The Andrews Sisters
The Andrews Sisters were an American girl group in jazz , swing and pop. The group was active from 1932 to 1966 and had hits like Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen , Rum and Coca-Cola or Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy .
The trio consisted of the three sisters
- LaVerne Sofie (born July 6, 1911 in Minneapolis , Minnesota - † May 8, 1967 in Brentwood , California ), alt
- Maxene Angelyn (born January 3, 1916 in Minneapolis, † October 21, 1995 in Hyannis , Massachusetts ), 2nd soprano
- Patricia Marie (Patty Marie) (born February 16, 1918 in Mound , Minnesota - † January 30, 2013 in Los Angeles , California), 1st soprano
Career
The father of the Andrews Sisters was a native Greek and owned a small restaurant. In the United States, he changed his family name from Andreos to Andrews. The daughters came into contact with vocal music at an early age through their mother, who came from Norway . The mother put her own artistic ambitions aside in order to promote her daughters.
Patty, the youngest, was only seven when the group formed and twelve when they won first prize in a talent competition at the local Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis. Here LaVerne, the eldest, played the piano accompaniment for the screenings of the silent films in exchange for free dance lessons for herself and her sisters. After the sisters became known, they settled in California but returned to Minneapolis at least once a year to meet with family and friends.
The model for the vocal numbers were the then well-known Boswell Sisters , whose Dixieland style was soon perfectly copied by the Andrews Sisters. At the end of the 1930s, her repertoire increasingly shifted towards swing , boogie woogie and South American rhythms. From 1932 they toured with Larry Rich's orchestra through smaller towns in the Midwest and appeared on local radio stations. They earned their living by singing in various dance bands and in variety shows with Ted Mack, Leon Belasco.
In 1937 they became known to a wider audience through Dave Kapp , who got them a record deal with Decca . The breakthrough came in the same year in New York City with the number Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen from a Yiddish musical . The title was translated into English and harmonized perfectly by the girls. They received a gold record for selling one million copies over the next two years . It was the first gold record by a female vocal group.
During the Second World War , the sisters left the United States for the first time to perform in the context of troop support in North Africa and Sicily. They have performed with well-known artists such as Bing Crosby , Les Paul , Burl Ives , Danny Kaye , Carmen Miranda , Guy Lombardo , Ernest Tubb and the Glenn Miller Orchestra throughout their careers . The sisters appeared as guests in countless radio shows and had a total of 17 appearances in movies, in which they mostly played themselves.
In 1954 Patty left the group to start a solo career. The lack of success ultimately led the three sisters to get together again in 1956, without being able to build on the great successes of previous years. The trio broke up in 1966 because of health problems from LaVerne, who died of cancer in 1967. In 1970 Patty appeared as a soloist in the musical Hollywood Canteen , which achieved a respectable success. Together with Maxene Patty played and sang in the musical Over here , which between March 1974 and January 1975 brought it to 341 performances.
Overall, the Andrews Sisters played over 700 (1800 according to other sources) recordings, which sold around 75 to 90 million times. It was the first women's group in pop music to receive a platinum record . They earned nine gold records and 46 of their songs made it into the top ten on the Billboard charts. The trio has been given many names, of which "America's Wartime Sweethearts" and "The Swing Sisters" were the most commonly used.
List of songs (selection)
- Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive (Arlen / Mercer) with Bing Crosby
- Alexander's Ragtime Band (I. Berlin)
- Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar (Ray / Prince)
- Beer Barrel Polka ( Brown / Vejvoda )
- You are beautiful with me (Secunda / Cahn / Chaplin)
- Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy (Raye / Prince)
- Bounce Me Brother with a Solid Four (Raye / Prince)
- Carmen's Boogie (Cates / Leven)
- Civilization / Bongo, Bongo, Bongo (B. Hillard / C. Sigman)
- Corns for My Country (L. Worth / J. Barry / D. Charles)
- Don't Be That Way (Goodman / Sampson / Parish)
- Don't Fence Me In (with Bing Crosby)
- Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree (Brown / Tobias / Stept)
- Down By the O-Hi-O (Olmon / Yellen)
- East of the Sun (and West of the Moon) (Bowman)
- Elmer's Tune (Jurgens / Albrecht / Gallop)
- Gimme Some Skin, My Friend (Raye / DePaul / Mack)
- Hold Tight, Hold Tight, Want Some Seafood Mama (Kent / Brandon)
- I Can Dream, Can't I? (Fain / Kahal)
- I'll Be with You in Apple Blossom Time (Fleezer / von Tilzer)
- If I Had a Boy Like You (McDermott)
- Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby (Jordan / Austin) with Bing Crosby
- In the Mood (Razaf / Garland)
- Jingle Bells (with Bing Crosby)
- Joseph, Joseph (Cashman / Steinberg / Cahn / Chaplin)
- Lullaby Of Broadway (Warren / Dublin)
- Money Is the Root of All Evil (Whitney Kramer)
- Near You ( Craig / Goell)
- Oh Johnny Oh
- Pagan Love Song ( Brown / Freed )
- Pennsylvania 6-5000 (Gray / Sigman)
- Pennsylvania Polka (Lee Manners)
- Rhumboogie (Ray / Prince)
- Rum and Coca-Cola (Sullivan / Baron / Amsterdam)
- Rumors Are Flying (Benjamin-Weiss)
- Say Si Si (Stilman / Luban / Lecuena)
- Shoo-Shoo Baby (Moore)
- Shortnin 'Bread (Richard / Wolfe)
- Sing a Tropical Song (McHugh / Loeser)
- Sing, Sing, Sing (Great)
- Sonny Boy (Jolson / Desylva / Brown / Henderson)
- Straighten Up and Fly Right (Cole / Mills)
- Strip Polka (Mercer)
- South American Way (Dubin / Mc Hugh)
- The Jumpin 'Jive (Kalinway / Palmer)
- Ti-Pi-Tin (Grever / Leven)
- Toolie Oolie Doolie ( Artur Beul , Vaughn Horton)
- Tuxedo Junction (E. Hawkins, W. Johnson, J. Dash, B. Feyne)
- Well All Right (Faye / Raye / Howell)
- When the Midnight Choo Choo Leaves for Alabama (Irving Berlin)
- The Woody Woodpecker Song (Bruno / DiLazzaro / Adamson)
- Bye bye Blackbird
List of film appearances
- Argentine Nights (1941)
- Hold that Ghost (1941)
- Buck Privates (1941)
- In the Navy (1941)
- What's cookin '? (1942)
- Private Buckaroo (1942)
- Five Out Sisters (1942)
- How's About It? (1943)
- Always a Bridesmaid (1943)
- Swingtime Johnny (1944)
- Moonlight and Cactus (1944)
- Hollywood Canteen (1944)
- Follow the Boys (1944)
- Her Lucky Night (1945)
- Make Mine Music (1946)
- Road to Rio (1947)
- Melody Time (1948)
- Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? (1975)
literature
- Warner, Jay: The Billboard Book Of American Singing Groups. A History 1940–1990. Billboard Books, New York City (New York) 1992, pp. 6-11.
Web links
- The Andrews Sisters - The Official Site (English)
- The Andrews Sisters (Entry in the Vocal Group Hall of Fame ; English)
- Laverne Andrews in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Maxene Andrews in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Patty Andrews in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Andrews Sisters on uk.real.com
- ↑ Sholom Secunda: The Story of Bei Mir Bist du Schön.
- ↑ Biography ( Memento of the original dated August 10, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. to cmgww.com, accessed on August 17, 2011 or vocalgroup.org ( memento of the original from May 22, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Accessed August 17, 2011.
