Fred Waring & The Pennsylvanians - The First Nowell

Fred Waring (June 9, 1900  July 29, 1984) was a popular musician, bandleader and radio-television personality, sometimes referred to as "America's Singing Master" and "The Man Who Taught America How to Sing." He was also a promoter, financial backer and namesake of the Waring Blender, the first modern electric blender on the market. Raised in his father's Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, music store, Waring studied violin as a youth and was a member of his high school glee club. He formed his first professional band around 1916, a six-man string outfit called Waring's Banjazztra. After graduating from college, he took the group to Detroit, where it began to attract the attention of the local music crowd. He later dropped banjo from the line-up and changed the name of the group to the Pennsylvanians. The newly-named orchestra soon became a favorite on the collegiate circuit. Their first recording, ''Sleep,'' on the Victor label in 1923, was a tremendous success. Waring's orchestra supposedly has the distinction of being the first to record a tune, the first to record a rumba, and the first dance band to record with a vocal chorus. Aside from , the group also released material on the label. Vocalists included Stuart Churchill, Waring's own brother, Tom, and drummer Poley McClintock (the froggy voice on I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream).

Members

• Dude Skiles
• Fred Waring
• The Waring Girls
• Nelson Keller
• George Culley
• Tom Waring
• Fred Buck
• Jim Gilliland
• Si Sharp
• Poley McClintock
• Bill Townsend
• Fred Campbell
• Elton Cockerill
• Johnnie \"Scat\" Davis
• Gene Conklin
• Murray Kellner
• Stuart Churchill
• Clare Hanlon
• Ed Radell
• Virgil Davis
• Will Morgan
• D. Wade Schlegel
• Lou Bonnies
• Frank W. Hower
• Madeline Vergari
• Fred Culley
• Jim Mullen
• Francis Foster
• Earl Gardner
• Eddie Radelman
• Jack Skiles

• en.wikipedia.org
• redhotjazz.com
• singers.com
• parabrisas.com
• libraries.psu.edu