The Golden Gate Quartet

The Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet was founded in 1934 by four students at Booker T. Washington High School in Norfolk, VA.  With obvious changes in personnel, and having dropped "Jubilee" ...
1

Going Postal

In times past, popular music often extolled the joys and lamented the heartbreaks delivered by mail. Letters were the main form of communication between separated lovers; telephone and telegraph were ...
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Ain’t Misbehavin’

"Ain't Misbehavin'" was written in 1929, with lyrics by Andy Razaf and music by Fats Waller and Harry Brooks, for a Harlem cabaret show called Connie's Hot Chocolates. It later moved ...
1

Homeward Bound

"Homeward Bound" was Simon and Garfunkle's second hit, written while Paul Simon was in England, having broken up the duo, fretting over the seeming failure of their first album. Unbeknownst ...
5

Mississippi John Hurt

The son of former enslaved people, John Smith Hurt was born in Teoc, Mississippi, in 1893. He grew up and lived in nearby Avalon, which is an important detail. He ...
3

You Can’t Hurry Love

"You Can't Hurry Love," released by the Supremes in 1966, was one of the twelve number one Motown hits written by Holland-Dozier-Holland. It charted again (at ten) for Phil Collins ...
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