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Harry Belafonte is an American singer, activist, and actor. As arguably the most successful Jamaican-American pop star, he popularized the Trinbagonian Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s. His breakthrough album Calypso (1956) was the first million-selling LP by a single artist.
Porgy and Bess is an English-language opera by American composer George Gershwin, with a libretto written by author DuBose Heyward and lyricist Ira Gershwin. It was adapted from Dorothy Heyward and DuBose Heyward's play Porgy, itself an adaptation of DuBose Heyward's 1925 novel of the same name.
Brock Peters was an American actor and singer, best known for playing the villainous "Crown" in the 1959 film version of Porgy and Bess, and the wrongfully convicted Tom Robinson in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird. He was nominated for a Tony Award and won a Drama Desk Award and an Outer Critics Circle Award for his lead performance as Rev. Stephen Kumalo in the 1972 Broadway revival of Lost in the Stars. His film roles also included The Pawnbroker (1964), Soylent Green (1973) and Ghosts of Mississippi (1996). In the 1980s and 1990s he voiced the role of Darth Vader in the serial radio drama adaptations of the original trilogy of Star Wars films, and played two recurring roles in the Star Trek franchise: Starfleet Admiral Cartwright in two of the original-cast feature films, and Joseph Sisko in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Anne Brown was an American soprano who created the role of "Bess" in the original production of George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess in 1935. She was also a radio and concert singer. She settled in Norway in 1948 and later became a Norwegian citizen.
The Chad Mitchell Trio, later known as The Mitchell Trio, were an American vocal group who became known during the 1960s. They performed traditional folk songs and some of John Denver's early compositions. They were particularly notable for performing satirical songs that criticized current events during the time of the Cold War, the civil rights movement, and the Vietnam War.
Decca Presents Selections from George Gershwin's folk opera Porgy and Bess consists of two volumes of records, the first from 1940, and the next from 1942.
This 1951 recording of George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess was the first "complete" recording of the work from beginning to end, not a series of selections of popular songs from the work.
Porgy and Bess, the opera by George Gershwin, has been recorded by a variety of artists since it was completed in 1935, including renditions by jazz instrumentalists and vocalists, in addition to operatic treatments.
Conrad Henry Kirnon known professionally as Connie Kay, was an American jazz and R&B drummer, who was a member of the Modern Jazz Quartet.
Milton Theodore Okun was an American arranger, record producer, conductor, singer and founder of Cherry Lane Music Publishing Company, Inc. Okun transformed the careers of a dozen or more major U.S. artists who under Okun's tutelage became some of the most successful musical acts of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. A special on PBS alludes to Okun as one of the most influential music producers in history. His career lasted over 50 years, from the folk revival to the twenty-first century.
Sir Willard Wentworth White, OM, CBE is a Jamaican-born British operatic bass baritone.
Robert Romeo De Cormier Jr., sometimes known as Robert Corman, was an American musical conductor, arranger, and director. He arranged music for many singers and groups, including Harry Belafonte and Peter, Paul and Mary, and worked with Milt Okun.
Jay Berliner is an American guitarist who has worked with Harry Belafonte, Ron Carter, Charles Mingus, and Van Morrison, among others.
Bruce Hubbard was an American operatic baritone. A Drama Desk and Laurence Olivier Award nominee for Best Actor, he performed on Broadway, the Metropolitan Opera, BBC television, in concert and made several recordings. He is most famous for appearing as Joe in Show Boat, and as Jake, as well as Porgy, in Porgy and Bess on Broadway, the West End, and in several major opera houses and regional theatres. He graduated from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
Gloria Davy was a Swiss soprano of American birth who had an active international career in operas and concerts from the 1950s through the 1980s. A talented spinto soprano, she was widely acclaimed for her portrayal of the title role in Giuseppe Verdi's Aida; a role she performed in many of the world's top opera houses. She was notably the first black artist to perform the role of Aida at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in 1958. While she performed a broad repertoire, she was particularly admired for her interpretations of 20th-century music, including the works of Richard Strauss, Benjamin Britten and Paul Hindemith.
"Bess, You Is My Woman Now" is a duet with music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward. This song comes from the Gershwins' opera Porgy and Bess (1935) where it is sung by the main character Porgy and his beloved Bess. They express their love for each other and say that they now belong together.
The Belafonte Folk Singers were a vocal group who were active from 1957 to 1965. They were named after singer Harry Belafonte, for whom they originally formed in order to serve as a backing group for recording and concerts. The group was mostly led and conducted by Robert De Cormier, also billed as Bob Corman. Milt Okun sometimes conducted the group as well.
Andrew Benny Frierson was an American operatic baritone and music educator. He was part of the first generation of black opera singers to achieve success and is viewed as part of an instrumental group of performers who helped break down the barriers of racial prejudice in the opera world. In 2000 he was the recipient of the Legacy Award by the National Opera Association, an award given annually to recognize the contributions made by African-American artists to opera in America.
Porgy & Bess Revisited, subtitled Played by a Very Unusual Cast, is an album of jazz interpretations of songs from the George Gershwin opera Porgy and Bess performed by cornetist Rex Stewart and trumpeter Cootie Williams, with saxophonists Hilton Jefferson and Pinky Williams and trombonist Lawrence Brown, that was recorded in late 1958 and released on the Warner Bros. label.
Lorenzo Dow Fuller Jr. was an American singer, musician, actor, and musical director. He was an original cast member of Finian's Rainbow and Kiss Me, Kate, and in the radio show Van and the Genie was the first male African-American actor to star opposite a white woman. His television show Musical Miniatures was also the first to be fronted by a black performer.
References
- Sparks, Richard, and Okun, Milt, (2011), Along the Cherry Lane: Tales from the Life of Music Industry Legend Milton Okun, Classical Music Today, LLC, Beverly Hills, CA
- Carson, Johnny, (1962), Liner notes, on The Phoenix Singers, LP Record, Warner Bros. 1485.
- The Phoenix Singers. (1962). The Phoenix Singers,. [LP record]., Warner Bros.1485
- The Phoenix Singers. (1964 ?). The Phoenix Singers in Concert,. [LP record]., Warner Bros. 1522
