__NOTOC__ Year 1952 (MCMLII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar.

Events

January

January 8 – West Germany has 8 million refugees inside its borders.

January 14 – ''Today'' premieres on NBC, becoming one of the longest-running television series in America.

January 24

* A sudden heavy snowfall hits Algeria.

* Vincent Massey is sworn in as the first Canada-born Governor General of Canada.

February

February 2 – A tropical storm forms just north of Cuba moving northeast. The storm makes landfall in southern Florida the next day. It is the earliest reported landfall from a tropical storm, and the earliest formation of a tropical storm on record in the Atlantic basin.

February 6

* George VI (King of the United Kingdom and her dominions, of Canada, of South Africa, of Australia, of New Zealand and of Ceylon) dies aged 56 after a long illness. He is succeeded by his daughter The Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, who is on a visit to Kenya. She is simultaneously proclaimed Queen of Canada at Rideau Hall, Ottawa, Ontario.

* In the United States, a mechanical heart is used for the first time in a human patient.

February 7 – Elizabeth II is proclaimed Queen of the United Kingdom (and her five other Commonwealth realms) at St. James's Palace, London, England.

February 14 – February 25 – The Winter Olympics held in Oslo, Norway.

February 15 – The funeral of King George VI takes place at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.

February 18 – Greece and Turkey join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

February 20

* Emmett Ashford becomes the first African American umpire in organized baseball, by being authorized to be a substitute umpire in the Southwestern International League.

* Winston Churchill scraps UK compulsory national Identity Cards.

February 21 – In Dhaka, East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) police open fire on a procession of students, killing 4 people and starting a country-wide protest which leads to the recognition of Bengali as one of the national languages of Pakistan. The day is later declared "International Mother Language Day" by UNESCO.

February 25 - Parícutin active volcano in Michoacán, west central Mexico ceases its discontinuous eruption after spewing forth a gigaton of lava and burying San Juan Parangaricutiro.

February 26 – United Kingdom Prime Minister Winston Churchill announces that the United Kingdom has an atomic bomb.

March

March 10 – General Fulgencio Batista re-takes power in Cuba.

March 15–16 – 73 inches (1,870 mm) of rain falls in Cilaos, Réunion, the most rainfall ever in one day.

March 20 – The United States Senate ratifies a peace treaty with Japan.

March 21

* The last two executions in The Netherlands take place.

* Dr. Kwame Nkrumah is elected Prime Minister of the Gold Coast.

* Tornadoes ravage the lower Mississippi River Valley, leaving 208 dead, through March 22.

March 22 – Wernher von Braun publishes the first in his series of articles entitled ''Man Will Conquer Space Soon!'', including ideas for manned flights to Mars and the Moon.

March 27 – Konrad Adenauer survives an assassination attempt.

March 29 – U.S. President Harry S. Truman announces that he will not seek reelection.

April

April 4

* In the Hague Tribunal, Israel demands reparations worth $3 billion from Germany.

* West Ice accidents: During a severe storm in the West Ice, east of Greenland, 78 seal hunters on 5 Norwegian seal hunting vessels perish without a trace.

April 8 – ''Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer'': The U.S. Supreme Court limits the power of the President to seize private business, after President Harry S. Truman nationalizes all steel mills in the United States, just before the 1952 steel strike begins.

April 9 – Hugo Ballivián's government is overthrown by the Bolivian National Revolution, which starts a period of agrarian reform, universal suffrage and the nationalization of tin mines.

April 11 – Battle of Nanri Island: The Republic of China seizes the island from the Peoples' Republic of China.

April 15 – The United States B-52 Stratofortress flies for the first time.

April 18

* Bolivia National Revolution: A universal vote enables indigenous peoples and women to vote, nationalizes mines and enacts agrarian reform.

* West Germany and Japan form diplomatic relations.

April 23 – A nuclear test is held in the Nevada desert.

April 26 - The United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Wasp collides with the destroyer USS Hobson while on sea exercises in the Atlantic Ocean, killing 175 men.

April 28 – The Treaty of San Francisco goes into effect, formally ending the war between Japan and the Allies, and simultaneously ending the occupation of the four main Japanese islands.

April 29 – Lever House officially opens at 390 Park Avenue in New York City, heralding a new age of commercial architecture in the United States. Designed by Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, it is the first International Style skyscraper.

May

May 1 – East Germany threatens to form its own army.

May 2 – The first passenger jet flight route between London and Johannesburg.

May 3 – U.S. lieutenant colonels Joseph O. Fletcher and William P. Benedict land a plane at the geographic North Pole.

May 6 – Farouk of Egypt has himself announced as a descendant of prophet Muhammad.

May 13 – Pandit Nehru forms his first government in India.

May 15 – Diplomatic relations are established between the governments of Israel and Japan at the level of legations.

May 18 – Ann Davison becomes the first woman to single-handedly sail the Atlantic Ocean.

June

June 1

* The Roman Catholic Church bans the books of André Gide.

* Navigation opens on the Volga-Don Canal, connecting the Caspian Sea basin with that of the Black Sea.

June 14

* The keel is laid for the U.S. nuclear submarine USS ''Nautilus''.

* Myxomatosis introduced to Europe on the French estate of Dr. Paul Armand Delille.

June 15 – ''The Diary of a Young Girl'' is published.

June 19 – The Special Forces (United States Army) are created

June 21 – The Philippine School of Commerce, through a government act, is converted to the Philippine College of Commerce (later the Polytechnic University of the Philippines).

June 26 – The Pan-Malayan Labour Party is founded in Malaya, as a union of statewise labour parties.

June 29 – Finnish contestant Armi Kuusela wins the title of Miss Universe.

July

July 3 – The ocean liner SS ''United States'' makes her maiden crossing of the Atlantic.

July 13 – East Germany announces the formation of its National People's Army.

July 19–26 – Washington D.C. is "buzzed" by several alleged UFOs tracked on multiple radars. Jets scramble on several occasions and the objects take evasive action, only to return after the jets leave the area.

July 19 – August 3 – The 1952 Summer Olympics are held in Helsinki, Finland.

July 21 – A magnitude 7.5 earthquake (Richter scale) strikes Tehachapi, California, destroying unreinforced brick buildings.

July 23

* The European Coal and Steel Community is established.

* General Mohammed Naguib leads The Free Officers (formed by Gamal Abdel Nasser – the real power behind the coup) in the overthrow of King Farouk of Egypt.

July 25 – Puerto Rico becomes a self-governing commonwealth of the United States.

July 26 – In Argentina, Maria Eva Duarte de Perón, known as "Evita", dies of cancer at the age of 33. She was Perón's wife and a recognized union and social activist, promulgating the female vote in 1951.

August

August 5 – The Treaty of Taipei between Japan and the Republic of China goes into effect, to officially end the Second Sino-Japanese War.

August 11 – The Jordanian army forces King Talal to resign due to mental illness; he is succeeded by his son Hussein of Jordan.

August 13 – Japan joins the IMF.

August 14 – West Germany joins the IMF and the World Bank.

August 16 – Lynmouth, North Devon, England is devastated by floods; 34 die.

August 26 – A British passenger jet makes a return crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in the same day.

August 27 – Reparation negotiations between West Germany and Israel end in Luxembourg: Germany will pay 3 billion Deutsche Marks.

August 29 – John Cage's ''4' 33"'' premieres in Woodstock, New York.

August 30 – The last Finnish war reparations are sent to the Soviet Union.

August 31 – The Grenzlandring racetrack closes in Wegberg, Germany.

September

September 2 – Dr. C. Walton Lillehei and Dr. F. John Lewis perform the first open-heart surgery at the University of Minnesota.

September 6 – Television debuts in Canada as the CBC in Montreal, Quebec airs.

September 8 – CBC Toronto debuts.

September 10 – European Parliamentary Assembly (from Mar 1962, European Parliament) opens.

September 18 – The Soviet Union vetoes Japan's application for membership in the United Nations.

October

October 8

* Negotiations for a ceasefire in Korea are postponed.

* A three-train crash at Harrow railway station in England kills 112 people.

October 12 – The Gamma Sigma Sigma National Service Sorority is founded in New York City at Panhellenic Tower.

October 14 – The United Nations begins work in the new United Nations building in New York City, designed by Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer.

October 16 – ''Limelight'' opens in London; writer/actor/director/producer Charlie Chaplin arrives by ocean liner; in transit his re-entry permit to the USA is revoked by J. Edgar Hoover.

October 17 – Indonesian troops led by General Nasution surround the presidential palace, seeking the dismissal of the People's Representative Council; Sukarno avoids confrontation.

October 19

* Alain Bombard begins to sail from the Canary Islands to Barbados in 65 days; he reaches them December 23.

* John Bamford, aged 15, rescues victims of a house fire and becomes the youngest person to have been awarded the George Cross.

October 20 – Martial law is declared in Kenya due to the Mau Mau uprising.

November

November 1 – Nuclear testing: Operation Ivy: The United States successfully detonates the first hydrogen bomb, codenamed "Mike", at Eniwetok Atoll in the Marshall Islands in the central Pacific Ocean, with a yield of 10.4 megatons.

November 4

Kamchatka earthquake: An 8.25 Richter scale (9.0 moment magnitude scale) earthquake hits the Kamchatka Peninsula of the Soviet Union, equal only to the 2011 Japanese earthquake.

* United States presidential election, 1952: Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower defeats Democrat Adlai Stevenson (correctly predicted by the UNIVAC computer).

* The U.S. National Security Agency is founded.

* The Pace-Finletter MOU 1952: Memorandum of understanding is signed between "...Air Force Secretary Finletter and Army Secretary Pace that established a fixed wing weight limit [for the Army] of five thousand pounds empty, but weight restrictions on helicopters were eliminated..."(''Pushing the Envelope'', p. 196)

November 18 – Jomo Kenyatta is arrested in Kenya for an alleged connection to the Mau Mau uprising.

November 20

* Slánský trials: A series of Stalinist and largely anti-Semitic show trials are held in Czechoslovakia.

A fireball crashes in a backyard in Havelock North, New Zealand.

* The first official passenger flight over the North Pole is made from Los Angeles to Copenhagen.

November 21 – A show trial in Czechoslovakia sentences 11 ex-communist officials (all of them Jews) to death.

November 25 – Agatha Christie's murder-mystery play ''The Mousetrap'' opens at the Ambassadors Theatre in London; as of 2007, it continues next door at the St. Martin's Theatre, and remains the longest continuously running production of a play in history.

November 29 – Korean War: U.S. President-elect Dwight D. Eisenhower fulfills a political campaign promise, by traveling to Korea to find out what can be done to end the conflict.

December

December 1

* Adolfo Ruiz Cortines takes office as President of Mexico.

* The ''New York Daily News'' carries a front page story announcing that Christine Jorgensen, a transsexual woman in Denmark, has become the recipient of the first successful sexual reassignment operation.

December 4 – Great Smog of 1952: A "killer fog" descends on London (in the process coining the word "Smog", for "smoke" and "fog").

December 14 – The first successful surgical separation of Siamese twins is conducted in Mount Sinai Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio.

December 20 – The crash of a U.S. Air Force C-124 Globemaster at Moses Lake, WA kills 86 servicemen.

December 25 – One West German soldier is killed in a shooting incident in West Berlin.

December 26 – Joseph Ivor Linton, the first Israeli Minister Plenipotentiary in Japan, presents his credentials to the Japanese Emperor.

Date unknown

Nearly 58,000 cases of polio are reported in the U.S.; 3,145 die and 21,269 are left with mild to disabling paralysis.

The Nordic Council agrees to the unrestricted transport of people, goods and services throughout the Nordic Countries.

The National Prohibition Foundation is incorporated in Indiana.

Saynatsalo Town Hall in Finland, designed by Alvar Aalto, is completed.

The influential multistorey residential building, Unité d'Habitation in Marseille, France, designed by Le Corbusier, is completed.

The American Embassy School of New Delhi is founded.

The Swedish paratrooper training school Fallskärmsjägarna(FJS) is created.

Twelve-year-old Jimmy Boyd's record of ''I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus'' is released, selling 3 million records

Capitol Wrestling Coorporation, the professional wrestling promotion that would later evolve into the modern day (World Wrestling Entertainment) is founded by Vince McMahon, Sr.

During the Mau Mau Uprising, the poisonous latex of the African milk bush was used kill cattle in an incident of Biological warfare.

Births

January–February

January 1 – Jury Zacharanka, Belarusian politician abducted and probably killed in 1999

January 2

* Makoto Nakajima, Japanese bureaucrat, Commissoner of the Japan Patent Office

* Ng Man Tat, Hong Kong actor

January 3 – Jim Ross, American wrestling announcer

January 7 – Sammo Hung, Hong Kong martial arts superstar, producer and director

January 12

* Charles Faulkner, American life coach, motivational speaker, trader and author

* Walter Mosley, American author

January 14 – Maureen Dowd, American journalist

January 15 – Boris Blank, Swiss musician

January 16 – H.R.H. Prince Ahmed Fuad Farouk (Fuad II), the last King of Egypt & Sudan, Nubia, Kordofan and Darfur

January 17 – Ryuichi Sakamoto, Japanese musician, composer, producer, and actor (''Yellow Magic Orchestra'')

January 21

* Marco Camenisch, Swiss environmental activist

* Louis Menand, American writer and critic

January 22 – Ace Vergel, Filipino actor (d. 2007)

January 24 – Raymond Domenech, French football player and manager

January 25

* Edward Fialkowski, Polish political activist

* Sara Mandiano, French singer and songwriter

January 28 – Tomokazu Miura, Japanese actor

February 1 – Stan Kasten, American baseball executive, currently President of the Washington Nationals

February 3 – Dermot Morgan, Irish actor and comedian (d. 1998)

February 7 – Tony Liu, Chinese actor

February 8 – Nora Miao, Hong Kong actress

February 12 – Simon MacCorkindale, English actor (d. 2010)

February 14 – Nancy Keenan, American president of NARAL

February 19 – Amy Tan, American novelist

February 22 – William Frist, U.S. Senator and heart surgeon

February 24 – Maxine Chernoff, American poet, novelist, editor

February 25 – Joey Dunlop, Northern Irish motorcycle racer (d. 2000)

February 29

* Gary The Retard, American member of ''The Wack Pack'' (''The Howard Stern Show'')

* Sharon Dahlonega Raiford Bush, American television's first female African-American primetime weather anchor

March–April

March 2 – Laraine Newman, American comedian (''Saturday Night Live'')

March 4

* Scott Hicks, Australian film director

* Ronn Moss, American actor

* Umberto Tozzi, Italian singer

March 7 – Viv Richards, West Indian cricketer

March 11 – Douglas Adams, English author (''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'') (d. 2001)

March 13

* Wolfgang Rihm, German composer

* Agnes Rapai, Hungarian writer

March 22 – Bob Costas, American sports announcer

March 23 – Kim Stanley Robinson, American author

March 25

* Jung Chang, Chinese-born author and historian

* Antanas Mockus, Colombian mathematician and politician

March 27 – Maria Schneider, French actress (d. 2011)

March 29 – Teofilo Stevenson, Cuban boxer

March 30 – Peter Knights, Australian footballer and coach

March 31 – Vanessa del Rio, American actress

April 1 – Bernard Stiegler, French philosopher

April 4 –

* Rosemarie Ackermann, German athlete

* Gary Moore, Irish musician (d. 2011)

April 5 – Mitch Pileggi, American actor

April 6 – Marilu Henner, American actress and author

April 7 – Nichita Danilov, Romanian writer

April 11 – Peter Windsor, British sports reporter

April 12 – Ralph Wiley, American sports journalist (d. 2004)

April 14 – Mickey O'Sullivan, Irish sportsman

April 15 – Glenn Shadix, American actor (d. 2010)

April 16

* Bill Belichick, American football coach

* Billy West, American voice actor

April 17 – Željko Ražnatović, Serbian mobster and paramilitary leader (d. 2000)

April 19 – Alexis Arguello, Nicaraguan boxer and politician (d. 2009)

April 22 – Marilyn Chambers, American porn actress (''Behind the Green Door'') (d. 2009)

April 25 – Ketil Bjørnstad, Norwegian pianist

April 26 – Spice Williams-Crosby, American actress and stunt performer

April 27 – George Gervin, American basketball player

April 28 – Mary McDonnell, American actress

May–June

May 2

* Campbell McComas, Australian impersonator and broadcaster

* Isla St Clair, Scottish singer

May 3

* Allan Wells, Scottish athlete

* Leonid Khachiyan, Russian-born mathematician

May 4 – Michael Barrymore, British comedian and TV presenter

May 6

* Gregg Henry, American actor and musician

* Michael O'Hare, American actor

May 8 - Ronnie Dapo, American child actor

May 10 – Manuel Mora Morales, Spanish director and writer

May 11

* Renaud, French composer

* Shohreh Aghdashloo, Iranian actress

* Mike Lupica, American sports journalist

* Frances Fisher, British-born American actress

May 14

* David Byrne, Scottish-born rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist (''Talking Heads'')

May 18

* George Strait, American country musician

* Diane Duane, American writer

May 19 – Bert van Marwijk, Dutch football manager

May 20 – Roger Milla, Cameroonian footballer

May 21 – Mr. T, American actor (''The A-Team'')

May 24 – Sybil Danning, Austrian actress

May 26 – David Meece, American Christian musician

May 28 – Victoria Cunningham, American actress and Playboy Playmate

June 4 – Scott Wesley Brown, American Christian musician

June 7

* Hubert Auriol, French racing driver

* Orhan Pamuk, Turkish writer, Nobel Prize winner

* Liam Neeson, Northern Irish actor

June 9 – Yukihiro Takahashi, Japanese musician and singer (''Yellow Magic Orchestra'')

June 16 – Georgios Papandreou, Greek politician

June 17

* Mike Milbury, American ice hockey player, coach and executive

* Sarbjit Singh Chadha, Indian enka singer

June 18

* Carol Kane, American actress (''Taxi'')

* Isabella Rossellini, Italian actress

June 20

* John Goodman, American actor

* Kōichi Mashimo, Japanese anime director

* Vikram Seth, Indian novelist

June 21

* Kazi Zulkader Siddiqui, Pakistani businessman, academician

* Jeremy Coney, New Zealand cricket captain

June 22

* Alastair Stewart, British newsreader

* Graham Greene, Canadian (First Nations) actor

June 24 – Stephen Pusey, British-born artist

June 25 – Tim Finn, New Zealand singer-songwriter

June 27

* Douglas Unger, American novelist

* Madan Kumar Bhandari, Nepalese politician (d. 1993)

June 28 – Pietro Mennea, Italian athlete

June 29 – Joe Johnson, English snooker player

July–August

July 1 – Dan Aykroyd, Canadian actor and comedian (''Saturday Night Live'')

July 4 – Alvaro Uribe, President of Colombia

July 8 – Ahmed Nazif, Prime Minister of Egypt

July 9 – John Tesh, American composer, musician, and television host (''Entertainment Tonight'')

July 12

* Philip Taylor Kramer, American rock musician (''Iron Butterfly'') (d. 1995)

* Voja Antonić, Serbian inventor and writer

July 14 – Franklin Graham, American evangelist

July 15 – Terry O'Quinn, American actor

July 16 – Stewart Copeland, American rock musician (''The Police'')

July 17 - David Hasselhoff, American actor

July 19 – Allen Collins, American rock musician (''Lynyrd Skynyrd'') (d. 1990)

July 20 – Keiko Matsuzaka, Japanese actress

July 24 – Gus Van Sant, American film director

July 25 – Eduardo Souto de Moura, Portuguese Architect

July 27 – Hannu-Pekka Hänninen, Finnish sports commentator

July 31

* Chris Ahrens, American ice hockey player

* João Barreiros, Portuguese author

August 1 – Zoran Djindjic, Serbian politician (d. 2003)

August 3 – Osvaldo Ardiles, Argentine footballer

August 4 – Moya Brennan, Irish singer

August 5 – Louis Walsh, Irish music producer and reality TV show judge

August 6 – Wojciech Fortuna, Polish ski jumper

August 7 – Alexei Sayle, English comedian

August 8

* Jostein Gaarder, Norwegian author

* Robin Quivers, African-American radio personality (''The Howard Stern Show'')

August 9 – Vicki Morgan, American model (d. 1983)

August 10 – Daniel Hugh Kelly, American actor

August 13 – Herb Ritts, American photographer (d. 2002)

August 16 – Reginald VelJohnson, American actor

August 17 – Guillermo Vilas, Argentine tennis player

August 18 – Patrick Swayze, American actor and dancer (d. 2009)

August 19 – Jonathan Frakes, American actor (''Star Trek: The Next Generation'')

August 21 – Joe Strummer, British rock musician (''The Clash'') (d. 2002)

August 24 – Linton Kwesi Johnson, Jamaican-born musician and poet

August 26 – Bryon Baltimore, Canadian ice hockey player

August 27 – Paul Reubens, American actor, writer and comedian (''Pee-Wee Herman'')

August 28 – Wendelin Wiedeking, German businessman

August 29 – Jimmy Connors, American tennis player

September–October

September 8 – Patrick Prosser, Scottish computer scientist

September 9 – Angela Cartwright, British-American child actress, photographer and painter

September 12

* Sergei Karaganov, Russian political scientist

* Neil Peart, Canadian rock drummer (''Rush'')

September 16

* Fatos Nano, Albanian prime minister

* Mickey Rourke, American actor

September 18 – Dee Dee Ramone, American rock bassist (''Ramones'') (d. 2002)

September 22 – Bob Goodlatte, U.S. Congressman from Virginia

September 23 – Jim Morrison, American baseball player

September 24

* Mark Sandman, American rock musician and artist (''Morphine'') (d. 1999)

* Joseph Patrick Kennedy II, son of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel Kennedy

September 25

* Christopher Reeve, American actor and activist (''Superman'') (d. 2004)

* Jimmy Garvin, American professional wrestler

September 26 – Predrag Miletić, Serbian actor

September 27 – Didier Dubois, French mathematician

September 29 – Max Sandlin, American politician

September 30 – Jack Wild, English actor (''H.R. Pufnstuf'') (d. 2006)

October 5

* Duncan Regehr, Canadian actor

* Clive Barker, British author

* Emomalii Rahmon, President of Tajikistan

October 7

* Vladimir Putin, Russian president

* Mary Badham, American actress

October 9 – Sharon Osbourne, British wife and manager of Ozzy Osbourne

October 13 – John Lone, Hong Kong actor

October 14 – Nikolai Andrianov, Soviet gymnast (d. 2011)

October 16 – Ron Taylor, American actor (d. 2002)

October 22 – Jeff Goldblum, American actor

October 26 – Andrew Motion, English poet

October 27 – Topi Sorsakoski, Finnish singer

October 28 – Annie Potts, American actress

November–December

November 3

* Roseanne Barr, American actress and comedienne

* David Ho, Taiwanese-American AIDS researcher

November 5

* Bill Walton, American basketball player and commentator

* Oleg Blokhin, Ukrainian football player and manager

November 6 – Michael Cunningham, American writer

November 7 – David Petraeus, American general

November 8

* Jan Raas, Dutch professional cyclist

* Alfre Woodard, African-American actress

November 13 – Art Malik, Pakistani-born British actor

November 15 – Randy Savage, American professional wrestler (d. 2011)

November 16

* Shigeru Miyamoto, Japanese game designer

* Roger Bisby, English journalist

November 17 – Ties Kruize, Dutch field hockey player

November 25 – Imran Khan, Pakistani cricketer and politician

November 28 – S. Epatha Merkerson, African-American actress (''Law and Order'')

November 30 – Keith Giffen, American comic book writer and artist

December 9 – Michael Dorn, African-American actor (''Star Trek: The Next Generation'')

December 12

* Harbance Singh (Herb) Dhaliwal, Canadian politician

* Sarah Douglas, English actress

December 13 – Greg Greenway, American Singer-Songwriter

December 15 – Julie Taymor, American film, theater, and opera director and costume designer

December 15 – Hwang Woo-Suk, South Korean biomedical scientist

December 16 – Joel Garner, West Indian cricketer

December 20 – Jenny Agutter, English actress

December 27 – Jay Hill, Canadian politician

December 28

* Arun Jaitley, Indian politician

* Hemant Shesh, Indian Hindi Writer

December 30 – June Anderson, American soprano

Date unknown

Idriss Deby Itno, President of Chad

Deaths

January–June

January 5 – Hristo Tatarchev, Bulgarian revolutionary (b. 1869)

January 11 – Jean de Lattre de Tassigny, French general, posthumous Marshal of France (b. 1889)

January 18 – Curly Howard, American actor and comedian (''The Three Stooges'') (b. 1903)

January 25 – Polly Moran, American actress (b. 1883)

January 27 – Fannie Ward, American actress (b. 1872)

February 2 – Charles de Rochefort, French actor (b. 1879)

February 3 – Harold L. Ickes, United States Secretary of the Interior (b. 1874)

February 6 – King George VI of the United Kingdom (b. 1895)

February 7 – Philip G. Epstein, American screenwriter (b. 1909)

February 19 – Knut Hamsun, Norwegian author, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1859)

March 1 – Gregory La Cava, American film director (b. 1892)

March 5 – Charles Scott Sherrington, English physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1857)

March 7 – Paramahansa Yogananda, Indian guru (b. 1893)

March 9 – Alexandra Kollontai, Russian revolutionary (b. 1872)

March 12 – Hugh Herbert, American actor and comedian (b. 1887)

March 22

* Uncle Dave Macon, American musician (b. 1870)

* Don Stephen Senanayake, Ceylonese (Sri Lankan) Prime Minister (b. 1884)

March 26 – J.P. McGowan, Australian actor and director (b. 1880)

March 28 – Sir Fraser Russell, Governor of Southern Rhodesia (b. 1876)

March 31

* Wallace H. White, Jr., U.S. Senator from Maine (b. 1877)

* Walter Schellenberg, German Nazi intelligence official (b. 1910)

* Roland West, American film director (b. 1885)

April 1 – Ferenc Molnár, Hungarian novelist and dramatist (b. 1878)

April 3 – Miina Sillanpää, Finnish politician (b. 1866)

April 5 – Charles Collett, British chief mechanical engineer (''Great Western Railway'') (b. 1871)

April 8 – Tadeusz Estreicher, cryogenics pioneer (b. 1871)

April 21

* Leslie Banks, English actor (b. 1890)

* Sir Stafford Cripps, British Chancellor of the Exchequer (b. 1889)

April 23 – Julius Freed, American inventor and banker (b. 1887)

May 6 – Maria Montessori, Italian educator (cerebral hemorrhage) (b. 1870)

May 8 – William Fox, Austro-Hungarian-born film producer (b. 1879)

May 9 – Canada Lee, American actor (b. 1907)

May 15 – Albert Bassermann, German actor (b. 1867)

May 21 – John Garfield, American actor (b. 1913)

June 1

* John Dewey, American philosopher (b. 1859)

* Malcolm St. Clair, American filmmaker (b. 1897)

June 13 – Emma Eames, American soprano (b. 1865)

June 17 – Krystyna Skarbek, Polish-born British agent in World War II (b. 1915)

June 19 – Heinrich Schlusnus, German baritone (b. 1888)

June 27 – Elmo Lincoln, American actor (b. 1889)

July–December

July 4 – Walter Long, American character actor (b. 1879)

July 5 – Alison Skipworth, English actress (b. 1863)

July 26 – Eva Perón, Argentine political leader, and First Lady to and partner in power of President Juan Perón (b. 1919)

August 2 – J. Farrell MacDonald, American actor and director (b. 1875)

August 5 – Sameera Moussa, Egyptian nuclear scientist (b. 1917)

August 11 – Dave Sands, Australian boxer (b. 1926)

August 18 – Ralph Byrd, American actor (b. 1909)

September 6 – Gertrude Lawrence, English actress (b. 1898)

September 16 – Hugo Raudsepp, Estonian playwright (b. 1883)

September 22 – Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg, 1st President of Finland (b. 1865)

September 23 – Ray Mala, Native American actor (b. 1906)

September 26 – George Santayana, Spanish-born writer (b. 1863)

September 30 – Viscount Waldorf Astor, American-born businessman and politician (b. 1879)

October 11 – Jack Conway, American film producer and director (b. 1887)

October 17 – Julia Dean, stage and screen actress (b. 1878)

October 20 – Basil Radford, English actor (b. 1897)

October 22 – Ernst Rüdin, Swiss psychiatrist, geneticist, and eugenicist (b. 1874)

October 23 – Susan Peters, American actress (b. 1921)

October 26 – Hattie McDaniel, American actress (b. 1895)

October 28 – Billy Hughes, 7th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1862)

November 1 – Dixie Lee, American actress and singer (b. 1911)

November 2 – Mehmet Esat Bülkat, Ottoman general (b. 1862)

November 3 – Louis Verneuil, French playwright, screenwriter (b. 1893)

November 8

* Harold Innis, Canadian communications scholar (b. 1894)

* Hugh Prosser, American actor (b. 1900)

November 9 – Chaim Weizmann, first President of Israel (b. 1874)

November 18 – Paul Eluard, French poet (b. 1895)

November 20 – Benedetto Croce, Italian critic, philosopher, and politician (b. 1866)

November 21 – William D. Upshaw, American temperance movement leader (b. 1866)

November 26 – Sven Hedin, Swedish explorer, geographer and geopolitician (b. 1865)

November 28 – Elena of Montenegro, Queen of Italy, consort of Victor Emmanuel III (b. 1869)

December 1 – Vittorio Emanuele Orlando, Prime Minister of Italy (b. 1860)

December 8 – Charles Lightoller, British sailor, second officer of the RMS Titanic. (b. 1874)

December 12 – Bedrich Hrozný, Czech orientalist and linguist (b. 1879)

December 19 – Pehr G. Holmes, American politician

December 27 – Henri Winkelman, Dutch general (b. 1876)

December 28

* Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Queen consort of Christian X of Denmark (b. 1879)

* Fletcher Henderson, American musician (b. 1897)

December 30 – Luke McNamee, American admiral and Governor of Guam (b. 1871)

Nobel Prizes

Physics – Felix Bloch, Edward Mills Purcell

Chemistry – Archer John Porter Martin, Richard Laurence Millington Synge

Medicine – Selman Abraham Waksman

Literature – François Mauriac

Peace – Albert Schweitzer

References

af:1952 am:1952 እ.ኤ.አ. ang:1952 ar:ملحق:1952 an:1952 frp:1952 ast:1952 gn:1952 av:1952 ay:1952 az:1952 bn:১৯৫২ zh-min-nan:1952 nî map-bms:1952 be:1952 be-x-old:1952 bh:१९५२ bcl:1952 bs:1952 br:1952 bg:1952 ca:1952 cv:1952 cs:1952 cbk-zam:1952 co:1952 cy:1952 da:1952 de:1952 et:1952 el:1952 myv:1952 ие es:1952 eo:1952 eu:1952 fa:۱۹۵۲ (میلادی) hif:1952 fo:1952 fr:1952 fy:1952 fur:1952 ga:1952 gv:1952 gd:1952 gl:1952 gan:1952年 xal:1952 җил ko:1952년 hy:1952 hi:१९५२ hr:1952. io:1952 ilo:1952 bpy:মারি ১৯৫২ id:1952 ia:1952 ie:1952 os:1952-æм аз is:1952 it:1952 he:1952 jv:1952 kn:೧೯೫೨ pam:1952 krc:1952 джыл ka:1952 csb:1952 kk:1952 kw:1952 sw:1952 kv:1952 во ht:1952 (almanak gregoryen) ku:1952 la:1952 lv:1952. gads lb:1952 lt:1952 m. lij:1952 li:1952 jbo:1952moi lmo:1952 hu:1952 mk:1952 ml:1952 mi:1952 mr:इ.स. १९५२ arz:1952 ms:1952 mdf:1952 nah:1952 nl:1952 nds-nl:1952 ne:१९५२ new:ई सं १९५२ ja:1952年 nap:1952 no:1952 nn:1952 nrm:1952 nov:1952 oc:1952 mhr:1952 uz:1952 pa:੧੯੫੨ pi:१९५२ pnb:1952 pap:1952 tpi:1952 nds:1952 pl:1952 pt:1952 ty:1952 ro:1952 qu:1952 rue:1952 ru:1952 год sah:1952 se:1952 stq:1952 sq:1952 scn:1952 simple:1952 sk:1952 sl:1952 so:1952 ckb:١٩٥٢ sr:1952 sh:1952 su:1952 fi:1952 sv:1952 tl:1952 ta:1952 tt:1952 ел te:1952 tet:1952 th:พ.ศ. 2495 tg:1952 tr:1952 tk:1952 udm:1952 ар uk:1952 ur:1952ء vec:1952 vi:1952 vo:1952 fiu-vro:1952 wa:1952 vls:1952 war:1952 yi:1952 yo:1952 zh-yue:1952年 diq:1952 bat-smg:1952 zh:1952年

Coordinates	34°03′″N118°15′″N
Character name	Black Lightning
Converted	y
Publisher	DC Comics
Debut	''Black Lightning'' #1 (April 1977)
Creators	Tony Isabella (writer) Trevor Von Eeden (artist)
Real name	Jefferson Pierce
Species
Homeworld
Alliances	Justice LeagueOutsidersU.S. Department of Education International Olympic Committee
Aliases
Supports
Powers	Electricity generation and manipulation,Limited flightForce field generation,Skilled martial artistOlympic level athlete
Cat	super
Subcat	DC Comics
Hero	y
Sortkey	Black Lightning }}

Black Lightning (Jefferson Pierce) was one of the first major African American superheroes to appear in DC Comics. He debuted in ''Black Lightning'' #1 (April 1977), and was created by Tony Isabella and Trevor Von Eeden.

Publication history

The original candidate for DC Comics' first headlining black superhero was a character called the Black Bomber, a black hero who was actually a white racist and later described by comics historian Don Markstein as "an insult to practically everybody with any point of view at all." When the editor who had approved the Black Bomber left the company before the character had seen print, Tony Isabella (whose previous writing experience included Luke Cage, Marvel Comics' first black superhero with his own title) was asked to salvage the character. Isabella managed to convince editors of his Black Lightning character which he had been working on for some time, mentioning that his characters along the way were merely stepping stones.

Tony Isabella wrote the first 10 issues of ''Black Lightning'', before handing it over to Dennis O'Neil. Only one O'Neil-scripted issue came out before the series was canceled in 1978 as part of a general large-scale pruning of the company's superhero titles known as the DC Implosion (which also canceled the debut of ''Vixen'', which would have been DC's first title starring a ''female'' black superhero). Issue #12 was published in ''Cancelled Comic Cavalcade'' and ''World's Finest'' #260.

Black Lightning made a number of guest appearances in various titles over the next few years, including a string of issues of ''World's Finest'' written by O'Neil, then shifting to Detective Comics and a two-part story in ''Justice League of America'' in which the League invited him to join, but he turned them down.

In 1983, with his powers restored, he regularly appeared again as a member of the Batman-led superhero team the Outsiders. When ''The Outsiders'' ended, he returned to making occasional guest appearances.

In 1995, a new ''Black Lightning'' series began, with art by Eddy Newell, again written by Tony Isabella, who was fired after the eighth issue. After Tony Isabella left, the series was canceled after only five more issues. The reason for Tony Isabella leaving could have been because of editorial disagreements about the direction of the series. However, Isabella has since revealed that he believes the editor fired him because of a wish to bring in a new writer in order to "create his own power base at DC Comics".

A "Black Lightning: Year One" six-issue limited series, written by Jen Van Meter and illustrated by Cully Hamner saw a bi-weekly release in 2009, and was nominated for two Glyph Awards in 2010.

Fictional character biography

Year One

A gold medal-winning Olympic decathlete, Jefferson Pierce returned to his old neighborhood in the Southside (Suicide Slum) section of the city of Metropolis, with his wife Lynn Stewart and his daughter Anissa to become the principal of Garfield High School. Southside as it was once known was where his father renowned journalist Alvin Pierce had been murdered. Guilt over this event was a factor in his decision to leave the city of Metropolis. Suicide Slum was being torn apart by a local organized criminal gang called the 100, shady corporations, and crooked local politicians like Tobias Whale. Peter Gambi, a family friend and tailor, had taught a much younger Jefferson how to suppress his inborn metahuman abilities so that he would not accidentally hurt any of the people he cared about. Upon his return Gambi suggested to Jefferson that he should use his powers to help the neighborhood, and refers him to a plaque with the paraphrased Milo Sweetman quote ''"Justice, like lightning should ever appear to some men hope, to other men fear"'', the original text of which was ''"Justice, like lightning, ever should appear to few men's ruin, but to all men's fear. Of mortal justice if thou scorn the rod, believe and tremble, thou art judged of God."'' Appalled by the public murder of Earl Clifford, one of his more promising students, Pierce tried to intervene on behalf of the schoolchildren, but quickly learned that the 100 objected violently to any interference. Pierce adopts the costumed identity "Black Lightning". Years later, he would tell fellow African American superhero Mister Terrific that he chose the name ''Black'' Lightning because he "was the only one of us around" at the time, and he "wanted to make sure everyone knew who they were dealing with."

Outsiders

After his own series was canceled, Black Lightning lost his electrical powers, but continued fighting without them. The loss eventually turned out to be psychosomatic, a symptom of a crisis of confidence resulting from the accidental death of a female bystander named Trina Shelton during an altercation between Black Lightning and some gun-wielding thugs. Batman, wanting to recruit him to rescue Lucius Fox in Markovia, helped him regain his powers; this eventually led him to join the Batman's Outsiders. During his time with the Outsiders, a group of villains called the Masters of Disaster captured Black Lightning at the behest of the parents of Trina Shelton to avenge the death of their daughter; however, upon learning that he still regretted what happened and was willing to be executed by them, they sacrificed their lives to save him. During the Invasion! crossover, the Dominators detonated a Gene-Bomb that wreaked havoc with anyone possessing the metagene by making them lose control of their powers. After the breakup of the Outsiders, Black Lightning moved to Brick City to continue his solo career in 1995's ''Black Lightning'' #1.

Secretary of Education

When Lex Luthor was elected President of the United States in 2000, he appoints Jefferson Pierce as Secretary of Education, Pierce accepting as he concludes that he can do more good working within the system than outside it. He resigned amidst controversy over his "worst-kept secret in Washington" identity as Black Lightning, and his alleged inadvertent killing of a criminally-minded corporate CEO, for which President Pete Ross (who had since succeeded Luthor) then pardoned him.

Making frequent guest appearances in several DC series, Pierce has appeared in ''Green Arrow'' (who had a one night stand with his niece, a successful attorney named Joanna Pierce). Pierce helped Green Arrow track down Dr. Light in the ''Green Arrow'' "Heading into the Light" story arc. He also appeared in the new ''Outsiders'', of which his daughter, Anissa (using the alias Thunder), is a member. He came to fight the new Sabbac and help his daughter alongside Captain Marvel Jr. and the Outsiders. He had on an outfit that mixed his second outfit with the colors of the first. After teaming up with the Outsiders, incoming President Pete Ross asked him to resign as Secretary of Education and he did.

At some point prior to his resignation, Pierce used his pull in Washington to deny powerful metahuman gangster known as Holocaust permits to build a Casino on Paris Island in Dakota. This would come back to haunt Pierce sometime later when the enraged Holocaust attacked him while he was giving the graduation speech at Ernest Hemmingway Highschool.

Infinite Crisis

In issue #5 of the ''Infinite Crisis'' storyline, it was shown that Black Lightning was one of the eight people Batman had considered to aid him in destroying the Brother Eye satellite, which controlled the OMACs. Booster Gold, who was not on the list of eight, but knew about the candidates from his knowledge of the future, contacted Lightning before Batman did, as historical data from the future had shown who had aided Batman. Lightning accepted, arriving at the Bat cave to await orders. He then forged an uneasy yet effective alliance with Mister Terrific, combining their powers of electrical manipulation and invisibility technology to strike the villainous AI from the inside.

After the third Society of Super Villains was formed, Black Lightning as a member of Brad Meltzer's new Justice League began using his status as Lex Luthor's former Secretary of Education to gain information from super villains.

Outsiders redux

In ''Outsiders'' (vol. 3) #45, it was revealed that three years have passed since Jefferson's niece Joanna Pierce was murdered, and that upon initially learning of her death, Jefferson went after the corrupt businessman Martin Somers, the man who was responsible. He had intended to wound Somers with his lightning shot, but apparently ended up killing him. Jefferson turned himself in to the authorities. However, it is revealed that Deathstroke was responsible for Somers' death by firing a dart of toxin to Somers moments before Jefferson shot his lightning. Hence, he was dead before he hit the ground. Jason Todd discovered the truth while eavesdropping on the assassin's conversation with Lex Luthor (who was really Alexander Luthor, Jr. in disguise) and contacted Nightwing with this information. When Nightwing and Anissa told Jefferson of this in prison, he disbelieved it and intended to pay for Somers' death. Anissa herself intended to break her father out of Iron Heights Prison. Upon learning from Todd that other inmates were about to carry out a contract hit on Pierce (whose identity as an inmate had leaked to unknown parties), the Outsiders resolved to assist her. They freed him from jail and with the audio recording of Deathstroke's conversation cleared his name.

Justice League of America

Years ago, Green Arrow brought Black Lightning to the attention of the Justice League of America, who extended an offer of membership to the protector of Suicide Slum. He turned down the offer, preferring to work as a loner and focus on street-level crime. Most recently, however, Black Lightning has joined the JLA, once again appearing with a modified costume. He appears to be primarily based in Washington DC again. Black Lightning assists the JLA with intelligence gathered from the criminal community. Many super villains still believe he is 'in' with Lex Luthor and are willing to cooperate. Jefferson also helps the team in a battle against Amazo. He was the first member of the League to respond to the recent attacks made by the Amazons of Themyscira, and he also saved the President of the United States in this event.

Black Lightning was the focus of the one-shot ''Final Crisis: Submit'', in which he helped the new Tattooed Man and his family escape at the cost of his own freedom. He is subsequently shown in issue 4 of ''Final Crisis'' under Darkseid's thrall.

Outsiders

Recently, Black Lightning was recruited by Alfred Pennyworth to join a new version of the Outsiders following an attack by Doctor Hurt which left Thunder comatose. Unlike previous iterations of the team, these Outsiders must live "off the grid" and stay out of contact with friends and family for months at a time. It is confirmed that, due to this new commitment, Black Lightning has left the Justice League.

Black Lightning's daughters

Jefferson has had two daughters by his ex-wife Lynn Stewart, both of whom have followed in his footsteps and become superheroes. His oldest daughter Anissa Pierce has taken on the name "Thunder" and served on an incarnation of his team the Outsiders and his sixteen year old younger daughter, Jennifer Pierce, was recently recruited by the Justice Society of America under the code name "Lightning". A version of Lightning first appeared in ''Kingdom Come'' a 1996 miniseries published by DC Comics.

In ''Justice League of America'' (vol 2 )#27, Pierce claims that people frequently ask him if he is the father of Static, much to his chagrin. It is later revealed that Static is in fact a fan of Black Lightning, and has a poster of the hero in his room in Titans Tower.

Powers and abilities

Originally, he was described as having no innate powers, using a belt that allowed him to generate a force field and project electrical bolts. This power was later revealed to exist as a result of the Metagene, according to ''Invasion!'' #3.

According to ''Black Lightning: Year One'', Jefferson Pierce is in current continuity a metahuman who was born with the ability to generate and magnify external localized electromagnetic phenomena, by manipulating intense bio-electric fields generated by his body. This is a power that he internalized and kept hidden for much of the early part of his adult life. Exactly how much electrical energy Black Lightning can generate is unknown but he can easily stun or kill a man with his internal powers, and on one occasion he was able to restart Superman's heart after the Man of Steel had suffered from a near-fatal Kryptonite exposure. He can also generate a powerful electro-magnetic force field capable of stopping projectiles, however, this act requires considerable effort and concentration. He has demonstrated the ability to create an electromagnetic repulsion field which grants him limited flight capabilities. Pierce also maintains his Olympic-level physical conditioning, giving him above average strength, speed, and stamina. Under Batman's tutelage, he has become a highly skilled hand-to-hand martial artist and combatant.

Reception

IGN listed Black Lightning as the 85th greatest comic book hero of all time describing him as a true hero and a born badass that has earned his spot on the Justice League.

Other versions

Black Lightning has appeared in the ''Justice League Unlimited'' spin-off comic book. His appearances are in issues #15 and #27. During a JLA mission, the Vixen encounters an alternate version of Black Lightning called the "Brown Bomber", a contemporary version of the original Black Bomber envisioned prior to Tony Isabella's involvement with the character.

In other media

Television

Black Lightning appears in the ''Batman: The Brave and the Bold'' episode "Enter the Outsiders!" voiced by Bumper Robinson. He seems to be the lead of the trio composed of him, Katana, and Metamorpho. They work for a sewer dweller named Slug at first, but turn on him when Wildcat convinces them to fight for good. Black Lightning later uses his electricity to save Wildcat's life with instructions from Katana when the elder falls victim to a heart attack. Black Lightning and his comrades are later seen training with Batman in the teaser of "Duel of the Double Crossers!". Black Lightning's hatred for society is shown in "Inside the Outsiders!". Black Lightning had a fleeting cameo in "The Siege of Starro! Part One" (as one of the heroes under Starro's mind control) in which he blasted Firestorm with lightning and was shown to have a new costume. He reappeared in the teaser of "Requiem for a Scarlet Speedster!", in which he and the rest of the Outsiders (Katana, Metamorpho, Geo-Force, and Halo) help Batman stop Kobra and his cultists from completing a ritual. He and Geo-Force save Batman from being crushed by a snake. Though Batman compliments Black Lightning's ability to lead, the Outsiders forgot to take out the bridge behind them, resulting in reinforcements coming in.

Both the animated versions of Black Lightning and Static share a shout-out joke; as they both wear a blue and yellow outfit (trench coat & jacket). In addition, the pilot episode of ''Static Shock'' features a scene where Static tries on a costume that looks similar to Black Lightning's, while Black Lightning in ''Batman: The Brave and the Bold'' jokes he needs more than a "little static shock" to defeat his enemies (By the same token, Wildcat jokes that it was going to take "a whole lot more than a little static shock to slow this old man down!").

Prior to appearing in ''Batman: The Brave and the Bold'' in 2009, Black Lightning had never appeared in any of the many television series based on DC Comics superheroes. This in itself is not unusual for a character of Black Lightning's relative obscurity, but is notable because at least three such series have contained specially-created black superheroes with electrical powers who ''weren't'' Black Lightning - series regular Black Vulcan in ''Super Friends'' (Hanna-Barbera did not want to pay the larger licensing fee required to cover the royalty due to the creators, so decided to create its own version of the character); Soul Power, who appeared in ''Static Shock'' and was originally intended to have been Black Lightning, but DC Comics would not permit the use of Black Lightning; and Juice in ''Justice League Unlimited'', based on Black Vulcan.

Comic strip

Black Lightning's earliest appearances outside of his own title in 1977 were in ''The World's Greatest Superheroes'' newspaper comic strip. There, he met Batman and other heroes before his rejection of Justice League of America membership.

Film

Actor Terrence Howard, who previously played the Marvel Comics character Jim Rhodes in 2008's ''Iron Man'', has expressed interest in playing Black Lightning in a potential film adaptation, remarking, "I don’t think he’s really been explored." LeVar Burton provides the voice of Black Lightning in his single speaking line in the animated movie, ''Superman/Batman: Public Enemies''. He is one of the heroes who agrees to work for Lex Luthor after the supposedly reformed villain is elected President.'' An evil version of Black Lightning known as Black Power appears as a member of the Crime Syndicate of America in the animated film ''Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths''. The heroic Black Lightning also makes an appearance, along with Aquaman, Black Canary, Firestorm (Jason Rusch), and Red Tornado, presumably as backup members of the Justice League, although their actual membership status is never explicitly stated. Black Lightning, and the other backups, appear again after the final battle as Batman suggests initiating a membership drive. While Black Lightning does not have any lines his grunts are provided by Cedric Yarbrough.

Video Game

Bumper Robinson reprises his role of Black Lightning ''Batman: The Brave and the Bold – The Videogame''.

Alexander Brandon voices Black Lightning in the ''DC Universe Online'' video game.

Homages/parodies

Sinbad once appeared on NBC's ''Saturday Night Live'' dressed as Black Lightning, crashing Superman's funeral. The other dignitaries and superheroes did not recognize him, even though he claimed to have taught Superman how to fly. As the funeral breaks up, he is spotted grabbing the free shrimp from the buffet table.

In the commercial of ''Alltel'' there is a character similar to Black Lightning, he brings Chad the spokesperson to tell the family about the offer and zaps away the competition.

References

External links

Black Lightning at Cosmic Teams

Black Lightning at the DCU Guide

Fanzing: Black Lightning history

Black Lightning Index

Fanzing: Diversity In The DC Universe: 1961 - Today

Database and Cover gallery for both Black Lightning series

Tony Isabella at World Famous Comics

The Outer Observatory A fansite for The Outsiders

Category:1977 comic debuts Category:Comics characters introduced in 1977 Category:DC Comics martial artists Category:DC Comics metahumans Category:DC Comics titles Category:Fictional African-American people Category:Fictional characters with electric abilities Category:Fictional schoolteachers

de:Black Lightning fr:Black Lightning pt:Raio Negro (DC Comics) fi:Musta Salama (DC Comics) tl:Black Lightning

Charles Parker, Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer.

Parker, with Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, is widely considered to have been one of the most influential jazz musicians. Parker acquired the nickname "Yardbird" early in his career and the shortened form "Bird" remained Parker's sobriquet for the rest of his life, inspiring the titles of a number of Parker compositions, such as "Yardbird Suite", "Ornithology" and "Bird of Paradise."

Parker played a leading role in the development of bebop, a form of jazz characterized by fast tempos, virtuoso technique, and improvisation based on harmonic structure. Parker's innovative approaches to melody, rhythm, and harmony exercised enormous influence on his contemporaries. Several of Parker's songs have become standards, including "Billie's Bounce", "Anthropology", "Ornithology", and "Confirmation". He introduced revolutionary harmonic ideas including a tonal vocabulary employing 9ths, 11ths and 13ths of chords, rapidly implied passing chords, and new variants of altered chords and chord substitutions. His tone was clean and penetrating, but sweet and plaintive on ballads. Although many Parker recordings demonstrate dazzling virtuosic technique and complex melodic lines – such as "Ko-Ko", "Kim", and "Leap Frog" – he was also one of the great blues players. His themeless blues improvisation "Parker's Mood" represents one of the most deeply affecting recordings in jazz. At various times, Parker fused jazz with other musical styles, from classical to Latin music, blazing paths followed later by others.

Parker was an icon for the hipster subculture and later the Beat generation, personifying the conception of the jazz musician as an uncompromising artist and intellectual, rather than just a popular entertainer. His style – from a rhythmic, harmonic and soloing perspective – influenced countless peers on every instrument.

Biography

Childhood

Charlie Parker was born in Kansas City, Kansas and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, the only child of Charles and Addie Parker. Charles, an alcoholic, was often absent. Parker attended Lincoln High School. He enrolled in September 1934 and withdrew in December 1935 about the time he joined the local Musicians Union.

Parker displayed no sign of musical talent as a child. His father presumably provided some musical influence; he was a pianist, dancer and singer on the T.O.B.A. circuit, although he later became a Pullman waiter or chef on the railways. His mother worked nights at the local Western Union. His biggest influence however was a young trombone player who taught him the basics of improvisation.

Parker began playing the saxophone at age 11 and at age 14 joined his school's band using a rented school instrument. One story holds that, without formal training, he was terrible, and thrown out of the band. Experiencing periodic setbacks of this sort, at one point he broke off from his constant practicing.

Early career

It has been said that, in early 1936, Parker participated in a cutting contest that included Jo Jones on drums, who tossed a cymbal at Parker in impatience with his playing. However, in the numerous interviews throughout his life, Jones made no mention of this incident. At this time Parker began to practice with great diligence and rigor, learning the blues, "Cherokee" and "rhythm changes" in all twelve keys. In this woodshedding period, Parker mastered improvisation and developed some of the ideas of be-bop. In an interview with Paul Desmond, he said he spent 3–4 years practicing up to 15 hours a day. It has been said that he used to play many other tunes in all twelve keys. The story, though undocumented, would help to explain the fact that he often played in unconventional concert pitch key signatures, like E (which transposes to C# for the alto sax).

Groups led by Count Basie and Bennie Moten were the leading Kansas City ensembles, and undoubtedly influenced Parker. He continued to play with local bands in jazz clubs around Kansas City, Missouri, where he perfected his technique with the assistance of Buster Smith, whose dynamic transitions to double and triple time certainly influenced Parker's developing style.

In 1938, Parker joined pianist Jay McShann's territory band. The band toured nightclubs and other venues of the southwest, as well as Chicago and New York City. Parker made his professional recording debut with McShann's band. It was said at one point in McShann's band that he "sounded like a machine", owing to his highly virtuosic yet nonetheless musical playing.

As a teenager, Parker developed a morphine addiction while in hospital after an automobile accident, and subsequently became addicted to heroin. Heroin would haunt him throughout his life and ultimately contribute to his death.

New York City

In 1939, Parker moved to New York City. There he pursued a career in music, but held several other jobs as well. He worked for $9 a week as a dishwasher at Jimmie's Chicken Shack where pianist Art Tatum performed. Parker's later style in some ways recalled Tatum's, with dazzling, high-speed arpeggios and sophisticated use of harmony.

In 1942, Parker left McShann's band and played with Earl Hines for one year. Also in the band was trumpet player Dizzy Gillespie, which is where the soon to be famous duo met for the first time. Unfortunately, this period is virtually undocumented because of the strike of 1942–1943 by the American Federation of Musicians, during which no official recordings were made. Nevertheless, we know that Parker joined a group of young musicians in after-hours clubs in Harlem such as Clark Monroe's Uptown House and (to a much lesser extent) Minton's Playhouse. These young iconoclasts included Gillespie, pianist Thelonious Monk, guitarist Charlie Christian, and drummer Kenny Clarke. The beboppers' attitude was summed up in a famous quotation attributed to Monk by Mary Lou Williams: "We wanted a music that they couldn't play" – "they" being the (white) bandleaders who had taken over and profited from swing music. The group played in venues on 52nd Street including the Three Deuces and The Onyx. In his time in New York City, Parker also learned much from notable music teacher Maury Deutsch.

Bebop

According to an interview Parker gave in the 1950s, one night in 1939, he was playing "Cherokee" in a jam session with guitarist William 'Biddy' Fleet when he hit upon a method for developing his solos that enabled him to play what he had been hearing in his head for some time, by connecting harmony using the diminished relationship of dominants. Still with McShann's orchestra, Parker at this time realized that the twelve tones of the chromatic scale can lead melodically to any key, breaking some of the confines of simpler jazz soloing.

Early in its development, this new type of jazz was rejected by many of the established, traditional jazz musicians who disdained their younger counterparts with comments like Eddie Condon's putdown: "They flat their fifths, we drink ours." The beboppers, in response, called these traditionalists "moldy figs". However, some musicians, such as Coleman Hawkins and Benny Goodman, were more positive about its development, and participated in jam sessions and recording dates in the new approach with its adherents.

Because of the 2-year Musicians' Union recording ban on all commercial recordings from 1942 to 1944 (part of a struggle to get royalties from record sales for a union fund for out-of-work musicians), much of bebop's early development was not captured for posterity. As a result, the new musical concepts only gained limited radio exposure. Bebop musicians had a difficult time gaining widespread recognition. It was not until 1945, when the recording ban was lifted, that Parker's collaborations with Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Bud Powell and others had a substantial effect on the jazz world. One of their first (and greatest) small-group performances together was rediscovered and issued in 2005: a concert in New York's Town Hall on June 22, 1945. Bebop began to grab hold and gain wider appeal among musicians and fans alike.

On November 26, 1945, Parker led a record date for the Savoy label, marketed as the "greatest Jazz session ever." The tracks recorded during this session include "Ko-Ko" (based on the chords of "Cherokee"), "Now's the Time" (a twelve bar blues incorporating a riff later used in the late 1949 R&B; dance hit "The Hucklebuck"), "Billie's Bounce", and "Thriving on a Riff".

Shortly afterwards, the Parker/Gillespie band traveled to an unsuccessful engagement at Billy Berg's club in Los Angeles. Most of the group returned to New York, but Parker remained in California, cashing in his return ticket to buy heroin. He experienced great hardship in California, eventually being committed to Camarillo State Mental Hospital for a six month period.

Addiction

Parker's addiction to heroin, which began in his late teens, caused him to miss gigs and to be fired for being high. To satisfy his habit, he frequently resorted to busking on the streets for drug money, receiving loans from fellow musicians/admirers, pawning his own horn and borrowing other sax players' instruments as a result. Parker's situation was typical of the strong connection between drug abuse and jazz at the time.

Although he produced many brilliant recordings during this period, Parker's behavior became increasingly erratic due to his habit. Heroin was difficult to obtain after he moved to California for a short time where the drug was less abundant, and Parker began to drink heavily to compensate for this. A recording for the Dial label from July 29, 1946, provides evidence of his condition. Prior to this session, Parker drank about a quart of whiskey. According to the liner notes of ''Charlie Parker on Dial Volume 1'', Parker missed most of the first two bars of his first chorus on the track, "Max Making Wax." When he finally did come in, he swayed wildly and once spun all the way around, going badly off mic. On the next tune, "Lover Man", producer Ross Russell physically supported Parker in front of the microphone. On "Bebop" (the final track Parker recorded that evening) he begins a solo with a solid first eight bars. On his second eight bars, however, Parker begins to struggle, and a desperate Howard McGhee, the trumpeter on this session, shouts, "Blow!" at Parker. McGhee's bellow is audible on the recording. Charles Mingus considered this version of "Lover Man" to be among Parker's greatest recordings despite its flaws. Nevertheless, Parker hated the recording and never forgave Ross Russell for releasing the sub-par performance (and re-recorded the tune in 1951 for Verve, this time in stellar form, but perhaps lacking some of the passionate emotion in the earlier, problematic attempt).

During the night following the "Lover Man" session, Parker was drinking in his hotel room. He entered the hotel lobby stark naked on several occasions and asked to use the phone, but was refused on each attempt. The hotel manager eventually locked him in his room. At some point during the night, he set fire to his mattress with a cigarette, then ran through the hotel lobby wearing only his socks. He was arrested and committed to Camarillo State Mental Hospital, where he remained for six months.

Coming out of the hospital, Parker was initially clean and healthy, and proceeded to do some of the best playing and recording of his career. Before leaving California, he recorded "Relaxin' at Camarillo", in reference to his hospital stay. He returned to New York – and his addiction – and recorded dozens of sides for the Savoy and Dial labels that remain some of the high points of his recorded output. Many of these were with his so-called "classic quintet" including trumpeter Miles Davis and drummer Max Roach.

Charlie Parker with strings

A longstanding desire of Parker's was to perform with a string section. He was a keen student of classical music, and contemporaries reported he was most interested in the music and formal innovations of Igor Stravinsky, and longed to engage in a project akin to what later became known as Third Stream Music, a new kind of music, incorporating both jazz and classical elements as opposed to merely incorporating a string section into performance of jazz standards. On November 30, 1949, Norman Granz arranged for Parker to record an album of ballads with a mixed group of jazz and chamber orchestra musicians. Six master takes from this session comprised the album ''Bird With Strings'': "Just Friends", "Everything Happens to Me", "April in Paris", "Summertime", "I Didn't Know What Time It Was", and "If I Should Lose You". The sound of these recordings is rare in Parker's catalog. Parker's improvisations are, in comparison to his usual work, more distilled and economical. His tone is darker and softer than on his small-group recordings, and the majority of his lines are beautiful embellishments on the original melodies rather than harmonically based improvisations. These are among the few recordings Parker made during a brief period when he was able to control his heroin habit, and his sobriety and clarity of mind are evident in his playing. Parker stated that, of his own records, ''Bird With Strings'' was his favorite. Although using classical music instrumentation with jazz musicians was not entirely original, this was the first major work where a composer of bebop was matched with a string orchestra.

Some fans thought this record was a sell out and a pandering to popular tastes. It is now seen to have been artistically as well as commercially successful. While ''Charlie Parker with Strings'' sold better than his other releases, Parker's version of "Just Friends" is regarded as one of his best performances. In an interview, Parker said he considered it to be his best recording to that date.

Prominence

thumb|right|Right side view of a [[C. G. Conn|Conn 6M "Lady Face" alto sax with highly distinctive underslung octave key, a model that Parker is known to have used. ]]

By 1950, much of the jazz world had fallen under Parker's spell. Many musicians transcribed and copied his solos. Legions of saxophonists imitated his playing note-for-note. In response to these pretenders, Parker's admirer, the bass player Charles Mingus, titled a tune "Gunslinging Bird" (meaning "If Charlie Parker were a gunslinger, there would be a whole lot of dead copycats") featured on the album ''Mingus Dynasty''. In this regard, he is perhaps only comparable to Louis Armstrong: both men set the standard for their instruments for decades, and few escaped their influence.

In 1953, Parker performed at Massey Hall in Toronto, Canada, joined by Gillespie, Mingus, Bud Powell and Max Roach. Unfortunately, the concert clashed with a televised heavyweight boxing match between Rocky Marciano and Jersey Joe Walcott and as a result was poorly attended. Thankfully, Mingus recorded the concert, and the album ''Jazz at Massey Hall'' is often cited as one of the finest recordings of a live jazz performance, with the saxophonist credited as "Charlie Chan" for contractual reasons.

At this concert, he played a plastic Grafton saxophone (serial number 10265); later, saxophonist Ornette Coleman used this brand of plastic sax in his early career. There is a story that says Parker had sold his alto saxophone to buy drugs, and at the last minute, he, Dizzy Gillespie and other members of Charlie's entourage went running around Toronto trying to find Parker a saxophone. After scouring all the downtown pawnshops open at the time, they were only able to find a Grafton, which Parker proceeded to use at the concert that night. This account however is totally untrue. Parker in fact owned two of the Grafton plastic horns. At this point in his career he was experimenting with new sounds and new materials. Parker himself explains the purpose of the plastic saxophone in a May 9 of 1953 broadcast from Birdland and does so again in subsequent May 1953 broadcast.

Parker was known for often showing up to performances without an instrument, necessitating a loan at the last moment. There are various photos that show him playing a Conn 6M saxophone, a high quality instrument that was noted for having a very fast action and a unique "underslung" octave key.

Some of the photographs showing Parker with a Conn 6M were taken on separate occasions. because Parker can be seen wearing different clothing and there are different backgrounds. However, other photos exist that show Parker holding alto saxophones with a more conventional octave key arrangement, i.e. mounted above the crook of the saxophone e.g. the Martin Handicraft and Selmer Model 22 saxophones, among others. Parker is also known to have performed with a King 'Super 20' saxophone, with a semi-underslung octave key that bears some resemblance to those fitted on modern Yanagisawa instruments. Parker's King Super 20 saxophone was made specially for him in 1947.

Death

Parker died in the suite of his friend and patron Nica de Koenigswarter at the Stanhope Hotel in New York City while watching ''The Dorsey Brothers' Stage Show'' on television. The official causes of death were lobar pneumonia and a bleeding ulcer but Parker also had an advanced case of cirrhosis and had had a heart attack. Any one of the four ailments could have killed him. The coroner who performed his autopsy mistakenly estimated Parker's 34-year-old body to be between 50 and 60 years of age.

It was well known that Parker never wanted to return to Kansas City, even in death. Parker had told his common-law wife, Chan, that he did not want to be buried in the city of his birth; that New York was his home and he didn’t want any fuss or memorials when he died. At the time of his death, though, he had not divorced his previous wife Doris, nor had he officially married Chan, which left Parker in the awkward post-mortem situation of having two widows. This complicated the settling of Parker's inheritance and would ultimately serve to frustrate his wish to be quietly interred in his adopted hometown. Dizzy Gillespie was able to take charge of the funeral arrangements that Chan had been putting together and organised a ‘lying-in-state’, a Harlem procession officiated by Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., and a memorial concert before Parker's body was flown back to Missouri to be buried there in accordance with his mother's wishes. Parker was buried at Lincoln Cemetery, 8604 E. Truman Road, Kansas City, Missouri.

Charlie Parker was survived by both his legal wife, Doris (née Doris June Snyder, August 16, 1922 – January 17, 2000), and his partner, Chan; a stepdaughter, Kim, who is also a musician; and a son, Baird; their later lives are chronicled in Chan Parker's autobiography, ''My Life in E Flat''.

Parker's estate is managed by CMG Worldwide.

Music

Parker's style of composition involved interpolation of original melodies over pre-existing jazz forms and standards, a practice still common in jazz today. Examples include "Ornithology" ("How High The Moon") and "Yardbird Suite" ("What Price Love"). The practice was not uncommon prior to bebop; however, it became a signature of the movement as artists began to move away from arranging popular standards and began to compose their own material.

While tunes such as "Now's The Time", "Billie's Bounce", and "Cool Blues" were based on conventional 12-bar blues changes, Parker also created a unique version of the 12-bar blues for his tune "Blues for Alice". These unique chords are known popularly as "Bird Changes". Like his solos, some of his compositions are characterized by long, complex melodic lines and a minimum of repetition although he did employ the use of repetitive (yet relatively rhythmically complex) motifs in many other tunes as well, most notably "Now's The Time".

Parker also contributed a vast rhythmic vocabulary to the modern jazz solo, one in which triplets and pick-up notes were used in (then) unorthodox ways to lead into chord tones, affording the soloist with more freedom to use passing tones, which soloists would have previously avoided. Within this context, Parker was admired for his unique style of phrasing and innovative use of rhythm. Via his recordings and the popularity of the posthumously published ''Charlie Parker Omnibook'', Parker's uniquely identifiable vocabulary of "licks" and "riffs" dominated jazz for many years to come. Today his ideas are routinely analyzed by jazz students and are part of any player's basic jazz vocabulary.

Awards and recognitions

;Grammy Award {| class=wikitable |- | colspan="5" style="text-align:center;"| Charlie Parker Grammy Award History |- ! Year ! Category ! Title ! Genre ! Label ! Result |- align=center | 1974 | Best Performance By A Soloist | ''First Recordings!'' | Jazz | Onyx | Winner |}

;Grammy Hall of Fame Recordings of Charlie Parker were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance."

{| class=wikitable |- | colspan="6" style="text-align:center;"| Charlie Parker: Grammy Hall of Fame Awards |- ! Year Recorded ! Title ! Genre ! Label ! Year Inducted |- align=center | 1945 | "Billie's Bounce" | Jazz (Single) | Savoy | 2002 |- align=center | 1953 | ''Jazz at Massey Hall'' | Jazz (Album) | Debut | 1995 |- align=center | 1946 | "Ornithology" | Jazz (Single) | Dial | 1989 |- align=center | 1950 | ''Charlie Parker with Strings'' | Jazz (Album) | Mercury | 1988 |}

;Inductions {| class=wikitable |- | colspan="5" style="text-align:center;"| |- ! Year Inducted ! Title |- align=center | 2004 | Jazz at Lincoln Center: Nesuhi Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame |- align=center | 1984 | Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award |- align=center | 1979 | Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame |}

;National Recording Registry

In 2002, the Library of Congress honored his recording "Ko-Ko" (1945) by adding it to the National Recording Registry.

;U.S. Postage Stamp

{| class=wikitable |- | colspan="4" style="text-align:center;"| |- ! Year Issued ! Stamp ! USA ! Note |- align=center | 1995 | 32 cents Commemorative stamp | U.S. Postal Stamps | Photo (Scott #2987) |}

Musical tributes

Lennie Tristano's overdubbed solo piano piece "Requiem" was recorded in tribute to Parker shortly after his death. It begins with a classically-tinged introduction, and then turns into a slow blues that gradually accumulates layers of overdubbing – one of the earliest experiments in jazz with multiple overdubbing.

Deeply touched by Charlie Parker's death, street musician Moondog wrote his famous "Bird's Lament" in his memory. Moondog affirmed that he had met Charlie Parker in the streets of New York and that they had planned to jam together.

The Californian ensemble Supersax harmonized many of Parker's improvisations for a five-piece saxophone section, which to many listeners bring new life to them, whereas others consider the arrangements as somewhat constructed.

Saxophonist Phil Woods recorded a tribute concert for Parker, and in an interview stated that he thought Parker had said everything he needed to say.

Weather Report's jazz fusion track and highly acclaimed big band standard "Birdland", from the ''Heavy Weather'' album (1977), was a dedication by bandleader Joe Zawinul to both Charlie Parker and the New York 52nd Street club itself. The piece featured Jaco Pastorius playing electric fretless bass. (Pastorius had made a name for himself when he included on his debut solo album an astounding rendition of the Charlie Parker and Miles Davis standard "Donna Lee".) The Manhattan Transfer made a vocalese cover version of the composition with lyrics by Jon Hendricks.

In 2003 various artists including Serj Tankian and Dan the Automator put out Bird Up: The Charlie Parker Remix Project. This album created new songs by remixing Charlie Parker's originals.

The biographical song "Parker's Band" was recorded by Steely Dan on its 1974 album ''Pretzel Logic''.

British jazz-rock band If paid tribute to Parker in the title track of their last album, ''Tea Break Over, Back on Your 'Eads'' (1975), including a Parker-styled saxophone solo and the lyrics "The Bird was the man to be heard" and "The music was the word".

The avant-garde trombonist George Lewis recorded ''Homage to Charles Parker'' (1979), an album that offers a unique combination of electronic music and the blues.

TISM's ''The White Albun'' (2004) contains the song "Tonight Harry's Practice Visits the Home of Charlie 'Bird' Parker". The song focuses on celebrity resentment and the possibility that taking drugs will make the otherwise dull celebrities more interesting. The title of the song refers to Australian television show Harry's Practice and, more specifically, the segment where Dr. Harry Cooper would visit a celebrity, in this case, the visit is to Charlie "Bird" Parker's house.

Sparks released the song "(When I Kiss You) I Hear Charlie Parker Playing" on their 1994 album ''Gratuitous Sax & Senseless Violins'', which prominently features Charlie Parker's name in the lyrics and makes references to his saxophone playing.

Duane Allman devised a unique slide guitar technique that enabled him to mimic the sounds of chirping birds, stating in at least one interview that this was his tribute to Parker. This can be heard in numerous live recordings, most notably "Mountain Jam" on The Allman Brothers Band's CDs ''Eat a Peach'' and ''The Fillmore Concerts'' (shortly before the drum interlude). Another, more delicate, version is in the song "Finding Her" on Boz Scaggs' self-titled debut album, first released in 1969. This technique can also be heard at the end of Derek & the Dominos 1970 hit "Layla" on which Allman played.

''The Only World'' by poet Lynda Hull includes the poem "Ornithology" about Charlie Parker.

The poem "Song for Bird and Myself" by Jack Spicer was written in memory of Charlie Parker.

The song Jack & Neal/California, Here I Come, on the album Foreign Affairs by Tom Waits has a line that goes: with charlie parker on the bandstand not a worry in the world.

In the song "Can't Stop" by Red Hot Chili Peppers, the lyrics refer to Parker with the line "birds that blow the meaning into bebop."

Richard Thompson references Charlie Parker in his song "Outside of the Inside" on the album ''The Old Kit Bag'' (2005).

Charlie Parker is referenced in the song "Rothko Chapel" by David Dondero on the album ''Simple Love'' (2007).

Harry Chapin references Charlie Parker in the song 'There Only Was One Choice' from the 'Dance Band On The Titanic' album.

Refused included live recordings of Parker at the end of the song "Liberation Frequency" and transitioned it into "The Deadly Rhythm" on the album ''The Shape of Punk to Come''.

Coordinates	34°03′″N118°15′″N
name	Charlie Parker Residence
nrhp type	nrhp
locmapin	New York City
lat degrees	40
lat minutes	43
lat seconds	36
lat direction	N
long degrees	73
long minutes	58
long seconds	50
long direction	W
coord parameters	region:US-NY_type:landmark
location	151 Avenue BManhattan, New York City
built	c.1849
architecture	Gothic Revival
added	April 7, 1994
designated nrhp type	April 7, 1994
refnum	94000262
governing body	private
designated other2 name	NYC Landmark
designated other2 date	May 18, 1999
designated other2 abbr	NYCL
designated other2 link	New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
designated other2 color	#ff0000 }}

Charlie Parker Residence

From 1950 to 1954, Parker and his common-law wife, Chan Richardson, lived in the ground floor of the townhouse at 151 Avenue B, between East 9th and 10th Streets across from Tompkins Square Park in the Alphabet City section of the East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. The Gothic Revival building, which was built c.1849, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994, and was designated a New York City landmark in 1999. In addition, in 1992, Avenue B between East 7th and 10th Streets was renamed Charlie Parker Place in 1992.

Other tributes

In 1949, the New York night club Birdland was named in his honor. Three years later, George Shearing wrote "Lullaby of Birdland", named for both Parker and the nightclub.

A memorial to Parker was dedicated in 1999 in Kansas City at 17th Terrace and The Paseo, near the American Jazz Museum located at 18th and Vine, featuring a tall bronze head sculpted by Robert Graham.

The Charlie Parker Jazz Festival is a free two-day music festival which takes place every summer on the last weekend of August in Manhattan, New York City at Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem and Tompkins Square Park in the Lower East Side, sponsored by the non-profit organization City Parks Foundation. The festival marked its 17th anniversary in 2009.

Every August, the Tribes Gallery in New York's Lower East Side sponsors a Charlie Parker Festival that includes musical performances, art exhibits, poetry readings.

Every weekday morning, disc jockey Phil Schaap plays Parker's music on WKCR in New York. His show, called ''Birdflight'', is devoted to Parker's music and has been running since 1981.

In one of his most famous short-story collections, ''Las armas secretas'' (The Secret Weapons), Julio Cortázar dedicated "''El perseguidor''" ("The Pursuer") to the memory of Charlie Parker. This piece examines the last days of Johnny, a drug-addict saxophonist, through the eyes of Bruno, his biographer. Some qualify this story as one of Cortazar's masterpieces in the genre.

A biographical film called ''Bird'', starring Forest Whitaker as Parker and directed by Clint Eastwood, was released in 1988.

In 1984, legendary modern dance choreographer Alvin Ailey created the piece ''For Bird – With Love'' in honor of Parker. The piece chronicles his life, from his early career to his failing health.

In 2005, the Selmer Paris saxophone manufacturer commissioned a special "Tribute to Bird" alto saxophone, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the death of Charlie Parker (1955–2005). This saxophone will be built until 2010, each one featuring a unique engraving and an original design.

Parker's performances of "I Remember You" and "Parker's Mood" were selected by Harold Bloom for inclusion on his short list of the "twentieth-century American Sublime", the greatest works of American art produced in the 20th century.

Parker is referenced in Jack Kerouac's ''On the Road'' as being a major influence of the Bop movement, at the time, Kerouacs character watches a performance of Parker at a club in downtown Chicago

The Oris Watch Company created a limited edition timepiece in Charlie Parker's name. The watch features the word "bird" at the 4 o'clock hour, in honor of Parker's nickname and signifying "Jazz, until 4 in the morning".

Jean-Michel Basquiat created many pieces to honour Charlie Parker, including ''Charles the First'', ''CPRKR'' and ''Discography I''.

The main character in Jim Jarmusch's ''Permanent Vacation'' is an avid Parker fan.

In 1995, ''Live Bird'', a one-man play about Charlie Parker, written and performed by actor/saxophonist Jeff Robinson, made its premier at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, Massachusetts.

A ''Far Side'' cartoon published on Parker's birthday in 1990 titled "Charlie Parker's private hell" shows him locked in a recording booth, screaming, while a whistling devil pipes in nothing but new age music.

Charley Parker, the real name of comic book character Golden Eagle, is a reference to Parker.

In an episode of ''Cowboy Bebop'', Jet Black dreams that Parker tells him, "Only hands can wash hands. If you want to receive, you have to give."

In an episode of ''Metalocolypse'' William Murderface of the band Dethklok is heard to be singing his own tribute to Charlie Parker while drunk in a bar in the opening minutes of an episode. The lyrics included "Stand up U.S.A, stand up like Charlie Parker stood up, stand up Charlie Parker style..."

Owen Dodson wrote a poem whose title itself indicates the tribute. It is called "Yardbird's Skull".

On the Del Close recording ''How to Speak Hip'', John Brent's character, Geets Romo, says it is "uncool to claim you used to run with Bird, or that you have Bird's ax, and you know, it's even less cool to ask, 'Who is Bird?'" This is also sampled in the 1994 Hans Dulfer song "Jazz Disaster (Cool)".

Parker plays at a night club in ''The Subterraneans'' by Jack Kerouac. He appears in other works by Kerouac as well.

In episode 16 of ''The Mighty Boosh'', Charlie Parker's rare "Yardbird" LP can be seen on one of the racks in the Nabootique.

The protagonist in John Connolly's series of crime novels is named Charlie Parker and even shares the nickname "Bird."

Charlie Watts, drummer for the Rolling Stones, wrote a children's book entitled "Ode to a High Flying Bird" as a tribute to Parker. Watts has cited Parker as a major influence in his life as a young man learning to play jazz.

Spanish Rock Band Saratoga wrote a song named "Charlie se fue"(Charlie is gone) as a tribute to Charlie Parker. It is included in its 1999 album ''Vientos de Guerra''. In the beginning of the song it says: ''"Antes que Malcom y King, que Lennon, en Kansas City surgio la estrella."'' ("Before Malcolm and King, before Lennon, in Kansas City arose the Star")

Notes

References

Aebersold, Jamey, editor (1978). ''Charlie Parker Omnibook''. New York: Michael H. Goldsen.

Giddins, Gary (1987). ''Celebrating Bird: The Triumph of Charlie Parker''. New York: Beech Tree Books, William Morrow. ISBN 0-688-05950-3.

Koch, Lawrence (1999). ''Yardbird Suite: A Compendium of the Music and Life of Charlie Parker''. Boston, Northeastern University Press. ISBN 1-55555-384-1.

Reisner, George (1962). ''Bird: The Legend of Charlie Parker''. New York, Bonanza Books.

Russell, Ross (1973). ''Bird Lives! The High Life & Hard Times of Charlie (Yardbird) Parker''. New York:Charterhouse. ISBN 0-306-80679-7.

Woideck, Carl (1998). ''Charlie Parker: His Music and Life''. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-08555-7.

Woideck, Carl, editor (1998). ''The Charlie Parker Companion: Six Decades of Commentary''. New York: Schirmer Books. ISBN 0-02-864714-9.

Yamaguchi, Masaya, editor (1955). ''Yardbird Originals''. New York: Charles Colin, 2005. Originally published in 1955.

External links

Charlie Parker discography at Discogs

Charlie Parker discography

Charlie Parker Sessionography

The Official Site of Charlie "Yardbird" Parker

Clips and notes about Parker

Charlie Parker at Find A Grave

Camarillo State Mental Hospital History (Parker was a patient there)

Category:1920 births Category:1955 deaths Category:People from Kansas City, Kansas Category:African American musicians Category:American buskers Category:American jazz composers Category:American jazz saxophonists Category:Bebop saxophonists Category:Deaths from pneumonia Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:Infectious disease deaths in New York Category:Jazz alto saxophonists Category:Musicians from Missouri Category:Savoy Records artists

ar:شارلي باركر bs:Charlie Parker bg:Чарли Паркър ca:Charlie Parker cs:Charlie Parker da:Charlie Parker de:Charlie Parker et:Charlie Parker el:Τσάρλι Πάρκερ es:Charlie Parker eo:Charlie Parker eu:Charlie Parker fa:چارلی پارکر fr:Charlie Parker gl:Charlie Parker ko:찰리 파커 hr:Charlie Parker io:Charlie Parker id:Charlie Parker it:Charlie Parker he:צ'ארלי פרקר ka:ჩარლზ პარკერი sw:Charlie Parker lv:Čārlijs Pārkers lb:Charlie Parker hu:Charlie Parker nl:Charlie Parker ja:チャーリー・パーカー no:Charlie Parker nn:Charlie Parker oc:Charlie Parker nds:Charlie Parker pl:Charlie Parker pt:Charlie Parker ru:Паркер, Чарли scn:Charlie Parker simple:Charlie Parker sk:Charlie Parker sr:Чарли Паркер fi:Charlie Parker sv:Charlie Parker tl:Charlie Parker th:ชาร์ลี พาร์กเกอร์ tr:Charlie Parker uk:Чарлі Паркер zh:查利·帕克

Coordinates	34°03′″N118°15′″N
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth name	John Birks Gillespie
Born	October 21, 1917Cheraw, South Carolina, U.S.
Died	January 06, 1993Englewood, New Jersey, U.S.
Instrument	Trumpet, piano, trombone
Genre	BebopAfro-Cuban jazz
Occupation	Trumpeter, bandleader, singer, composer
Years active	1935–1993
Associated acts	Charlie ParkerCab CallowayBud Powell
Label	Pablo Records, Verve Records, Savoy Records, RCA Victor Records, Milan Records, Douglas Records }}

John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".

Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz. He taught and influenced many other musicians, including trumpeters Miles Davis, Fats Navarro, Clifford Brown, Arturo Sandoval, Lee Morgan, Jon Faddis and Chuck Mangione.

Allmusic's Scott Yanow wrote that "Dizzy Gillespie's contributions to jazz were huge. One of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all time (some would say the best), Gillespie was such a complex player that his contemporaries ended up copying Miles Davis and Fats Navarro instead, and it was not until Jon Faddis's emergence in the 1970s that Dizzy's style was successfully recreated . . . Arguably Gillespie is remembered, by both critics and fans alike, as one of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all time."

In addition to featuring in the epochal moments in bebop, he was instrumental in founding Afro-Cuban jazz, the modern jazz version of what early-jazz pioneer Jelly Roll Morton referred to as the "Spanish Tinge". Gillespie was a trumpet virtuoso and gifted improviser, building on the virtuoso style of Roy Eldridge but adding layers of harmonic complexity previously unknown in jazz. Dizzy's beret and horn-rimmed spectacles, his scat singing, his bent horn, pouched cheeks and his light-hearted personality were essential in popularizing bebop.

Biography

Early life and career

He was born in Cheraw, South Carolina, the youngest of nine children born to James and Lottie Gillespie. James was a local bandleader, so instruments were made available to Dizzy. He started to play the piano at the age of four. Dizzy's father died when the boy was only ten years old. Dizzy taught himself how to play the trombone as well as the trumpet by the age of twelve. From the night he heard his idol, Roy Eldridge, play on the radio, he dreamed of becoming a jazz musician. He received a music scholarship to the Laurinburg Institute in Laurinburg, North Carolina He attended for two years before accompanying his family when they moved to Philadelphia.

Dizzy's first professional job was with the Frank Fairfax Orchestra in 1935, after which he joined the respective orchestras of Edgar Hayes and Teddy Hill, essentially replacing Roy Eldridge as first trumpet in 1937. Teddy Hill’s band was where Dizzy Gillespie made his first recording, ''King Porter Stomp''. At this time Dizzy met a young woman named Lorraine from the Apollo Theatre, whom he married in 1940. They remained married until his death in 1993. Dizzy stayed with Teddy Hill’s band for a year, then left and free-lanced with numerous other bands. In 1939, Dizzy joined Cab Calloway's orchestra, with which he recorded one of his earliest compositions, the instrumental ''Pickin' the Cabbage'', in 1940. (Originally released on ''Paradiddle'', a 78rpm backed with a co-composition with Cozy Cole, Calloway's drummer at the time, on the Vocalion label, #5467).

Dizzy was fired by Calloway in late 1941, after a notorious altercation between the two. The incident is recounted by Dizzy, along with fellow Calloway band members Milt Hinton and Jonah Jones, in Jean Bach's 1997 film, The Spitball Story. Calloway did not approve of Dizzy's mischievous humor, nor of his adventuresome approach to soloing; according to Jones, Calloway referred to it as “Chinese music.” During one performance, Calloway saw a spitball land on the stage, and accused Dizzy of having thrown it. Dizzy denied it, and the ensuing argument led to Calloway striking Dizzy, who then pulled out a switchblade knife and charged Calloway. The two were separated by other band members, during which scuffle Calloway was cut on the hand.

During his time in Calloway's band, Dizzy Gillespie started writing big band music for bandleaders like Woody Herman and Jimmy Dorsey. He then freelanced with a few bands - most notably Ella Fitzgerald's orchestra, composed of members of the late Chick Webb's band, in 1942.

In 1943, Dizzy joined the Earl Hines orchestra. The legendary big band of Billy Eckstine gave his unusual harmonies a better setting and it was as a member of Eckstine's band that he was reunited with Parker, a fellow member of Hines's more conventional band. In 1945, Dizzy left Eckstine's band because he wanted to play with a small combo. A "small combo" typically comprised no more than five musicians, playing the trumpet, saxophone, piano, bass and drums.He was a world renowned figure and was a major influence on modern day jazz.

The rise of bebop

Bebop was known as the first modern jazz style. However, it was unpopular in the beginning and was not viewed as positively as swing music was. Bebop was seen as an outgrowth of swing, not a revolution. Swing introduced a diversity of new musicians in the bebop era like Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell, Kenny Clarke, Oscar Pettiford, and Gillespie. Through these musicians, a new vocabulary of musical phrases was created. With Charlie Parker, Gillespie jammed at famous jazz clubs like Minton's Playhouse and Monroe's Uptown House, where the first seeds of bebop were planted. Charlie Parker's system also held methods of adding chords to existing chord progressions and implying additional chords within the improvised lines.

Gillespie compositions like "Groovin' High", "Woody n' You" and "Salt Peanuts" sounded radically different, harmonically and rhythmically, from the swing music popular at the time. "A Night in Tunisia", written in 1942, while Gillespie was playing with Earl Hines' band, is noted for having a feature that is common in today's music, a non-walking bass line. The song also displays Afro-Cuban rhythms. One of their first (and greatest) small-group performances together was only issued in 2005: a concert in New York's Town Hall on June 22, 1945. Gillespie taught many of the young musicians on 52nd Street, including Miles Davis and Max Roach about the new style of jazz. After a lengthy gig at Billy Berg's club in Los Angeles, which left most of the audience ambivalent or hostile towards the new music, the band broke up. Unlike Parker, who was content to play in small groups and be an occasional featured soloist in big bands, Gillespie aimed to lead a big band himself; his first, unsuccessful, attempt to do this was in 1945.

After his work with Parker, Gillespie led other small combos (including ones with Milt Jackson, John Coltrane, Lalo Schifrin, Ray Brown, Kenny Clarke, James Moody, J.J. Johnson, and Yusef Lateef) and finally put together his first successful big band. Dizzy Gillespie and his band tried to popularize bop and make Dizzy Gillespie a symbol of the new music. He also appeared frequently as a soloist with Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic. He also headlined the 1946 independently-produced musical revue film ''Jivin' in Be-Bop''.

In 1948 Dizzy was involved in a traffic accident when the bicycle he was riding was bumped by an automobile. He was slightly injured, and found that he could no longer hit the B-flat above high C. He won the case, but the jury awarded him only $1000, in view of his high earnings up to that point.

In 1956 he organized a band to go on a State Department tour of the Middle East and earned the nickname "the Ambassador of Jazz". During this time, he also continued to lead a big band that performed throughout the United States and featured musicians including Pee Wee Moore and others. This band recorded a live album at the 1957 Newport jazz festival that featured Mary Lou Williams as a guest artist on piano.

Afro-Cuban music

In the late 1940s, Gillespie was also involved in the movement called Afro-Cuban music, bringing Afro-Latin American music and elements to greater prominence in jazz and even pop music, particularly salsa. Afro-Cuban jazz is based on traditional Afro-Cuban rhythms. Dizzy Gillespie was introduced to Chano Pozo in 1947 by Mario Bauza, a Latin jazz trumpet player. Chano Pozo became Gillespie's conga drummer for his band. Dizzy Gilespie also worked with Mario Bauza in New York jazz clubs on 52nd street and several famous dance clubs such as Palladium and the Apollo Theater in Harlem. They played together in the Chick Webb band and Cab Calloway's band, where Gillespie and Bauza became life-long friends. Dizzy helped develop and mature the Afro-Cuban jazz style.

Afro-Cuban jazz was considered bebop-oriented, and some musicians classified it as a modern style. Afro-Cuban jazz was successful because it never decreased in popularity and it always attracted people to dance to its unique rhythms. Gillespie's most famous contributions to Afro-Cuban music are the compositions "Manteca" and "Tin Tin Deo" (both co-written with Chano Pozo); he was responsible for commissioning George Russell's "Cubano Be, Cubano Bop", which featured the great but ill-fated Cuban conga player, Chano Pozo. In 1977, Gillespie discovered Arturo Sandoval while researching music during a tour of Cuba.

Later years

His biographer Alyn Shipton quotes Don Waterhouse approvingly that Dizzy in the fifties "had begun to mellow into an amalgam of his entire jazz experience to form the basis of new classicism". Another opinion is that, unlike his contemporary Miles Davis, Gillespie essentially remained true to the bebop style for the rest of his career.

In 1960, he was inducted into the ''Down Beat'' magazine's Jazz Hall of Fame.

During the 1964 United States presidential campaign the artist, with tongue in cheek, put himself forward as an independent write-in candidate. He promised that if he were elected, the White House would be renamed "The Blues House," and a cabinet composed of Duke Ellington (Secretary of State), Miles Davis, (Director of the CIA), Max Roach (Secretary of Defense), Charles Mingus (Secretary of Peace), Ray Charles (Librarian of Congress), Louis Armstrong (Secretary of Agriculture), Mary Lou Williams (Ambassador to the Vatican), Thelonious Monk (Travelling Ambassador) and Malcolm X (Attorney General). He said his running mate would be Phyllis Diller. Campaign buttons had been manufactured years ago by Gillespie's booking agency "for publicity, as a gag", but now proceeds from them went to benefit the Congress of Racial Equality, Southern Christian Leadership Conference and Martin Luther King, Jr.; in later years they became a collector's item. In 1971 Gillespie announced he would run again but withdrew before the election for reasons connected to the Baha'i faith.

Gillespie published his autobiography, ''To Be or Not to Bop'', in 1979.

Gillespie was a vocal fixture in many of John Hubley and Faith Hubley's animated films, such as ''The Hole'', ''The Hat'', and ''Voyage to Next''.

In the 1980s, Dizzy Gillespie led the United Nation Orchestra. For three years Flora Purim toured with the Orchestra and she credits Gillespie with evolving her understanding of jazz after being in the field for over two decades. David Sánchez also toured with the group and was also greatly influenced by Gillespie. Both artists later were nominated for Grammy awards. Gillespie also had a guest appearance on ''The Cosby Show'' as well as ''Sesame Street'' and ''The Muppet Show''.

In 1982, Dizzy Gillespie had a cameo appearance on Stevie Wonder's hit "Do I Do". Gillespie's tone gradually faded in the last years in life, and his performances often focused more on his proteges such as Arturo Sandoval and Jon Faddis; his good-humoured comedic routines became more and more a part of his live act.

In 1988, Gillespie had worked with Canadian flautist and saxophonist Moe Koffman on their prestigious album ''Oo Pop a Da.'' He did fast scat vocals on the title track and a couple of the other tracks were played only on trumpet.

In 1989 Gillespie gave 300 performances in 27 countries, appeared in 100 U.S. cities in 31 states and the District of Columbia, headlined three television specials, performed with two symphonies, and recorded four albums. He was also crowned a traditional chief in Nigeria, received the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres; France's most prestigious cultural award. He was named Regent Professor by the University of California, and received his fourteenth honorary doctoral degree, this one from the Berklee College of Music. In addition, he was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award the same year. The next year, at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts ceremonies celebrating the centennial of American jazz, Gillespie received the Kennedy Center Honors Award and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers ''Duke Ellington Award'' for 50 years of achievement as a composer, performer, and bandleader. In 1993 he received the Polar Music Prize in Sweden.

November 26, 1992 at Carnegie Hall in New York, following the Second Bahá'í World Congress was Dizzy's 75th birthday concert and his offering to the celebration of the centenary of the passing of Bahá'u'lláh. Gillespie was to appear at Carnegie Hall for the 33rd time. The line-up included: Jon Faddis, Marvin "Doc" Holladay, James Moody, Paquito D'Rivera, and the Mike Longo Trio with Ben Brown on bass and Mickey Roker on drums. But Gillespie didn't make it because he was in bed suffering from cancer of the pancreas. "But the musicians played their real hearts out for him, no doubt suspecting that he would not play again. Each musician gave tribute to their friend, this great soul and innovator in the world of jazz."

Gillespie also starred in a film called ''The Winter in Lisbon'' released in 2004. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7057 Hollywood Boulevard in the Hollywood section of the City of Los Angeles. He is honored by the December 31, 2006 - A Jazz New Year's Eve: Freddy Cole & the Dizzy Gillespie All-Star Big Band at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

Death and legacy

A longtime resident of Englewood, NJ, he died of pancreatic cancer January 6, 1993, aged 75, and was buried in the Flushing Cemetery, Queens, New York. Mike Longo delivered a eulogy at his funeral. He was also with Gillespie on the night he died, along with Jon Faddis and a select few others.

At the time of his death, Dizzy Gillespie was survived by his widow, Lorraine Willis Gillespie; a daughter, jazz singer Jeanie Bryson; and a grandson, Radji Birks Bryson-Barrett. Gillespie had two funerals. One was a Bahá'í funeral at his request, at which his closest friends and colleagues attended. The second was at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York open to the public.

Dizzy Gillespie, a Bahá'í since 1970, was one of the most famous adherents of the Bahá'í Faith which helped him make sense of his position in a succession of trumpeters as well as turning his life from knife-carrying roughneck to global citizen, and from alcohol to ''soul force'', in the words of author Nat Hentoff, who knew Gillespie for forty years. He spoke about the Baha'i Faith frequently on his trips abroad. He is often called the ''Bahá'í Jazz Ambassador''. He is honored with weekly jazz sessions at the New York Bahá'í Center.

Style

Gillespie has been described as the "Sound of Surprise". ''The Rough Guide to Jazz'' describes his musical style:

In Dizzy's obituary, Peter Watrous describes his performance style:

Wynton Marsalis summed up Gillespie as a player and teacher:

"Bent" trumpet

Gillespie's trademark trumpet featured a bell which bent upward at a 45-degree angle rather than pointing straight ahead as in the conventional design. In honor of this trademark, the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History has collected Gillespie's B-flat trumpet. According to Gillespie's autobiography, this was originally the result of accidental damage caused by someone sitting on it during a job on January 6, 1953, but the constriction caused by the bending altered the tone of the instrument, and Gillespie liked the effect. Gillespie's biographer Alyn Shipton writes that Gillespie likely got the idea when he saw a similar instrument in 1937 in Manchester, England while on tour with the Teddy Hill Orchestra. An English trumpeter was using such an instrument because his vision was poor and the horn made reading music easier. According to this account (from British journalist Pat Brand) Gillespie was able to try out the horn and the experience led him, much later, to commission a similar horn for himself.

Whatever the origins of Gillespie's upswept trumpet, by June, 1954, Gillespie was using a professionally manufactured horn of this design, and it was to become a visual trademark for him for the rest of his life.

Discography

1937-49 ''The Complete RCA Victor Recordings''

1941: ''The Immortal Charlie Christian'' (with Christian, Thelonious Monk, Delta Music re-released on Laserlight cassette)

1950: ''Bird & Diz''

1952: ''Dee Gee Days - The Savoy Sessions''

1953: ''Jazz at Massey Hall''

1953: ''Diz & Getz'' (with Stan Getz, Oscar Peterson, Ray Brown, Max Roach, Herb Ellis)

1954: ''Afro''

1956: ''Modern Jazz Sextet''

1957: ''Sittin' In'' (with Stan Getz, Coleman Hawkins)

1957: ''Dizzy Gillespie at Newport''

1957: ''Sonny Side Up'' (with Sonny Rollins, Sonny Stitt)

1957: ''Dizzy in Greece''

1958: ''Birks' Works'' (Dizzy Gillespie Big Band)

1959: ''Have Trumpet, Will Excite!''

1959: ''The Ebullient Mr. Gillespie''

1960: ''A Portrait of Duke Ellington''

1960/1961: ''Gillespiana/Carnegie Hall Conert'' (Verve Records)

1961: ''An Electrifying Evening with the Dizzy Gillespie Quintet''

1961: ''Perceptions'' (Verve Records) (written by J.J. Johnson, conducted by Gunther Schuller)

1962: ''Dizzy on the French Riviera'' (Philips Records)

1963: ''New Wave'' (Philips Records) (with Lalo Schifrin, Bola Sete)

1963: ''Something Old, Something New''

1963: ''Dizzy Gillespie and the Double Six of Paris''

1964: ''Jambo Caribe'' (Limelight Records)

1965: ''The New Continent'' (Limelight)

1964: ''The Melody Lingers On'' (Limelight)

1967: ''Swing Low, Sweet Cadillac'' (Impulse!)

1968: ''Live at the Village Vanguard'' (produced by Sonny Lester

1968: ''Reunion Big Band In Berlin'' (MPS Records)

1969: ''Strictly Bebop'' (with Babs Gonzalez, Tad Dameron, Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, John Coltrane), rec. 1949 EMI Capitol

1969: ''Real Thing'' (Perception Records)

1970: ''Portrait of Jenny'' (Perception)

1971: ''Giants'' (Perception, with Bobby Hackett)

1971: ''Dizzy Gillespie and the Mitchell Ruff Duo In Concert'' (Mainstream Records)

1974: ''Oscar Peterson and Dizzy Gillespie''

1975: ''Afro-Cuban Jazz Moods'' (with Machito, Chico O'Farrill, Mario Bauza)

1975: ''Jazz Maturity...Where It's Coming From''

1975: ''Oscar Peterson and The Trumpet Kings - Jousts''

1975: ''The Trumpet Kings at Montreux '75''

1976: ''Dizzy's Party''

1977: ''The Gifted Ones'' (with Count Basie)

1977: ''Free Ride''

1981: ''Digital at Montreux, 1980'' (Toots Thielemans, Bernard Purdie)

1985: ''New Faces'' (with Robert Ameen, Branford Marsalis, Kenny Kirkland, Lonnie Plaxico, Charlie Christian)

1988: ''Oop Pop a Da'' (with Moe Koffman)

1989: ''Live at the Royal Festival Hall London July 10, 1989''

1989: ''The Symphony Sessions'' (with Ron Holloway, Ed Cherry, John Lee, Ignacio Berroa)

1990: ''The Winter in Lisbon''

1990: ''Rhythmstick'' (CTI Records)

1991: ''Live! at Blues Alley'' (with Ron Holloway, Ed Cherry, John Lee, Ignacio Berroa)

1992: ''Groovin' High''

1992: ''To Bird With Love''

1995: ''In Paris v.2'' Vogue RCA 1995

2000: ''Dizzy For President'' Douglas Records

Filmography

1983 ''Jazz in America'' (Embassy)

1986 ''In Redondo Beach/Jazz In America'' ( Embassy)

1991 ''Dizzy Gillespie: A Night in Tunisia'' (VIEW)

1993 ''Live in London'' (Kultur Video)

1998 ''Dizzy Gillespie & Charles Mingus'' (Vidjazz)

1998 ''Dizzy Gillespie: Ages'' (Vidjazz)

1999 ''Jazz Casual: Dizzy Gillespie'' (Rhino)

2001 ''Jivin'in Be-Bop'' (Jazz Classic Video)

2001 ''Dizzy Gillespie: A Night in Chicago'' (VIEW)

2001 ''Live at the Royal Festival Hall 1987'' (Pioneer)

2002 ''Live in Montreal'' (Image)

2003 ''20th Century Jazz Masters''

2003 ''Swing Era (with Mel Torme)'' (Idem)

2005 ''Norman Granz Jazz in Montreux: Presents Dizzy Gillespie Sextet '77'' (Eagle Vision USA)

2005 ''Summer Jazz Live at New Jersey 1987'' (FS World Jazz / Alpha Centauri Entertainment)

2005 ''A Night in Havana: Dizzy Gillespie in Cuba'' (New Video Group)

2006 ''Jazz Icons: Live in '58 & '70'' (Universal)

2008 ''London Concerts 1965 & 1966'' (Impro-Jazz Spain)

Bibliography

''To Be, or Not...to Bop''. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2009.

References

External links

The Dizzy Gillespie All-Stars

Dizzy Gillespie's "The Cult of Bebop"

Dizzy Gillespie Talking to Les Tomkins in 1973

Dizzy Gillespie Mulitmedia Directory - Kerouac Alley

Dizzy Gillespie Concerts & Interviews on NPR Music

Category:1917 births Category:1993 deaths Category:People from Cheraw, South Carolina Category:African American musicians Category:American Bahá'ís Category:American jazz bandleaders Category:American jazz composers Category:American jazz trumpeters Category:American memoirists Category:Bebop trumpeters Category:Burials at Flushing Cemetery Category:Cancer deaths in New Jersey Category:Capitol Records artists Category:Cuban jazz (genre) bandleaders Category:Cuban jazz (genre) composers Category:Cuban jazz (genre) trumpeters Category:Deaths from pancreatic cancer Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:Latin jazz bandleaders Category:Latin jazz composers Category:Latin jazz trumpeters Category:Musicians from Pennsylvania Category:Musicians from South Carolina Category:People from Bergen County, New Jersey Category:People from Corona, Queens Category:RCA Victor artists Category:Savoy Records artists Category:United States National Medal of Arts recipients Category:Verve Records artists Category:Prestige Records artists Category:Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Category:Converts to the Bahá'í Faith Category:20th-century Bahá'ís Category:Manor Records artists

bs:Dizzy Gillespie bg:Дизи Гилеспи ca:Dizzy Gillespie cs:Dizzy Gillespie da:Dizzy Gillespie de:Dizzy Gillespie et:Dizzy Gillespie el:Ντίζι Γκιλέσπι es:Dizzy Gillespie eo:Dizzy Gillespie eu:Dizzy Gillespie fa:دیزی گیلیسپی fr:Dizzy Gillespie gl:Dizzy Gillespie hr:Dizzy Gillespie io:Dizzy Gillespie id:Dizzy Gillespie it:Dizzy Gillespie he:דיזי גילספי sw:Dizzy Gillespie la:Dizzie Gillespie lb:Dizzy Gillespie hu:Dizzy Gillespie nl:Dizzy Gillespie ja:ディジー・ガレスピー no:Dizzy Gillespie nn:Dizzy Gillespie oc:Dizzy Gillespie nds:Dizzy Gillespie pl:Dizzy Gillespie pt:Dizzy Gillespie ru:Гиллеспи, Диззи sc:Dizzy Gillespie simple:Dizzy Gillespie sk:Dizzy Gillespie sr:Дизи Гилеспи fi:Dizzy Gillespie sv:Dizzy Gillespie tl:Dizzy Gillespie th:ดิซซี กิลเลสพี tr:Dizzy Gillespie uk:Діззі Гіллеспі yo:Dizzy Gillespie zh:迪齐·吉莱斯皮

Coordinates	34°03′″N118°15′″N
Name	Rosemary Clooney
Background	solo_singer
Born	May 23, 1928Maysville, Kentucky, U.S.
Died	June 29, 2002Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Genre	Traditional pop, vocal jazz
Years active	1946–2001
Occupation	Singer, Actress
Spouse	Jose Ferrer (1953–1961; 1964–1967), Dante Cesare DiPaolo (1997–2002, her death)
Label	ColumbiaMGMCoralRCA VictorRepriseDotUnited ArtistsConcord Jazz
Website	Rosemary Clooney Palladium website }}

Rosemary Clooney (May 23, 1928 – June 29, 2002) was an American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the novelty hit "Come On-a My House" written by William Saroyan and his cousin Ross Bagdasarian (David Seville), which was followed by other pop numbers such as "Botch-a-Me" (a cover version of the Italian song ''Ba-Ba-Baciami Piccina'' by Alberto Rabagliati), "Mambo Italiano", "Tenderly", "Half as Much", "Hey There" and "This Ole House", though she would go on to success as a jazz vocalist. Clooney's career languished in the 1960s, partly due to problems related to depression and drug addiction, but revived in 1974, when her ''White Christmas'' co-star Bing Crosby asked her to appear with him at a show marking his 50th anniversary in show business. She continued recording until her death in 2002. She is the aunt of Academy Award winning actor George Clooney.

Early life

Clooney was born in Maysville, Kentucky, to Andrew Joseph Clooney and Marie Frances Guilfoyle, both of whom were Roman Catholics of Irish and German ancestry. When Clooney was fifteen, her mother and brother, Nick, moved to California. She and her sister, Betty, remained with their father. Rosemary, Betty and Nick all became entertainers. In the next generation, some of her children, including Miguel Ferrer and Rafael Ferrer, and her nephew, George Clooney, also became respected entertainers. In 1945, the Clooney sisters won a spot on Cincinnati, Ohio's radio station WLW as singers. Her sister Betty sang in a duo with Clooney for much of her early career.

Career

Clooney's first recordings, in May 1946, were for Columbia Records. She sang with Tony Pastor's big band. Clooney continued working with the Pastor band until 1949, making her last recording with the band in May of that year and her first as a solo artist a month later, still for Columbia. In 1951, her record of "Come On-a My House", produced by Mitch Miller, became a hit. It was her first of many singles to hit the charts—despite the fact that Clooney hated the song passionately. She had been told by Columbia Records to record the song, and that she would be in violation of her contract if she did not do so. Around 1952, Rosemary recorded several duets with Marlene Dietrich.

In 1954, she starred, along with Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, and Vera-Ellen, in the movie ''White Christmas''. She starred, in 1956, in a half-hour syndicated television musical-variety show ''The Rosemary Clooney Show''. The show featured The Hi-Lo's singing group and Nelson Riddle's orchestra. The following year, the show moved to NBC prime time as ''The Lux Show Starring Rosemary Clooney'' but only lasted one season. The new show featured the singing group The Modernaires and Frank DeVol's orchestra. In later years, Clooney would often appear with Bing Crosby on television, such as in the 1957 special ''The Edsel Show'', and the two friends made a concert tour of Ireland together. On November 21, 1957, she appeared on NBC's ''The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford,'' a frequent entry in the "Top 20" and featuring a musical group called "The Top Twenty." In 1960, Clooney and Crosby co-starred in a 20-minute CBS radio program aired before the midday news each weekday.

Clooney left Columbia Records in 1958, doing a number of recordings for MGM Records and then some for Coral Records. Finally, toward the end of 1958, she signed with RCA Victor Records, where she stayed until 1963. In 1964, she went to Reprise Records, and in 1965 to Dot Records. She moved to United Artists Records in 1966.

Beginning in 1977, she recorded an album a year for the Concord Jazz record label, which continued until her death. This was in contrast to most of her generation of singers who had long since stopped recording regularly by then. In the late-1970s and early-1980s, Clooney did television commercials for Coronet brand paper towels, during which she sang a memorable jingle that goes, "Extra value is what you get, when you buy Coro-net." James Belushi later parodied Clooney and the commercial while as a cast member on NBC's ''Saturday Night Live'' in the early 1980s. Clooney sang a duet with Wild Man Fischer on "It's a Hard Business" in 1986, and in 1994 she sang a duet of ''Green Eyes'' with Barry Manilow in his 1994 album, ''Singin' with the Big Bands''.

She guest-starred in the NBC television medical drama ''ER'' (starring her nephew, George Clooney) in 1995; she received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series. On January 27, 1996, Clooney appeared on Garrison Keillor's ''Prairie Home Companion'' radio program. She sang "When October Goes" -- lyrics by Johnny Mercer and music by Barry Manilow (after Mercer's death) -- from Manilow's 1984 album ''2:00 AM Paradise Cafe'', and discussed what an excellent musician Manilow was.

In 1999, Clooney founded the Rosemary Clooney Music Festival, held annually in Maysville, her hometown. She performed at the festival every year until her death. Proceeds benefit the restoration of the Russell Theater in Maysville, where Clooney's first film, ''The Stars are Singing'', premiered in 1953.

She received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002.

Personal life

Clooney suffered for much of her life from bipolar disorder. She revealed this and other details of her life in her two autobiographies.

Clooney was married twice to the movie star José Ferrer who was sixteen years her senior. They were first married from 1953 until 1961 and, despite his open infidelities, again from 1964 to 1967. They had five children: actor Miguel Ferrer (b. 1955), Maria Ferrer (b. 1956), Gabriel Ferrer (b. 1957) (who married singer Debby Boone), Monsita Ferrer (b. 1958), and Rafael Ferrer (b. 1960).

In 1968, her relationship with a young drummer ended after two years, and she became increasingly dependent on pills after a punishing tour.

She joined the presidential campaign of close friend Bobby Kennedy, and heard the shots when he was assassinated on June 5, 1968. A month later she had a nervous breakdown onstage in Reno, Nevada, and was hospitalized. She remained in psychoanalysis therapy for eight years afterwards. Her sister Betty died suddenly of a brain aneurysm in 1976. She subsequently started a foundation in memory of and named for her sister. During this time she wrote her first autobiography, ''This for Remembrance: the Autobiography of Rosemary Clooney, an Irish-American Singer'', written in collaboration with Raymond Strait and published by Playboy Press in 1977. She chronicled her unhappy early life, her career as a singer, her marriage to Ferrer and mental health problems, concluding with her comeback as a singer and her happiness. Her good friend Bing Crosby wrote the introduction. Katherine Coker adapted the book for Jackie Cooper who produced and directed the television movie, ''Rosie: the Rosemary Clooney Story'' (1982) starring Sondra Locke (who lip syncs Clooney's songs), Penelope Milford as Betty and Tony Orlando who plays Jose Ferrer.

Living for many years in Beverly Hills, California, in the house formerly owned by George and Ira Gershwin, in 1980, she purchased a second home on Riverside Drive in Augusta, Kentucky, near Maysville, her childhood hometown. In 1983, Rosemary and her brother Nick co-chaired the Betty Clooney Foundation for the Brain-Injured, addressing the needs of survivors of cognitive disabilities caused by strokes, tumors and brain damage from trauma or age.

In 1999 Clooney published her second autobiography, ''Girl Singer: An Autobiography'' describing her battles with addiction to prescription drugs for depression, and how she lost and then regained a fortune. "I'd call myself a sweet singer with a big band sensibility," she wrote.

Today, the Augusta house offers viewing of collections of her personal items and from many of her films and singing performances. Her Beverly Hills home at 1019 North Roxbury Drive was sold to a developer after her death in 2002 and has been demolished.

She married her longtime friend, a former dancer, Dante DiPaolo in 1997 at St. Patrick's Church in Maysville, Kentucky.\

Lung cancer and death

Clooney was diagnosed with lung cancer at the end of 2001. Around this time, she gave her last concert, in Hawaii, backed by the Honolulu Symphony Pops; her last song was "God Bless America". Despite surgery, she died six months later on June 29, 2002, at her Beverly Hills home. Her nephew, George Clooney, was a pallbearer at her funeral, which was attended by numerous stars, including Al Pacino. She is buried at Saint Patrick's Cemetery, Maysville.

In 2003 Rosemary Clooney was inducted into the Kentucky Women Remembered exhibit and her portrait by Alison Lyne is on permanent display in the Kentucky State Capitol's rotunda.

In September 2007 a mural honoring moments from her life was painted in downtown Maysville. The mural highlights her lifelong friendship with Blanche Chambers, the 1953 premier of ''The Stars are Singing'' and her singing career. It was painted by Louisiana muralists Robert Dafford, Herb Roe and Brett Chigoy as part of the Maysville Floodwall Murals project. Her brother Nick Clooney spoke during the dedication for the mural, explaining various images to the crowd.

Discography

Filmography

''Tony Pastor and His Orchestra'' (1947) (short subject)

''Slaughter Trail'' (1951)

''The Stars Are Singing'' (1953)

''Here Come the Girls'' (1953)

''Red Garters'' (1954)

''White Christmas'' (1954)

''Deep in My Heart'' (1954; cameo appearance)

''Frasier'' (1993)

''Radioland Murders'' (1994)

''ER'' (1994)

''Marlene Dietrich: Her Own Song'' (2002) (documentary)

See also

Rosemary Clooney Museum; Augusta, Kentucky

References

External links

Rosemary Clooney Palladium page

Clooney Discography

Biography on musicianguide.com

"Elvis Bows, Bing Just Nods: High and Low Culture in ''Fancy Meeting You Here''" by Gilbert L. Gigliotti

Category:1928 births Category:2002 deaths Category:American Roman Catholics Category:American female singers Category:American pop singers Category:Cabaret singers Category:Cancer deaths in California Category:Deaths from lung cancer Category:Decca Records artists Category:American musicians of German descent Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:American musicians of Irish descent Category:American people of German descent Category:American people of Irish descent Category:MGM Records artists Category:Musicians from Kentucky Category:Kentucky Democrats Category:California Democrats Category:People from Mason County, Kentucky Category:People with bipolar disorder Category:Torch singers Category:Traditional pop music singers Category:RCA Victor artists Category:Concord Records artists Category:Actors from Kentucky Category:History of women in Kentucky

be:Розмары Клуні de:Rosemary Clooney es:Rosemary Clooney fr:Rosemary Clooney gl:Rosemary Clooney ko:로즈메리 클루니 hr:Rosemary Clooney id:Rosemary Clooney it:Rosemary Clooney nl:Rosemary Clooney ja:ローズマリー・クルーニー no:Rosemary Clooney nov:Rosemary Clooney pl:Rosemary Clooney pt:Rosemary Clooney ru:Клуни, Розмари simple:Rosemary Clooney fi:Rosemary Clooney sv:Rosemary Clooney th:โรสแมรี คลูนีย์