrumental group then providing music on both radio and television
broadcasts.
The Park Squares were real pros, playing everything from The
New England Farm and Food Show in the afternoon, to John McLellan’s Jazz Scene
in the evening. One of their daily radio shows was One to Two, with Charlene
Bartley as the staff singer. That’s when she came to the attention of someone
from A&R at RCA, and an album was in the works. The Weekend of a Private Secretary, was released in 1957.
It’s the story in song of a woman who weekends in Havana, finds romance, and
returns home sadder but wiser.
RCA brought some of its leading talent to the project, with
four songs arranged by Tito Puente and performed by his orchestra. Saxophonist
Hal McKusick arranged four more, and performed them with a small group. The duo
of Alessi and bassist Milt Hinton performed the final four. Alessi, in fact, played on all twelve
numbers. The title tune, backed by Puente’s orchestra, has a catchy rhythm to
go with Johnny Mercer’s lyrics, but for the most part Bartley sings ballads,
including “I’ve Got a Crush on You,” “I Don’t Stand a Ghost of a Chance,” and
“Memories of You.”
The record did not create much excitement. Wrote Billboard’s
reviewer: “Charlene Bartley has a sweet, fresh vocal sound but doesn’t do much
with it on this package of standards.” Her singing was warm, and free from
embellishment, but that didn’t attract attention in 1957. The jazz-pop
continuum was teeming with singers… Teddi King, Kathy Barr, Lucy Ann Polk,
Helen Grayco, Audrey Morris, Jaye P. Morgan, Ann Gilbert… all worthy voices,
and all with LPs out in 1957. Bartley’s record just didn’t stand out from the
crowd.
Then the Bartley story took a mysterious turn, she dropped
from sight after a visit to Los Angeles the summer of 1958, until she was
reported in the December 31, 1961 edition of “The Boston Globe” that she was
performing at the Meadows in Framingham. There have also been unconfirmed reports of her living in the area in the late 1980s after which there is no information regarding what became of her.
(Edited mainly from an article by Richard Vacca & IMDb)
Cedar Anthony Walton Jr. (January 17, 1934 – August 19,
2013) was an American hard bop jazz pianist. He came to prominence as a member
of drummer Art Blakey's band, The Jazz Messengers, before establishing a long
career as a bandleader and composer who interpreted familiar jazz traditions in
unexpected ways.
He was born in Dallas and was taught to play the piano by
his mother, Ruth, who also took him to jazz concerts by piano stars including
Art Tatum. From his early years he showed a preference for composing his own pieces
rather than practising other people's. From 1951 until 1954 Walton studied
music and education at the University of Denver, and ran a local trio that got
to accompany such illustrious visitors as Dizzy Gillespie.
He was then drafted
into the army, where he had the opportunity to sit in with Duke Ellington's
orchestra, and to play with the trumpeter/composer Don Ellis and the
saxophonists Leo Wright and Eddie Harris in the 7th Army band while stationed
in Germany.
On his demobilisation and return to the US in 1958, Walton
made his recording debut with the bebop trumpeter and vocalist Kenny Dorham,
playing reservedly but supportively on the album This Is the Moment. The
following year, Walton almost found himself involved in what was to become a
jazz landmark – John Coltrane's Giant Steps –but though he played on the early
takes at Coltrane's invitation, he was absent on tour for the final ones, and
Tommy Flanagan took his place.
Walton was now in demand for the leading young bands
practising the bluesy, viscerally exciting style called hard bop. He worked in
the trombonist JJ Johnson's group from 1958 until 1960, and then alongside the
trumpeter Art Farmer and saxophonist Benny Golson in the elegant Jazztet for a
year. But in 1961, his most significant career choice presented itself, and he
joined the drummer Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers – the doyen of hard bop bands,
with a gospelly energy that sprang directly from Blakey's volatile drumming.
Walton later maintained that playing with Blakey greatly
sharpened his alertness and attentiveness as an accompanist as well as a
soloist. But since the Messengers were an open and evolving jazz workshop that
devoured new original material, this was also an opportunity for Walton the
composer to blossom – and the presence of the trumpet virtuoso Freddie Hubbard
and saxophonist/composer Wayne Shorter in the lineup were added inspirations.
Walton contributed such deviously lyrical themes as Mosaic and Ugetsu to
Blakey's repertoire in his tenure from 1961 to 1964, years in which the Messengers
were at their zestful best.
For a year, he was Abbey Lincoln's accompanist, and recorded
with Lee Morgan from 1966 to 1968. In the mid-1970s he led the funk group
Mobius. He recorded with the popular former Messengers trumpeter Lee Morgan,
worked as a house pianist for Prestige Records, and participated in a tough
bebop band with the saxophonists George Coleman and later Bob Berg that from
1975 took the name Eastern Rebellion. Walton was also a key member of the tenor
saxophonist Clifford Jordan's Magic Triangle group in the mid-70s, and though
he touched on electric music and funk in the same decade, bebop and swing were
closest to his heart and he soon returned to acoustic groups.
He frequently toured with a trio featuring the gracefully
inventive Billy Higgins on drums, an inspiration that helped bring the
pianist's uncliched improvised phrasing to a new level of telling concision. He
made magnificent recordings with lineups from duos to an 11-piece through the
1990s. But Walton also remained an open and willing participant in other
players' ventures, like leading the backup trio for the Trumpet Summit Band,
which started as a project for the 1995 Jazz in Marciac festival in France and cannily
shadowing the London vocalist Ian Shaw on the 1999 album In a New York Minute.
In 2001 Walton released The Promise Land, his debut for
Highnote, which was followed by Latin Tinge in 2002, Underground Memoirs in
2005, and Seasoned Wood with trumpeter Jeremy Pelt in 2008. Walton was joined
by saxophonist Vincent Herring on Voices Deep Within in 2009.
He was named a Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the
Arts in 2010, and his last recording The Bouncer, in 2011, for his trio augmented
by sax and trombone, was a typically nimble canter through the old master's
favourite kinds of jazz.
After a brief illness, Walton died on August 19, 2013, at
his home in Brooklyn, New York, at age 79.
(Edited from John Fordham obit @ The Guardian &
Wikipedia)
Caleb Nathaniel Ginyard Jr. (January 15, 1910 – August 11,
1978), known as Junior Caleb "J. C." Ginyard, was an American gospel
and doo-wop singer and songwriter who performed with various vocal groups
between the 1930s and 1970s, including the Royal Harmony Singers, the
Jubalaires and the Du Droppers.
The Jubalaires
Caleb Nathaniel Ginyard, Junior was born in St. Matthews,
South Carolina. Since he was Caleb Nathaniel, Junior, people took to calling
him "Junior Caleb", and that's where the "J.C." came from. He
sang in his church as a youth before becoming a professional singer as a tenor
(later baritone). He started his singing career as one of the founders of the
Royal Harmony Singers in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1936. They moved to
Philadelphia in 1941. The group worked on the Arthur Godfrey radio show in New
York and later renamed their group as the Jubalaires, appearing in several
movies and shorts. In 1947 Ginyard left the Jubalaires to form a new group, the
Dixieaires, who remained together with a varying membership until the
mid-1950s.
In 1952, Ginyard also formed a secular vocal group the Du
Droppers. The original members were Ginyard on lead, brothers Willie Ray and Harvey Ray on
tenor and baritone, respectively, and Eddie Hashow on bass (who was soon
replaced by Bob Kornegay).They would get together in the basement of his
apartment house at 149th Street and 7th Avenue in Harlem. There was a piano
there and the new group practiced until they felt they were ready to start a
professional career. With the 15 years of experience that Ginyard brought to
the group, they quickly attracted some attention.
They began as a gospel group each member had been in
previous gospel groups (including the Royal Harmony Singers, the Dixie-Aires,
the Jubilaires, and the Southwest Jubilee Group). The Du Droppers began
performing R&B vocal-group songs and soon auditioned for record producer
Bobby Robinson and DJ Joel Turnero, both owners of the Harlem-based label and
record shop Red Robin. Their first record, "Can't Do Sixty No More,"
released by the group in December 1952, was an "answer" record to the
massively popular Dominoes hit, "Sixty Minute Man." It earned the
group instant popularity and airplay, but Red Robin let the Du Droppers slip
through their fingers; soon the group was recording for RCA Victor, one of the
major labels looking to break out in the fast growing field of R&B.
J.C. Ginyard
In mid-March of 1953, their next single, "I Wanna
Know," made a huge impact and climbed to number three. In June 1953, the
Du Droppers released the follow-up to their RCA smash, and "I Found Out
(What You Do When You Go Round There)" climbed to number three on the pop
charts. Both hit records were either
written or co-written by Ginyard. Soon they were embarking on a late-summer
tour of one-nighters through the South with the Joe Morris Blues Cavalcade. Subsequent
singles, however, failed to generate much new interest in the group. In
November, RCA paired the group with pop music singer Sunny Gale for a (now
highly collectable) single, "Mama's Gone Goodbye."
In 1954, the Du Droppers began recording for a new RCA
subsidiary, Groove Records, which was meant to be strictly for R&B acts
signed to the major label. Unfortunately, they failed to improve upon their
track record and subsequent Groove singles saw them slipping from the charts. In
early 1955, Groove attempted to persuade Ravens' vocalist Joe Van Loan to join
the group and help shake things up, but he was already under a personal service
contract with Herald Records; while this was being sorted out, Charlie Hughes
was brought in to sing lead on recordings only, though he wasn't allowed to
perform with the group. In August, the label issued one last single, but soon
thereafter, Junior Ginyard retreated back to gospel music, joining the Golden
Gate Quartet, so the others decided to call it a day.
Ginyard was with the Golden Gate Quartet from 1955 until 1971,
by which time they'd all relocated to Europe. Those years with the Gates
sparked the most brilliant repertoire of Caleb's career. His addition to the
group inspired the hallmark years of the Golden Gate Quartet as well. Due to
failing health he moved to Basel in
Switzerland but continued to and perform as a soloist until his death on August
11, 1978 at the age of 68.
He was married to Janie Elnora, née Flowers in USA having
five children and also to Gunilla in Sweden having two children. A Father and
Son Autobiography of A Spiritual Music Genius was published by Ginyard's son
Caleb Ginyard, III .
(Edited from Wikipedia, doo-wopp blog & Marv Goldberg)
Linda Lawson (January 14, 1936* – May 18, 2022) was an
American actress and singer.
Linda Gloria Spaziani was the first of three
children born to Italian immigrants Maria Cataldi and Edward Spaziani, she was
five years old when her family moved from Michigan to Fontana, California.
After graduating from Chaffey High School, Linda was named Miss Fontana of
1953. She then followed her sister Diana Spaziani to Las Vegas. Linda began her 50-year acting career in 1955 with a short
film for the U.S. government. On May 5, 1955, Lawson was dubbed "Miss
Cue" in reference to a series of nuclear tests conducted by the US
military under "Operation Teapot," and publicized as "Operation
Cue" in a short film distributed by the US Federal Civil Defense
Administration.
She won an audition as a singer and changed her last name to
Lawson on the advice of Louella Parsons and songwriter Jimmy McHugh. She turned
professional and began her music career at the top, and was hired to sing in
the lounge at The Sands Hotel in 1957, where she opened for stars such as Lena
Horn and Frank Sinatra. Linda went on to perform as a singer and dancer in the
larger floor shows, also making singles for the Verve label with an orchestra
arranged and conducted by no less than Henry Mancini. She often referred to her
time in Las Vegas as some of the most cherished years of her life.
Her rising profile led to Introducing Linda Lawson, her
debut album as a singer. Recorded in 1960, with an orchestra arranged and
conducted by the gifted Marty Paich and packed with the finest West Coast jazz
talent, her performance suggested that a successful career in music was hers
for the taking. But acting remained her first love and these recordings are the
only examples of her notable musical ability. In them she combined the highly
complementary skills of singing and acting, splendidly uniting them to tackle
the range of high-quality and demanding material chosen for these sessions.
That she did it with persuasive aplomb is abundantly clear from the results.
She seemed set to make a considerable impact in music, but
instead decided to focus on an acting career. Linda moved to Los Angeles
several years later and got got a job working as a studio messenger at MGM when
she was "discovered" in an elevator and given a screen test. Her
singing and her memorably dark, voluptuous good looks, coupled with some
natural acting ability, led to Lawson getting roles in several television
series, including Alfred Hitchcock Presents; The Alfred Hitchcock Hour;
Maverick starring James Garner, as Clint Eastwood's "other woman" in
the episode "Duel at Sundown"; James Michener's Adventures in
Paradise, as recurring character "Renee" in six episodes; Don't Call
Me Charlie!, in which she portrayed "Pat Perry" for eighteen
episodes; Ben Casey, seen as "Laura Fremont" for nine episodes; M
Squad; Overland Trail, and Wagon Train, co-starring with Raymond Massey as the
princess of a lost Aztec settlement.
Lawson and Telly Savalas in Bonanza
Lawson also appeared in two episodes of Bonanza, It Takes a
Thief, ER; The Virginian, Mr. Lucky, Perry Mason, The Real McCoys, The
Aquanauts, Sea Hunt; Tales of Wells Fargo, 77 Sunset Strip; Hawaiian Eye;
Border Patrol, Colt .45, Peter Gunn, Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer and The Tall
Man among many others. Movie appearances included Sometimes a Great Notion, but her best screen role was in
her second film, as the doomed, tormented Mora in Curtis Harrington's
hauntingly beautiful Night Tide (1961) where she co-starred opposite Dennis
Hopper.
Lawson with Dennis Hopper
She remained busy throughout the 1960s, including a regular
role on Adventures in Paradise for one season, and on series such as The
Virginian, interspersed with occasional feature-film work, and she married
producer John Foreman (1925-1992), who subsequently became business partners
with actor Paul Newman. After the birth of her two daughters, Linda set her
career aside to stay home and devote her time to them. Linda and John were
known for throwing lively and extravagant parties, which were regularly
attended by some of the most fascinating people in Hollywood. Her last major
screen role in Newman's Sometimes a Great Notion (1971).
Lawson was seen again onscreen in the made-for-television
feature Another Woman's Husband (2000) and in a 2005 episode of ER. Animals
were Linda's lasting passion and influenced her decision to become a vegetarian
and to donate to animal charities as often as she could. She died from natural causes at the Motion
Picture and Television Retirement Home in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles on May
18, 2022, at the age of 86. Her death was announced 2 weeks later.
(Edited from Wikipedia, AllMusic, Los Angeles Times &
Fresh Sound Records) (* other sources state 11th January as birth
date)
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