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You’re Driving Me Crazy
"You’re Driving Me Crazy" is an American popular song composed (music and lyrics) by Walter Donaldson in 1930 and recorded the same year by Lee Morse, Rudy Vallée & His Connecticut Yankees and Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians (with vocal by Carmen Lombardo). The composition will enter the public domain on January 1, 2026. Successful recordings The song became a hit and was added to the 1930 musical comedy ''Smiles'', starring Marilyn Miller and Fred and Adele Astaire. It was recorded in 1930 by McKinney's Cotton Pickers and by Nick Lucas & His Crooning Troubadors. Nick Lucas's version, released on Brunswick, was a No. 7 hit: Brunswick 4987 (E-35404). Other popular artists issuing recording of this hit that same year included Rudy Vallée, Gene Austin and Guy Lombardo. The chords of "You're Driving Me Crazy" form the basis for Bennie Moten's great "Moten Swing." In 1931, cartoon character Betty Boop sang a sexy version of the song in the pre-code cartoon ''Silly Scand ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rudy Vallée
Hubert Prior Vallée (July 28, 1901 – July 3, 1986), known professionally as Rudy Vallée, was an American singer, saxophonist, bandleader, actor, and entertainer. He was the first male singer to rise from local radio broadcasts in New York City to national popularity as a crooner. Early life Vallée was born in Island Pond, Vermont on July 28, 1901, the son of Catherine Lynch and Charles Alphonse Vallée. His maternal grandparents were English and Irish, while his paternal grandparents were French Canadians from Quebec. He grew up in Westbrook, Maine. On March 29, 1917, he enlisted in the US Navy in Portland, Maine to fight in World War I, but authorities discovered he was only 15 and had given the false birth date of July 28, 1899. He was discharged at the Naval Training Station in Newport, Rhode Island on May 17, 1917, after 41 days of active service. Career Music After playing drums in his high school band, Vallée played clarinet and saxophone in bands around New E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday made significant contributions to jazz music and pop music, pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly influenced by jazz instrumentalists, inspired a new way of manipulating Phrase (music), phrasing and tempo. Holiday was known for her vocal delivery and Jazz improvisation, improvisational skills. After a turbulent childhood, Holiday began singing in nightclubs in Harlem where she was heard by producer John Hammond (record producer), John Hammond, who liked her voice. Holiday signed a recording contract with Brunswick Records, Brunswick in 1935. Her collaboration with Teddy Wilson produced the hit "What a Little Moonlight Can Do", which became a jazz standard. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, Holiday had mainstream success on labels such as Columbia Records, Columbia and Decca Records, Decca. H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cab Calloway
Cabell "Cab" Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was a regular performer at the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he became a popular vocalist of the Swing music, swing era. His niche of mixing jazz and vaudeville won him acclaim during a career that spanned over 65 years. Calloway was a master of energetic scat singing and led one of the most popular Big band, dance bands in the United States from the early 1930s to the late 1940s. His band included trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie, Jonah Jones, and Doc Cheatham, Adolphus "Doc" Cheatham, saxophonists Ben Webster and Leon "Chu" Berry, guitarist Danny Barker, bassist Milt Hinton, and drummer Cozy Cole. Calloway had several hit records in the 1930s and 1940s, becoming the first African-American musician to sell one million copies of a record. He became known as the "Hi-de-ho" man of jazz for his most famous song, "Minnie the Moocher", originally recorded in 1931. He reached t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Screen Songs
''Screen Songs'' (formerly known as ''KoKo Song Car-Tunes'') are a series of animated cartoons produced at the Fleischer Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures between 1929 and 1938. Paramount brought back the sing-along cartoons in 1945, now in color, and released them regularly through 1951. Two of Paramount's one-shot cartoons quietly revived the format later: ''Candy Cabaret'' (1954) and ''Hobo's Holiday'' (1963). History The ''Screen Songs'' are a continuation of the earlier Fleischer series '' Song Car-Tunes'' in color. They are sing-along shorts featuring the famous " bouncing ball", a sort of precursor to modern karaoke videos. They often featured popular melodies of the day. The early Song Car-Tunes were among the earliest sound films, produced two years before '' The Jazz Singer''. They were largely unknown at the time because their release was limited to the chain of 36 theaters operated by The Red Seal Pictures Company, which was equipped with the early Le ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fleischer Studios
Fleischer Studios () was an American animation studio founded in 1929 by brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, who ran the pioneering company from its inception until its acquisition by Paramount Pictures in 1942, the parent company and the distributor of its films. In its prime, Fleischer Studios was a premier producer of animated cartoons for theaters, with Walt Disney Productions being its chief competitor in the 1930s. Fleischer Studios included '' Out of the Inkwell'' and '' Talkartoons'' characters like, Koko the Clown, Betty Boop, Bimbo, Popeye the Sailor, and Superman. Unlike other studios, whose characters were anthropomorphic animals, the Fleischers' most successful characters were humans (with the exception of Bimbo, a black-and-white cartoon dog, and Betty Boop, who started off as an anthropomorphized dog, but evolved into a human). The cartoons of the Fleischer Studio were very different from those of Disney, both in concept and in execution. As a result, they wer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Temperance Seven
The Temperance Seven is a British band originally active in the 1950s, specialising in 1920s-style jazz music. They were known for their surreal performances. Career The Temperance Seven was founded at Christmas 1955 by students at the Chelsea School of Art, though the band mythologized its foundation as dating from 1904 at the fictitious Pasadena Cocoa Rooms, Balls Pond Road, North London. The three founder members were Paul McDowell (who originally played trombone), Philip Harrison (who originally played banjo) and Brian Innes (drums). Gradually the band evolved into a nine-piece ensemble with a light-hearted and humorous performing style, although they were all serious musicians. The name "Temperance Seven" was suggested by Dougie Gray, of the Alberts. In 1960, they recorded "Ukulele Lady" with vocal refrain by Peter Sellers, produced by George Martin. It was featured on Parlophone PMC 1131, a 12-inch album called ''Peter and Sophia'' (Loren). In 1961, the Temperan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lester Young
Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959), nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist. Coming to prominence while a member of Count Basie's orchestra, Young was one of the most influential players on his instrument. In contrast to many of his hard-driving peers, Young played with a relaxed, cool tone and used sophisticated harmonies, using what one critic called "a free-floating style, wheeling and diving like a gull, banking with low, funky riffs that pleased dancers and listeners alike". Known for his hip, introverted style, he invented or popularized much of the hipster jargon which came to be associated with the music. Early life and career Lester Young was born in Woodville, Mississippi, on August 27, 1909, to Lizetta Young (née Johnson), and Willis Handy Young, originally from Louisiana. Lester had two siblings – a brother, Leonidas Raymond, known as Lee Young, who became a drummer, and a sister, Irm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sarah Vaughan
Sarah Lois Vaughan (, March 27, 1924 – April 3, 1990) was an American jazz singer and pianist. Nicknamed "Sassy" and "List of nicknames of jazz musicians, The Divine One", she won two Grammy Awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, and was nominated for a total of nine Grammy Awards. She was given an NEA Jazz Masters Award in 1989. Critic Scott Yanow wrote that she had "one of the most wondrous voices of the 20th century". Early life Vaughan was born in Newark, New Jersey, to Asbury "Jake" Vaughan, a carpenter by trade who played guitar and piano, and Ada Vaughan, a laundress who sang in the church choir, migrants from Virginia. The Vaughans lived in a house on Brunswick Street in Newark for Vaughan's entire childhood. Jake was deeply religious. The family was active in New Mount Zion Baptist Church at 186 Thomas Street. Vaughan began piano lessons at the age of seven, sang in the church choir, and played piano for rehearsals and services. Sarah and her family were a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mel Tormé
Melvin Howard Tormé (September 13, 1925 – June 5, 1999), nicknamed "the Velvet Fog", was an American musician, singer, composer, arrangement, arranger, drummer, actor, and author. He composed the music for "The Christmas Song" ("Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire") and co-wrote the lyrics with Robert Wells (songwriter), Bob Wells. Tormé won two Grammy Awards and was nominated a total of 14 times. Early life and education Melvin Howard Tormé was born in Chicago, Illinois, to William David Tormé (born Wowe Torma, also spelled as Tarme or Tarmo), a History of the Jews in Poland, Polish Jewish immigrant from Brest, Belarus, Brest (now Belarus), and Sarah "Betty" Tormé (''née'' Sopkin), a New York City native. Named after the actor Melvyn Douglas, Tormé grew up in a home filled with music and entertainment. His father, whom he recalled as having the pure voice of a cantor, had been an amateur dancer in his youth. His aunt Faye Tormé had risen to local fame in Chicago, where, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century, most popular entertainers of the 20th century. Sinatra is among the List of best-selling music artists, world's best-selling music artists, with an estimated 150 million record sales globally. Born to Italian Americans, Italian immigrants in Hoboken, New Jersey, Sinatra began his musical career in the swing era and was influenced by the easy-listening vocal style of Bing Crosby. He joined the Harry James band as the vocalist in 1939 before finding success as a solo artist after signing with Columbia Records in 1943, becoming the idol of the "Bobby-soxer, bobby soxers". In 1946, Sinatra released his debut album, ''The Voice of Frank Sinatra''. He then signed with Capitol Records and released several albums wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dinah Shore
Dinah Shore (born Frances Rose Shore; February 29, 1916 – February 24, 1994) was an American singer, actress, television personality, and the chart-topping female vocalist of the 1940s. She rose to prominence as a recording artist during the Big Band era. She achieved even greater success a decade later in television, mainly as the host of a series of variety programs for the Chevrolet automobile company. After failing singing auditions for the bands of Benny Goodman, and both Jimmy Dorsey, Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, Shore struck out on her own. She became the first singer of her era to achieve huge solo success. She had a string of eighty charted popular hits, spanning from 1940 to 1957, and after appearing in a handful of feature films, she went on to a four-decade career in American television. She starred in her own music and variety shows from 1951 through 1963 and hosted two talk shows in the 1970s. TV Guide ranked her at number 16 on their list of the top 50 television st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
