Red Grammer | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Robert Crane Grammer [1] |
Born | East Orange, New Jersey, United States | November 28, 1952
Genres | Children's, folk |
Occupations |
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Instrument | Guitar |
Years active | 1981–present |
Labels |
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Spouse | Kathy Willoughby |
Website | redgrammer |
Robert Crane "Red" Grammer (born November 28, 1952) [2] [3] is an American singer and songwriter.
The East Orange, New Jersey native started college as a pre-med student at Rutgers, but he transferred to Beloit College in Wisconsin, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in music in 1975. After several years of performing as a solo artist, he became a member of the folk group The Limeliters, replacing Glenn Yarborough. He was the guitar-playing lead tenor with the group from 1981 to 1988. [4]
Grammer is best known for his music for children, having recorded songs made up for his young sons. His songs teach human values including truthfulness, gratitude, integrity, kindness, and fairness. His album Be Bop Your Best was nominated in the 2005 Grammy Awards for Best Musical Album for Children. cELLAbration: A Tribute to Ella Jenkins, won a Grammy Award on which Red was a featured performer. [5]
Teaching Peace, named by the All Music Guide as “one of the top five children's recordings of all time”, was the recipient of a rare Parents' Choice Classic Award. [6] Though it did not win any awards the year it was released, it is now considered one of Grammer's best albums. [7]
Other albums for children include: "Circle of Light: Songs for Bucket Fillers", Hello World, Down the Do-Re-Mi, Can You Sound Just Like Me? and "Red Grammer's Favorite Sing-along Songs." Albums for adults are Soul Man in a Techno World and Free Falling.
Grammer has performed in every state in the U.S. as well as in 22 other countries around the world, including China, Russia, Ukraine, and Israel.
He is often a keynote speaker and performer at national and regional educational conferences in the United States and Canada.
Grammer is a member of the Baháʼí Faith.
He met his first wife, Kathy, when they were students at Beloit College. They have two children, including pop singer Andy Grammer.
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Alex Hassilev was an American folk musician who was one of the founding members of the group The Limeliters. Educated at Harvard and the University of Chicago, he was also an actor with a number of film and television appearances to his credit. As a musician he played the guitar and the banjo and was fluent in several languages. After retiring from the Limeliters, Hassilev remained active in the field of record production.
Children's music or kids' music is music composed and performed for children. In European-influenced contexts this means music, usually songs, written specifically for a juvenile audience. The composers are usually adults. Children's music has historically held both entertainment and educational functions. Children's music is often designed to provide an entertaining means of teaching children about their culture, other cultures, good behavior, facts and skills. Many are folk songs, but there is a whole genre of educational music that has become increasingly popular.
Glenn Robertson Yarbrough was an American folk singer and guitarist. He was the lead singer (tenor) with the Limeliters from 1959 to 1963 and also had a prolific solo career. Yarbrough had a restlessness and dissatisfaction with the music industry which led him to question his priorities, later focusing on sailing and the setting up of a school for orphans.
The Limeliters are an American folk music group, formed in July 1959 by Lou Gottlieb, Alex Hassilev (banjo/baritone), and Glenn Yarbrough (guitar/tenor). The group was active from 1959 until 1965, and then after a hiatus of sixteen years, Yarbrough, Hassilev, and Gottlieb reunited and began performing again as The Limeliters in reunion tours. On a regular basis, a continuation of The Limeliters group is still active and performing. Gottlieb died in 1996, Yarbrough died in 2016, and Hassilev died in 2024. Hassilev, the last founding member, who had remained active in the group, retired in 2006, leaving the group to carry on without any of the original members.
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