ARTISTS & PERFORMERS

Vaughn Monroe (October 7, 1911 – May 21, 1973) was an American baritone singer, trumpeter, big band leader, actor, and businessman, most popular in the 1940s and 1950s. He has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame; for recording and radio. Monroe formed his first orchestra in Boston in 1940 and became its principal vocalist. He began recording for RCA Victor's subsidiary Bluebird label. That same year, Monroe built The Meadows, a restaurant and nightclub on Route 9 in Framingham, Massachusetts, west of Boston. The summer of 1942 brought a 1... Continue reading

Vera Lynn (born 20 March 1917), is an English singer, songwriter, and actress whose musical recordings and performances were enormously popular during the Second World War. During the war she toured Egypt, India, and Burma, giving outdoor concerts for the troops. The songs most associated with her are "We'll Meet Again", "The White Cliffs of Dover", "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" and "There'll Always Be an England". She remained popular after the war, appearing on radio and television in the UK and the United States and recording ... Continue reading

Vic Schoen (March 26, 1916 – January 5, 2000) was an American bandleader, arranger, and composer whose career spanned from the 1930s until his death in 2000. He furnished music for some of the most successful persons in show business including Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Count Basie, Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, Les Brown, Woody Herman, Gene Krupa, George Shearing, Jimmie Lunceford, Ray McKinley, Benny Carter, Louis Prima, Russ Morgan, Guy Lombardo, Carmen Cavallaro, Carmen Miranda, Gordon Jenkins, Joe Venuti, Victor Young, Arthur Fiedler and ... Continue reading

Vincent Lopez (30 December 1895 – 20 September 1975) was an American bandleader and pianist. Vincent Lopez was born of Portuguese immigrant parents and was leading his own dance band in New York City by 1917. On November 27, 1921 his band began broadcasting on the new medium of entertainment radio; the band's weekly 90-minute show on a Newark, NJ station boosted the popularity of both himself and of radio. He became one of America's most popular bandleaders, and would retain that status through the 1940s. Lopez worked occasionally in feature ... Continue reading

Wayne King (February 16, 1901 – July 16, 1985) was an American musician, songwriter, singer and orchestra leader with a long association with both NBC and CBS. He was sometimes referred to as The Waltz King because much of his most popular music involved waltzes; "The Waltz You Saved For Me" was his standard set closing song in live performance and on numerous radio broadcasts at the height of his career. After playing saxophone for the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, he created "Wayne King and Orchestra" in 1927. King's innovations included convert... Continue reading

Will Bradley (July 12, 1912 – July 15, 1989), was an American trombonist and bandleader during the 1930s and '40s. He performed swing, dance music, and boogie-woogie songs, many of them written by Don Raye. In 1928 he moved to New York City and become a member of bands such as Red Nichols & His Five Pennies. During the 1930s, he was a studio musician for CBS except for one year with the Ray Noble orchestra. In 1939 he started a big band with Ray McKinley, a swing drummer and vocalist from Texas. The Bradley band became well known for boog... Continue reading

Woody Herman (May 16, 1913 – October 29, 1987) was an American jazz clarinetist, alto and soprano saxophonist, singer, and big band leader. Leading various groups called "The Herd", Herman was one of the most popular of the 1930s and 1940s bandleaders. His bands often played music that was experimental for its time. He was often a featured halftime performer for Super Bowl VII. As a child he worked as a singer and tap-dancer in Vaudeville, then started to play the clarinet and saxophone by age 12. Woody Herman joined the Tom Gerun band and h... Continue reading

Xavier Cugat (1 January 1900 – 27 October 1990) was a Spanish-American bandleader and native of Spain who spent his formative years in Havana, Cuba. A trained violinist and arranger, he was a leading figure in the spread of Latin music in United States popular music. His family immigrated to Cuba when Xavier was five. He was trained as a classical violinist and played with the Orchestra of the Teatro Nacional in Havana. On 6 July 1915, he and his family arrived in New York as immigrant passengers on board the S.S. Havana. Cugat appeared in re... Continue reading