Fran Frey (December 23, 1903 in Indiana - December 1, 1962 in California) was a singer [1] [2] and saxophonist best known for his work for George Olsen and His Music in the 1920s and early 1930s. [3] Among his better known songs are "The Varsity Drag" of 1927; [4] "Big City Blues" of 1929, and "A Garden in the Rain", also of 1929. Frey sang on 77 songs with the George Olsen band on recordings and on the radio. [5] "Who?" sold more than a million copies. [6] [7]
Frey was heard on the Oldsmobile Program on CBS radio in 1933. [8]
Although he played for several other bands after Olsen's, including Victor Young's, [9] he never achieved the level of fame he had in earlier years. [10] [11]
Frey died of a heart attack in his home on December 2, 1962 at the age of 58. At the time of his death, he was writing music for the Ice Capades and for Columbia Pictures. [12] [13]
Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe, known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer. Morton was jazz's first arranger, proving that a genre rooted in improvisation could retain its essential characteristics when notated. His composition "Jelly Roll Blues", published in 1915, was one of the first published jazz compositions. He also claimed to have invented the genre.
Delta blues is one of the earliest-known styles of blues. It originated in the Mississippi Delta and is regarded as a regional variant of country blues. Guitar and harmonica are its dominant instruments; slide guitar is a hallmark of the style. Vocal styles in Delta blues range from introspective and soulful to passionate and fiery.
Lucille Nelson Hegamin was an American singer and entertainer and an early African-American blues recording artist.
Mildred Bailey was a Native American jazz singer during the 1930s, known as "The Queen of Swing", "The Rockin' Chair Lady" and "Mrs. Swing". She recorded the songs "For Sentimental Reasons", "It's So Peaceful in the Country", "Doin' The Uptown Lowdown", "Trust in Me", "Where Are You?", "I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart", "Small Fry", "Please Be Kind", "Darn That Dream", "Rockin' Chair", "Blame It on My Last Affair", and "Says My Heart". She had three records that reached number one on the popular charts.
Donald Hugh Henley is an American musician, and a founding member of the rock band Eagles, for whom he is the drummer and one of the lead vocalists, as well as the sole continuous member of the band. Henley sang the lead vocals on Eagles hits such as "Witchy Woman", "Desperado", "Best of My Love", "One of These Nights", "Hotel California", "Life in the Fast Lane", "The Last Resort", "The Long Run" and "Get Over It".
Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the West and South among the region's Western string bands. It is dance music, often with an up-tempo beat, which attracted huge crowds to dance halls and clubs in Texas, Oklahoma and California during the 1930s and 1940s until a federal war-time nightclub tax in 1944 contributed to the genre's decline.
Sam Chatmon was a Delta blues guitarist and singer. He was a member of the Mississippi Sheiks. He may have been Charley Patton's half-brother.
Eagles is the debut studio album by American rock band the Eagles. The album was recorded at London's Olympic Studios with producer Glyn Johns and released in 1972. The album was an immediate success for the young band, reaching No. 22 on the charts and going platinum. Three singles were released from the album, each reaching the Top 40: "Take It Easy", "Witchy Woman", and "Peaceful Easy Feeling". The band, starting with this album, played a major role in popularizing the country rock sound.
One of These Nights is the fourth studio album by the Eagles, released in 1975. In July that year, the record became the Eagles' first number one album on Billboard's album chart, yielding three Top 10 singles: "One of These Nights", "Lyin' Eyes" and "Take It to the Limit". Its title song is the group's second number one single on the Billboard Hot 100. The album sold four million copies and was nominated for Grammy Album of the Year. A single from the album, "Lyin' Eyes", was also nominated for Record of the Year, and won the Eagles' first Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.
George Edward Olsen Sr. was an American musician and bandleader.
The Memphis Jug Band was an American musical group active from the mid-1920s to the late-1950s. The band featured harmonica, kazoo, fiddle and mandolin or banjolin, backed by guitar, piano, washboard, washtub bass and jug. They played slow blues, pop songs, humorous songs and upbeat dance numbers with jazz and string band flavors. The band made the first commercial recordings in Memphis, Tennessee, and recorded more sides than any other prewar jug band.
Homesick James (April 30, 1910 – December 13, 2006 was an American blues musician known for his mastery of the slide guitar. He worked with his cousin, Elmore James, and with Sonny Boy Williamson II.
"Matchbox" is a song written and recorded by Carl Perkins and released in 1957. Blind Lemon Jefferson wrote and recorded a song entitled "Match Box Blues" in 1927, which is musically different but which contains some lyric phrases in common.
Hudson Whittaker, known as Tampa Red, was an American Chicago blues musician.
William Shade Jr., known as Will Shade, was a Memphis blues musician, best known for his leadership of the Memphis Jug Band. He was commonly called Son Brimmer, a nickname from his grandmother Annie Brimmer. The name apparently stuck when other members of the band noticed that the sun bothered him and he used the brim of a hat to shade his eyes.
Irving "Babe" Russin was an American tenor saxophone player.
The Little Show was a musical revue with lyrics by Howard Dietz and music by Arthur Schwartz. It was the first of 11 musicals that featured the songs of Dietz and Schwartz. The revue opened at the Music Box Theatre on Broadway on April 30, 1929 and ran for 321 performances until February 1930.
James "Stump" Johnson was an American blues pianist and singer from St. Louis.