Who is your favorite "forgotten singer"?

[Nathan Dodge]

Beverly Kenny. A singer who started her career in Miami at the wonderfully named "Black Magic Room" club and had a few albums during the mid-1950s on Decca. I believe she committed suicide in the aftermath of a failed love affair. She was really good and I'm having a heck of a time finding anything domestically issued of her work.

 

[Fedorista]

I think it would have to be a toss-up between Florence Foster Jenkins and the inimitable Jonathan and Darlene Edwards.

I gotta go with one of yours on this one, Mike.

Darlene.

Her soulful, enchanting covers of "La Vie En Rose" and especially "Stayin' Alive" represent a lyricism from on high.

 

[K.D. Lightner]

When I was a little girl, my mother listened to a popular tunes radio station all day long. This was pre-rock so there were lots of old pop hits with singers like Doris Day, Patti Page, Frankie Laine, Sinatra, Crosby, Kay Starr, Tony Bennett, Theresa Brewer, Rosemary Clooney, Eddie Fisher, Vic Damone, Julius LaRosa, etc., etc.

One of mother's favorite singers was a man with a deep, smooth baritone voice named Vaughn Monroe. He sang the early 50's version of Ghost Riders in the Sky and had lots of radio hits. Mother was in love with him but had never seen him. She envision him with dark wavy hair, bedroomy eyes, big and broad-shouldered, handsome and charismatic. I, too, thought he would probably look like Howard Keel or some more famous baritone singer.

Alas, along came television, which must have did to Vaughn Monroe's career what the talkies did to John Gilbert. The man was rather ordinary looking, not particularly handsome, and no more charismatic than the guy walking down the street. She was so disappointed.

The man did have a lovely voice, though.

karol

 

[dhermann1]

Vaughn Monroe

I like Vaughn Monroe, too. I remember his TV show. He did a nice arrangement of Rum and Coca Cola with the Andrews Sisters. I mentioned to my mother many years ago that I liked a song by him and she said, "Oh, he was considered old fashioned back when I was in college". That was back in 1937 - 41. I think there's an invisible protective shield that things magically pass through when they go from "out of date" to "nostalgic". One person's passe is another person's tres cool.

 

[K.D. Lightner]

Another radio favorite of mine from the late 40's through the fifties was a duo called Les Paul and Mary Ford. They did country music, pop music bordering sometimes on jazz. He was a brilliant guitarist, one of the pioneers of the solid body electric guitar, Gibson even had one named after him. He inspired many rock blues guitarists of today.

Mary Ford had a wonderful smoky, eerie voice, which sounded that way to me because she was one of the first singers to do multi-tracking. They did such hits as Mocking Bird Hill, Vaya Con Dios, Tennesse Waltz (although I think Pattie Page's verson was the more popular one), Tiger Rag, The World is Waiting for the Sunrise, Hummingbird (my favorite) and How High the Moon.

They broke up in the mid-60's, she died in the 70's, and I think he is still alive, past the age of 90!

Then, there was the Queen of Rockabilly, Wanda Jackson, who could shimmy and shake and scream onstage (pre-Janis Joplin), shaking her cowgirl skirts. I liked her because she was so wild, but I think she was a bit before her time and didn't go very far on the hit parade. But, she's still around and was a pioneer.

And you can buy CDs of these folks, so they are not totally forgotten.

karol

 

[Dixon Cannon]

Hey!.... don't forget...

http://mailman.xmission.com/pipermail/exotica/2002-September/006055.html

Peter Lemongello! Now he is a forgotten singer!

-dixon cannon

 

[Fletch]

Buddy Clark, a guy with a friendly, relaxed, hip baritone, who died too young (plane crash, 1949).

 

[HadleyH]

Smith Ballew
Sam Browne

 

[Fletch]

Oh Hadley, if I'd only found you before you got hitched...These are the guys who taught me to sing.

 

[Dixon Cannon]

Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Mama_Thornton

-dixon cannon

 

[ShanghaiJack]

Maxine Sullivan without a doubt.


http://www.eaglesquadrons.com/coppermine/displayimage.php?album=57&pos=20

 

[K.D. Lightner]

I saw Big Mama Thornton on TV some years before she died. I understand she is the person who wrote "Hounddog," which Elvis sang. I hear she never got a dime for it.

You know, when I was a kid, I could never figure out why Elvis was singing that particular song or what it meant. Once I saw Thornton sing it, I realized it is a song that should be sung by a woman about a man.

Here is another blast from the past: How many of you are old enough to remember Your Hit Parade on TV. Watched it every week with my family. The singers were Dorothy Collins, Snooky Lanson, Giselle McKenzie and Russell Arms. At least those were the main singers when I watched it. For some reason, I like Snooky Lanson best. Maybe it was his name.

karol

 

[Nonchalant]

Like Hadley, Smith Ballew is my favorite "forgotten singer." Regardless, I can think of a few others worthy of mention:

Elmer Feldkamp - One of the early crooners, Elmer Feldkamp was a reed man in the dance bands of Bert Lown & Freddy Martin. I wish I knew more about him, but information has been hard to come by. Apparently he died in 1938.


Little Jack Little - Singer, pianist, radio personality, composer, bandleader...
A brief, but very well-written article on "Little" Jack Little can be found here: http://www.mwotrc.com/rr2004_04/littlejack.htm

 

[Fletch]

A brief, but very well-written article on "Little" Jack Little can be found here: http://www.mwotrc.com/rr2004_04/littlejack.htm

...written by our very own LizzieMaine, the go-to gal on all things to do with old-time radio.

I'll add that LJL, tho a native Englishman, emigrated early and mostly grew up in Waterloo, Iowa. His Columbia band was an excellent outfit, organized for him by Mitchell Ayres, who also built bands for Charlie Barnet and other prominent leaders.

Elmer Feldkamp really got around for a few years there in the early '30s, recording with many bands. I recall reading a small item in down beat that his death was due to appendicitis.

Another guy who made about ten gazillion records was Dick Robertson, who could sing just about any type of material "from a low down moan to the boy next door." That's per one of the guys in the Gene Kardos band, where Dick often featured.

 

[dhermann1]

Bill Murray

I just rememberd somebody who's REALLY forgotten. The very first, I mean very first, hit recording artist was a guy named Bill Murray (ca 1880 - 1957). His big hit was "The Little Ford Rambled Right Along" - 1915. It's a great little rumpy tumpy ditty.

 

[J.B.]

Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton...

I went to a concert in 1979 at McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica with Big Mama Thornton and Lightnin' Hopkins both on the bill! (You just knew it was gonna be good! Pee Wee Crayton was the warm-up band!!!)
_________________________________

Anyway, she really isn't "forgotten" in the hearts of her fans but since a "search" for her name draws a blank here on tFL -- I offer...

...Yma Sumac!

Was she the last Inca princess -- directly descended from Atahualpa and abducted by anthropologists fleeing down mountains in the Peruvian Andes dodging Jivaro blo-gun darts???...

...Or, was she just a Jewish housewife from Brooklyn with great shtick???

Her life and her vocals absolutely defy description!!

Her voice (at that time) arguably had a range of five octaves, a range that reached from B1 (the B below low C) to c4. With this range she basically covered from bass to coloratura soprano!!

She is now in her eighties and living here in L.A. Her over-the-edge music during the fifties is now tiki-lounge-cult required listening! Check out her reviews on Amazon.com...

 

[Bret4207]

The voice of Wheatfield Soul; Burton Cummings.

Do you know who he is? Do you know the songs he's penned and sung? You've heard that voice a million times!

Burt is the unsung hero of Rock & Roll. The songs. The voice. Who is Burton Cummings?

-dixon cannon

Burton Cummings= Lead singer for The Guess Who in the early days. Still around and heard on CBC's "Finklemans 45's" recently. Can't recall his hit singles, but there were several.

 

[CharlieH.]

Annette Hanshaw.

And.. how forgotten is George Formby?

 

[LadyStardust]

Smith Ballew
Sam Browne

SAM BROWNE! Oh my gosh, I love him! He truly is forgotten, and shamefully so. He is my favorite voice, he's absolutely brilliant! Incidentally, how did you find out about him? I got interested because I started listening to the Bert Ambrose Orchestra close to half a year ago, and he was a prominent singer in most of the songs, so I did a bit of research to find out who "the lovely voice" was, and voila! his name came up! I can listen to him for ages! Everything is simply perfect! :eusa_clap

 

[LadyStardust]

I just rememberd somebody who's REALLY forgotten. The very first, I mean very first, hit recording artist was a guy named Bill Murray (ca 1880 - 1957). His big hit was "The Little Ford Rambled Right Along" - 1915. It's a great little rumpy tumpy ditty.

Love him also! Oh, such fond memories! I first found out about him close to two years ago, and went slightly mad trying to track down every song he had ever recorded. He has such a funny, fun voice and style of singing, it's a positive delight to listen to him! My favorites of him singing are "On A Beautiful Night" and "San Antonio". He also does a rib-splitting rendition of a little ditty called "The Whole Damn Family". One of the best, most clever songs I have -ever- heard! :eusa_clap