Music Archives - Page 35 of 35

Gwen Verdon

Gwyneth Evelyn “Gwen” Verdon was an American actor and dancer, who won four Tony Awards for her musical comedy performances, and served as an uncredited choreographer’s assistant and specialty dance coach for theater and film. Known for her bright red hair and a quaver in her voice, Verdon was a celebrated performer on Broadway from the 1950s through the 1970s. Having originated many roles in musicals she is also remembered as the dancer, collaborator and muse for whom her husband director–choreographer Bob Foss choreographed much of his work, and who guarded his legacy after his death.

Mercedes Sosa

Haydée Mercedes Sosa was an Argentine singer popular throughout Latin America and beyond. With roots in Argentine folk music, Sosa became one of the leading proponents of nueva canción, a genre that combines folk styles with social issue messages. Her repertoire including songs written by many Latin American songwriters, and she was called the “voice of the voiceless ones”.
Sosa performed in venues such as the Lincoln Center in New York City, the Théâtre Mogador in Paris and the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City, as well as selling out shows in New York’s Carnegie Hall and the Roman Colosseum during the last decade of her life. Her career spanned more than 40 years and she won six Latin Grammy awards (2000, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2011), including a Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004 and two posthumous Latin Grammy Award for Best Folk Album in 2009 and 2011. She won Argentina’s leading music award, the Premio Gardel in 2000. She also served as an ambassador for UNICEF.

Mary Morello

Mary Morello is an American activist who founded anti-censorship group Parents for Rock and Rap in 1987, which earned her the Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award in Arts and Entertainment in 1996. In the 1960s, Morello was involved in the US civil rights movement and the NAACP; she is also a long-time activist for the Chicago Urban League. In 1991, Morello began volunteering with the Salvation Army Rehabilitation Center in Waukegan, Illinois, teaching adult literacy. She was involved in the Cuba Coalition in Chicago, which works toward lifting the U.S. embargo against Cuba. Morello is also known for advocating in 1999 on behalf of death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal, convicted (possibly wrongly) of the 1982 shooting of a Philadelphia police officer. His death sentence was overturned by a Federal court in 2001

Ilma de Murska

Known as “The Croatian Nightingale”, Ilma de Murska was an acclaimed 19th-century soprano opera singer. Her musical style was uninhibited and unrestrained – as she tended to depart from the score in fantastic improvisations, conductors would have to hold back the orchestra’s crescendo until she was ready. The fact that she could get away with this – to lead rather than follow – spoke to the power of her popularity and skill, further endearing her to her audiences.

Yvette Guilbert

Yvette Guilbert was a French cabaret singer and actress of the Belle Époque, who also starred in several early films, from 1919 to 1936. Onstage, she usually dressed in bright yellow with long gloves, standing almost perfectly still, gesturing with her long arms as she sang. Ahead of her time, she favored monologue-style “patter songs” and was frequently billed as a “diseuse” or “sayer”. The lyrics (often her own) were raunchy, and delved into subjects like tragedy, lost love, and the Parisian poverty of her childhood. Guilbert broke and reinvented the rules of music hall performance with her audacious lyrics, and the audiences loved her. She was acclaimed in France, England, and the United Statesin the early 1900s for her songs and imitations of France’s common people.

Sylvia Townsend Warner

Sylvia Townsend Warner was an English musicologist, novelist and poet, known for works such as the novels Lolly Willowes and After the Death of Don Juan, the poetry collection Whether a Dove or a Seagull and several short story collections. She also served in the Red Cross during the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s.

Mistinguett

French actress and singer Jeanne Florentine Bourgeois made her debut as Mistinguett at the Casino de Paris in 1895 and went on to appear in venues like the Folies Bergère, Moulin Rouge and Eldorado. With risqué routines that captivated Paris, she would become the most popular French entertainer of her time and the highest-paid female entertainer in the world, known for her flamboyance and flair for the theatrical. In 1919 her legs were insured for 500,000 francs.
She first recorded her signature song, “Mon Homme”, in 1916; it was subsequently popularised under its English title “My Man” by Fanny Brice and has become a standard in the repertoire of numerous pop and jazz singers.

Laura Wentworth Fowler

“No woman is better known in Boston’s musical and club circles than Laura Wentworth Fowler.”

A C Bilbrew

Known as Madame A. C. Bilbrew, A. C. Harris Bilbrew was an American poet, musician, composer, playwright, clubwoman, and radio personality who lived in South Los Angeles. In 1923, she became the first black soloist to sing on a Los Angeles radio program. In the early 1940s, she hosted the city’s first African-American radio music program, The Gold Hour. LA County Library’s Willowbrook branch is named in her honor.