Music
All over the world music is listened to, played, composed and sang. Almost everybody has a soft spot for music. It usually depends on the type or style of music. In this time period ragtime was coming out along with jazz. Later on in the 20th century people began to be creative with music and invent more ways of singing, playing and dancing to it. Many songs were published during the 10s, and there were quite a few musicians in this time period. Some of which are listed below.
Empress of the Blues
Bessie Smith was a jazz and blues singer. She was the most popular, it not the best female singer in the 1920s. In 1910 she was 18 and learning from a famous singer Ma Rainy, soon she surpassed her teacher and began to make music on her own. She became a star and going into the big time was one of her goals which she achieved, but in 1931 her label dropped and she went back to singing in small clubs. She was going back into show business when she died in 1937. Her original name was Elizabeth Smith, she was born on April 15, 1895 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and she died in Clarksdale, Mississippi. She sang songs like the "Downhearted Blues" which sold 800,000 copies and one of her most popular hits, which put the spotlight on her. Some of her other songs were "Lonesome Desert blues" "What's the matter now?" "The Gin House blues" "Baby Doll" "Sweet Mistreater" and many more.
Linnie Lucille Love
She was a child actress, dancer and a singer. She was born on February 26, 1893 in Portland, Oregon. All along the way she advanced her career. She traveled to New York City and studied at the Grand Opera. She teamed up with other singers and toured around places and performed at military camps, which of course is where she got the influenza virus and died on November 12, 1918. She had one sister and got to spend a little time with her before her parents separated and she didn't see her father or sister again. In Seattle was where she lived the rest of her life, in a boarding house ran by her mother. When she was 8-years old her first performance was held and her shows started to became popular. People started to notice she had a singing voice that was extraordinary. She had a partner named Lorna Lea, who traveled and performed with her all over the country. They both signed up for the YMCA entertainment program and went to military camps to continue their careers.
Father of the Blues
He was born in Florence, Alabama on November, 16, 1873 and died on March 29,1958 in New York City. He was a composer, musician, and music publisher. Some of his major hits were "St. Louis Blues" "Memphis Blues" and "Aunt Hagar's Blues." When he was younger his father would only pay for organ lessons, but on his own he picked up the cornet. He sang and played with many bands influencing many other African-American musicians. He married a woman named Elizabeth Virginia Price in 1898 and had six children. Unfortunately in 1937, his wife passed away. In 1909 he wrote a song called "Mr. Crump" and later it was named "Memphis Blues" when he published it in 1912. Another song he published "St. Louis Blues" came out in 1914. "Yellow Dog Blues" was published by him in 1914 and "Beale Street Blues" was published in 1916.
Tom Turpin
He was born on November 18, 1871, and he died on August 13, 1922 in St. Louis. He was the son of John and Lulu Turpin. His father opened the Silver Dollar Saloon and kept it in business for 20 years. When he was young he taught himself to play the piano, but he really didn't take interest in it because he and his brother got the notion they needed a gold mine and moved to Nevada. When their expedition became a failure they finally moved back to St. Louis. He opened up the Rosebud Café in St. Louis where pianist and other musicians could meet. His nickname was "the father of the St. Louis ragtime" he got it by being the first African-American to publish a rag, which was called the "Harlem Rag" in 1897. He composed a few songs in the time span of 1900 to 1920, a few in which he had partners who helped him compose or arrange them. There is no record that he married anyone, but in 1892 a woman named Julie Anna Turpin, had a son which only lived to be one-year old. Nobody really knows if Tom or his brother, Charles, was the father.
Beth Slater Whitson
She was born on December 1, 1879, in Goodrich, Tennessee and died on April 26, 1930. She was the daughter of John H. Whitson and Anna Slater Whitson. She composed over four hundred songs and wrote short stories and poems. Some of her major hits from 1910 to 1919 are "Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland" "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" "I Am Dreaming" "Because I Love You Truly" "Believe Me Kid" "Don't Say Goodbye" "Don't Wake Me up I'm Dreaming" "Fulfillment" lots more. She wrote the words to them while she got someone else to write the music. Her first major hit "Meet me in Dreamland Tonight" really became famous in 1949 when it came up in the movie "In the Good Old Summertime."