Big Bill Broonzy (June 26, 1893 or 1898 - August 15, 1958) was a prolific United States composer, recorder and performer of blues songs. "Big Bill" was born William Lee Conley Broonzy in Scott County, Mississippi on June 26, 1893 or 1898 (the exact year is unclear). While Broonzy himself claimed to be born in 1893, another source claims that Broonzy had a twin sister named Lannie Broonzy who had proof they were born on June 26, 1898.

Victoria Spivey (1906-1976) was an American blues singer. She was born October 15, 1906, the daughter of Grant and Addie (Smith) Spivey. Her father was a part-time musician and a flag-man for the railroad; her mother was a nurse. Her sister, Addie "Sweet Pease" Spivey was also a singer and musician who recorded for several major labels between 1929 and 1937. Victoria Spivey's first professional experience was in a family string band led by her father in Houston, Texas.

Ben Bernie (1891-1943) was an American jazz violinist and radio personality. He was born Bernard Anzelevitz in Bayonne, New Jersey. By the age of 15 he was teaching violin, but this experience apparently diminished his interest in the violin for a time. He returned to music doing vaudeville, appearing with Phil Baker as "Baker and Bernie", but met with little success until 1922.

Frederic Efrem "Fred" Rich was a Polish-born United States bandleader and composer who was active from the 1920s to the 1950s. Among the famous musicians in his band included the Dorsey Brothers, Joe Venuti, Bunny Berigan and Benny Goodman. In the early 1930s, Elmer Feldkamp was one of his vocalists. Fred Rich was born in Warsaw, Poland. Rich was a pianist and he formed his own band in the 1920s.

Charley Jordan (January 1, 1890 - November 15, 1954) was a Saint Louis blues singer, songwriter and guitarist, as well as a talent scout, originally from Mabelvale, Arkansas. He was known for a unique style that drew on his rural roots. Jordan recorded numerous singles for Vocalion and Decca between 1930 and 1937, and also performed with some well-regarded bluesmen from the 1920s to the 1940s.

Richard Ewing "Dick" Powell was an American singer, actor, producer, and director. Born in Mountain View, Arkansas, Powell attended Little Rock College in Arkansas, before starting his entertainment career as a singer in his own band. He recorded a number of records for the Vocalion label in the late 1920s. In April 1930, Warner Bros. bought up Brunswick Records, which at that time owned Vocalion. Warner Bros.

H. C. Speir (born Henry C. Speir in Prospect, Mississippi, October 6, 1895; d. Jackson, Mississippi, 1972) was an American "talent broker" and record store owner from Jackson, Mississippi. He was responsible for launching the recording careers of most of the greatest Mississippi blues musicians in the 1920s and 1930s. Speir was a white businessman who ran a music and furniture store on Farish Street, in Jackson's black neighborhood.

Aileen Stanley (1897 - 24 March, 1982) was a United States popular singer. Stanley was born as Maude Elsie Aileen Muggeridge in Chicago, Illinois. In her childhood, with the urging of her widowed mother, she and her older brother Stanley sang and danced in vaudeville as Stanley and Aileen. After her brother left the act she started performing solo, forming her stage name by reversing the name of the old family billing.

Theodore Roosevelt Darby, better known as Blind Teddy Darby (born March 2, 1902 in Henderson, Kentucky; date of death unknown) was an American blues singer and guitarist. He recorded from 1929 until 1937 under the names of "Blind Teddy Darby", "Blind Darby", "Blind Blues Darby" and "Blind Squire Turner" for the Paramount, Victor, Bluebird, Vocalion and Decca labels. In 1960 he was "rediscovered" and recorded by Pete Welding of Testament Records, …

Richard Himber (20 February, 1900 - 11 December, 1966) was an American bandleader, composer, violinist, magician and practical joker. He was born as Herbert Richard Imber in Newark, New Jersey to the owner of a chain of meat stores. His parents gave him violin lessons, but when they found him performing in a seedy Newark dive, they took the instrument away from him and sent him to military school. In 1915, he stole away into New York City, …

Clifford "Grandpappy" Gibson (April 17, 1901 - December 21, 1963) was an influential American blues singer and guitarist. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, he moved to St. Louis in the 1920s and lived there for the rest of his life. He played in St. Louis clubs, and in 1929 began recording for the QRS and Vocalion labels. He is regarded as one of the earliest urban blues performers, with no pronounced rural influences. His guitar playing style resembled that of Lonnie Johnson, …

Ernie Fields was an African-American trombonist, pianist, arranger and bandleader. From the late 1920s, he led a band in the Tulsa, Oklahoma area called the Royal Entertainers, and eventually began touring more widely, and recording. In 1939, he was invited to New York by John Hammond to record for the Vocalion label. He did not become a star, but continued to work steadily, recording for smaller labels, …

Edna Hicks (October 14 1895 - August 16 1925) was an American blues singer and musician. Born Edna Landreaux in New Orleans, she was the half sister of Lizzie Miles. She is believed to have moved north in her mid-teens. Popular in Black vaudeville in the American midwest in the late 1910s and 1920s, she appeared often in Chicago and Cincinnati, and made recordings for seven different record labels in 1923 and 1924: Victor, Vocalion, Columbia, Gennett, Brunswick, Ajax, …

A blind vocalist and guitarist from Louisiana, Alcide "Blind Uncle" Gaspard alternated between string-band music (in a band with his brothers) and traditional Cajun balladry on his recordings for Vocalion. Born in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, in 1880, Gaspard formed his first band with his brothers Victor and Amade. When he began recording in the late 1920s though, it was as a backing guitarist for fiddler Delma Lachney. He also recorded on his own at the same sessions.

Alger "Texas" Alexander (September 12, 1900 - April 16, 1954) was a Blues singer from Jewett, Texas. A short man with a big, deep voice, Alexander started his career performing on the streets and at local parties and picnics in the Brazos River bottomlands, where he sometimes worked with Blind Lemon Jefferson. In 1927 he began a recording career that continued into the 1930s, recording sides for the Okeh and Vocalion labels in New York City, San Antonio, and Fort Worth.

Bo Weavil Jackson (dates and places of birth and death unknown, real name believed to be James Jackson), was an Afro-American blues singer and guitarist. He recorded as one of the first country bluesmen in 1926 for the Paramount and Vocalion labels, on the latter under the name of Sam Butler. His 78 rpm records are highly sought by collectors and have been numerously re-released on LP and CD compilation albums.

Ida Cox (October, 1890-10 November, 1967) was a popular African American singer, best known for her Blues performances and recordings. Cox was born October, 1890, although historically listed as February, 1896), as Ida Prather in Toccoa, Habersham County, Georgia (Toccoa was in Habersham County, not yet Stephens County at the time), the daughter of Lamax and Susie (Knight) Prather, and grew up in Cedartown, Georgia, …

Big Walter "Shakey" Horton was an American blues harmonica player. Born Walter Horton in Horn Lake, Mississippi, he was playing a harmonica by the time he was five years old. In his early teens, he lived in Memphis, Tennessee and claimed that his earliest recordings were done there in the late 1920s with the Memphis Jug Band, although there is no documentation, and many have since disputed this claim.

Clarence Smith, better known as Pinetop Smith or Pine Top Smith (11 June, 1904 - 15 March, 1929) was an influential American boogie-woogie style jazz pianist.

Charles Edward "Cow Cow" Davenport was an American boogie woogie piano player. He also played the organ and sang. He was born in Anniston, Alabama. Arnold Caplin, on the liner notes to the LP "Hot Pianos 1926-1940" reports that Mr. Davenport started playing the piano at age 12. His family objected strongly to his musical aspirations and sent him to a theological seminary, where he was expelled for playing ragtime.

Leroy Carr was an American blues singer, songwriter and pianist who developed a laid-back, crooning technique and whose popularity and style influenced artists like Nat King Cole and Ray Charles. He first became famous for "How Long, How Long Blues" on Vocalion Records in 1928 for which he wrote the music.

Robert Brown, known professionally as Washboard Sam, was an American blues singer and musician. Reputedly the half-brother of Big Bill Broonzy, Brown moved to Memphis in the 1920s, performing as a street musician with Sleepy John Estes and Hammie Nixon. He then moved to Chicago in 1932, performing regularly with Broonzy, …

Buddy Clark (July 26, 1911 - October 1, 1949) was a popular singer in the 1930s and 1940s. Clark was born Samuel Goldberg to Jewish parents in Dorchester, Massachusetts. He made his Big Band singing debut in 1934 with Benny Goodman on the "Let's Dance" radio program. In 1936 he started to perform on the show, Your Hit Parade, and lasted until 1938. In the mid-1930s he signed with Vocalion Records, …

Buddy Clark (July 26, 1911 - October 1, 1949) was a popular singer in the 1930s and 1940s. Clark was born Samuel Goldberg to Jewish parents in Dorchester, Massachusetts. He made his Big Band singing debut in 1934 with Benny Goodman on the "Let's Dance" radio program. In 1936 he started to perform on the show, Your Hit Parade, and lasted until 1938. In the mid-1930s he signed with Vocalion Records, …

Sammy Kaye (born Samuel Zarnocay, Jr. on March 13, 1910 in Lakewood, Ohio -- died on June 2, 1987 in Ridgewood, New Jersey) was a famous U.S. bandleader and songwriter. He graduated from Rocky River High School in Rocky River, Ohio in 1927. He attended Ohio University in Athens, Ohio where he was a member of Theta Chi Fraternity. Kaye could play the saxophone and the clarinet, but he never featured himself as a soloist on either one.

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