Music History – Sharing History

The Voice

December 12, 2023December 7, 2023UncategorizedLeave a Comment

On December 12, 1915, singer and actor Frank Sinatra was born in Hoboken, New Jersey. A December birthday seems appropriate for this icon, whose Christmas songs remain some of his most streamed. Sinatra, crooner turned swinger, is perhaps the first of a legacy of singer/actors who captivated the hearts and minds of America. Early in his career, he was nicknamed “the Voice” because of his unmatched vocal ability, and it rang true. Sinatra certainly was “the Voice” of the mid-19^th century.

Sinatra was born to Italian-American parents, Dolly and Martin Sinatra, who owned a tavern: Marty O’Brien’s. It was here that Frank got his start singing for crowds. He was inspired as a young man by Bing Crosby and his phrasing, something that Sinatra would come to be known for. Sinatra dropped out of high school to pursue his dream of becoming a singer. In 1939, at age 24, Sinatra was waiting tables and performing at a restaurant when he was discovered by famous trumpeter Harry James. James invited Sinatra to sing with his orchestra, and with that, Sinatra was catapulted into the limelight. His fans loved the way his particular phrasing made his singing seem intimate, as if he was in conversation with each of them individually.

Sinatra began acting in films in the mid-40s, appearing on screen and recording numbers for the soundtracks. He starred in such films as The Manchurian Candidate, From Here to Eternity, and On the Town. During these years, he continued recording, pioneering both the conceptual album and the “celebrity squad” by joining the Rat Pack. The Rat Pack was a group of singers, including Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and Dean Martin, who performed on stage and in movies together. The group starred in the original Ocean’s Eleven in 1960.

Sinatra remains one of the best-selling artists of all time. His influence on the development of pop and rock n’ roll music was enormous. As an icon who influenced generations of artists, the epitaph on his gravestone “The Best is Yet to Come” seems particularly poignant.

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Death of a Dreamer

December 8, 2023December 5, 2023UncategorizedLeave a Comment

On December 8, 1980, music legend John Lennon was shot and killed outside of his New York City apartment. His death, often referred to as “the day the music died,” devastated a generation of fans whose youth, filled with war and strife, had been brightened by the Beatles subversive rock culture. Despite Lennon’s tragic early death, his music and life, both as a member of the Beatles and as a solo artist continue to be extremely influential even now, four decades after his death.

John Lennon was born in Liverpool, England in 1940. In 1964, at the age of 24, Lennon became a household name as a member of the unbelievably popular music group, the Beatles. In part, the Beatles were so popular because their music didn’t sound like anything the world had heard before. Between Lennon’s iconic rock and roll voice and Paul McCartney’s pop vibe, the band created music about love and pleasure. The group became so beloved that Lennon famously stated that the Beatles were “more popular than Jesus now,” which led to religious fanatics burning Beatles albums. Lennon was also an outspoken political activist. He was so passionately opposed to the Vietnam War that the Nixon administration attempted to deport him. But no matter what they did or said, people loved the Beatles. In 1970, the Beatles broke up. John Lennon and wife Yoko Ono spent the next ten years working on music together, releasing albums like “Imagine” and “Double Fantasy,” which have become classics.

On December 8, 1980, Lennon spent the day working with his wife, including participating in a photoshoot with Rolling Stones photographer Annie Leibovitz that produced one of the most iconic photos of Lennon and Ono of all time. That night, Lennon returned home to his apartment in the Dakota in New York City. As he walked up on the building’s entrance, a deranged man emerged from the shadows and shot Lennon four times. Lennon was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. The man who shot Lennon, Mark Chapman, was believed to have done so for fame. He said, “I was nobody until I killed the biggest somebody on earth.” He remains in prison to this day. Forty years after his death, Lennon remains an icon. 2023 saw the Beatles hit 1 billion streams on Spotify, proving that even after all this time, Lennon’s words and music make the world feel something good.

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On This Day: Debussy and His Rêveries

August 22, 2023August 29, 2023European HistoryLeave a Comment

Claude Debussy was born on August 22, 1862 in a western suburb of Paris, Saint-Germain-en-Laye. A musical prodigy, Debussy was inspired by the art and literature of his time to create emotional and inspirational compositions that are still studied and enjoyed by musicians today.

Claude Debussy started to show promise on the piano at the young age of nine. He was enrolled in the Paris Conservatory to study piano and composition. Debussy loved art, music, and poetry and was inspired by them in his works. He drew inspiration from Richard Wagner, Dante Rosetti, Edgar Allen Poe, Claude Monet, Paul Verlaine, and Arthur Rimbaud. Much like the Impressionists and the Symbolists, Debussy’s music rejected traditional modes of composition and uses of instruments. In doing so, Debussy penned iconic works of music such as “Clair de lune,” “La fille aux cheveux de lin,” “La mer,” “Rêverie,” and “Pelléas et Mélisande.”

In 1910, Debussy was interviewed by a New York Times reporter. In their conversation, Debussy asserted, “. . . there will always be an enormous breach between the soul of the man as he is and the soul he puts into his work. A man portrays himself in his work, it is true, but only part of himself. In real life, I cannot live up to the ideals I have in music . . . Everything about [art] is an illusion . . . it neither represents the man who produced it, nor life as it is. Art is a most wonderfully beautiful lie, but it is a lie.” The writer ended the piece by saying, “The interviewer looked at M. Debussy and had great difficulty in not shouting, ‘But M. Debussy, you are the absolute contradiction of what you have been saying!’ For as M. Debussy said that the artist and his work were entirely separated, he spoke with such warmth, he was so carried away, that one felt how the work of the French composer is exactly a reproduction of his soul—a sensitive, delicate soul, yet determined and firm. And at that moment, Debussy the man and Debussy the composer, were but one being.” Learn more here:

January 1935: The King of Rock and Roll is Born

January 7, 2021January 12, 2021UncategorizedLeave a Comment

Happy Birthday Elvis Aaron Presley! One of the most significant figures in music history was born on January 8, 1935 in Tupelo, a small town in northeastern Mississippi.

Elvis Presley’s Birthplace, Angjett at en.wikipedia, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

He was preceded in life by a stillborn twin brother, and spent his early years with his parents, Vernon and Gladys, in a two-room, shotgun house built by his father. He would get his first guitar around age 11 and would become obsessed with music, often playing at school.

What a gift it is to find your talent and passion at such a young age and despite being told to give up on music by both school teachers and music professionals alike in his early years, Elvis pressed on. He began recording music around 1953, and the rest is in actuality history.

Many music greats including John Lennon, Elton John, Rod Stewart and Bruce Springsteen credit Elvis with inspiring them to create music.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. Reproduction Number: LC-USZ6-2067 Location: NYWTS — BIOG, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

In addition to making the famous statement that “Before Elvis, there was nothing,” Lennon also said, “Nothing really affected me until I heard Elvis. If there hadn’t been an Elvis, there wouldn’t have been The Beatles.”

To really understand the magic of Elvis, you have to watch one of his early performances. Youtube has several amazing videos of Elvis singing and dancing in 1956 including this video of Jail House Rock, and another of him singing Hound Dog on The Ed Sullivan Show. These videos really capture the energy and intoxicating nature of his performance style. So many have emulated him since that to our 2021 selves, it seems almost everyday, but when watching the videos, try to remember that he invented this genre, this was literally a first.

Of course, during the conversative social setting of the 1950s, Elvis’ dancing and singing was seen by many as lurid. Elvis himself said of his style, “Some people tap their feet, some people snap their fingers, and some people sway back and forth. I just sorta do ‘em all together, I guess.”

As we know, his adult home, Graceland, in Memphis, Tennessee has become a major tourist destination. I visited Graceland during the late 1990s and I don’t think I was in a place to really appreciate it back then. I remember being shocked by the shag carpet and overly trendy 1960s-era furnishings. I need to go back as a proven and seasoned adult to appreciate better what that home meant to him and to music.

Elvis died of a heart attack at a very young 42 years of age in 1977. His excessive drug use was causative in bringing on an early death. Had he lived, he would be a grandfather in his eighties today, and most certainly would have given us all waves upon waves of additional musical delight.

I think Dolly Parton, my own favorite musical legend, said it best, “If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, then you have accomplished something. Elvis did that and more for me and so many others.”

Happy birthday to the one and only king.

Here are a couple of good resources to help you learn more about Elvis Presley: