Frank Winegar

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风格: #摇摆乐
地区: 欧美

艺人介绍

by arwulf arwulfBorn in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1901, Frank co-founded his first band at the age of sixteen with a friend, future Victor recording artist Jack Crawford. They provided live entertainment for house parties, country clubs and the Michigan Agricultural College. In 1922 at Peddle Prep School, Winegar directed a band called the Gold and Blues. Later that year he enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania, where in 1923 his band won a contest and were awarded a trip to Europe. After spending the summer performing overseas, they came home to continue their studies. Frank majored in architecture. During the winter of 1923-24 he published his first song, "Dreary Weather". Within a few years, Waring's Pennsylvanians made a nice recording of it on Victor records. In December of 1924 Ted Weems secured a gig for Winegar's Peppy Collegians at the Arcadia Ballroom in New York. They enjoyed such success that when the others went home, Frank stayed put to form another dance band made up of working musicians from New York. They played the Arcadia in January of 1925, then toured New England and parts of the Midwest. By the autumn of '25, Winegar was back at school studying architecture, even as he led a collegiate dance band in and around Philadelphia. It was during the spring of 1927 that Winegar made a handful of phonograph recordings for the Victor label. Years later he surmised that the reason these sides were never issued was that his arrangements were "too full" of saxophones. In June 1927 Milt Shaw became the leader of this band. They took off for Michigan, there to become Milt Shaw's Detroiters. The architect's next band, Frank Winegar's Pennsylvanians, included Sherry Magee, Bill Haid, Tony Franchini, Larry Hart (not lyricist Lorenz Hart) and brothers Herman and Bill Drewes. This was perhaps the best band he ever led. They made a number of good records for the Edison label (1927-29) and during the spring of 1928 pulled in $1,800 a week performing at Yoeng's Chinese restaurant on the corner of 49th and Broadway in New York. They also played Philadelphia, Atlantic City and New York, taking off on a protracted NBC tour of RKO theatres. Winegar dissolved the band late in 1929; some members went to work for Jimmy Durante. Frank practiced architecture in Grand Rapids, then assembled a quintet and sailed with them to Europe. After serenading the royal family at the Belgian Centenary in Antwerp, they returned to the U.S. in the autumn of 1930. Winegar led a large orchestra in New York, featuring Judy Canova and young Charlie Barnet. This band didn't make any records despite its popularity, bolstered by appearances on coast-to-coast CBS radio broadcasts. It was at this point that Frank legally altered the spelling of his name to Wine-gar so everybody would know how to say it rightly. After 1933 he took a break from band leading to hole up in Grand Rapids, where he wrote minor hits like "When A Gypsy Makes his Violin Cry". He led a dance band at the Rowe Hotel, and toured with the group throughout Michigan. Frank discovered Betty Jane Thornburg singing at a bar in Lansing around 1936. After changing her name to Betty Jane Blair, she worked with Vincent Lopez and ended up in Hollywood as Betty Hutton. In 1941 Winegar got a B.A. in English Literature and scored a Master's degree in Music from the University of Michigan. During the Second World War, he led a band in Flint and became a high school band instructor in suburban Detroit. He composed marches and continued to teach throughout the 50's, first in Newberry and then Chesaning, Michigan, where during the early 60's he managed his children's Rock & Roll band. Calling themselves the Red Coats, they made it onto the Ed Sullivan show. Beginning in 1969, Mr. Winegar taught school and performed with a traditional jazz combo in Piney Woods, Mississippi. He appeared as star banjoist with the Jackson Symphony in 1982. By 1986 he was living in Fairmont, Minnesota and died there on May 23rd, 1988.