Irving Kaufman

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Irving Kaufman around 1919

Irving Kaufman (actually Isidore Kaufman ; born February 8, 1890 in Syracuse (New York) , † January 3, 1976 in Indio , California ) was an American singer who enjoyed his greatest popularity in the 1920s.

Live and act

Kaufman was the son of Russian Jewish immigrants and a member of the Kaufman Brothers , which he formed with his brothers Phillip and Jack. At first he sang in various circuses and film theaters, was tenor in the Jenny Eddy Trio and finally lead singer in the 50-member Merrick's Band . In 1911 he came to New York to work as a song plugger for music publishers. From 1914 Kaufman played his first records for the labels Victor ( Are You From Dixie , with Billy Murray ), Columbia , Vocalion , Gennett , Edison , Harmony , Velvet Tone , Brunswick , ( Ol 'Man River ), Banner ( St. Louis Blues ) , Okeh and Perfect one. For Edison and RCA Victor he recorded under his own name, for other labels he used a number of non-Jewish-sounding pseudonyms . Occasionally, as in the case of the 1927 Broadway Bell Hops title , it was known simply as the Vocal Chorus ; he was often performed on cheap labels with vocal refrain by George Beaver .

Kaufman was a vaudeville-style singer and certainly not a jazz singer . Nevertheless, he was accompanied on his records by leading jazz musicians of the time such as Bix Beiderbecke , Frank Trumbauer , Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey , Red Nichols , Miff Mole and Eddie Lang . He was one of the most prominent singers of the 1920s. In the 1930s and 1940s its success waned; however, producer Joe Davis booked him for various nostalgic bands in the 1940s. The highlight of this phase was his appearance in Kurt Weill's Street Scene on Broadway . After a heart attack , he ended his career in 1949 and made no further recordings until 1974 when he released a 2-LP set called Reminisce with Irving Kaufman , mostly transcriptions of his earlier recordings, but also some new recordings where he made his second Mrs. Belle Brooks (1904–1993) was accompanied. He spent his retirement in Palm Springs, California . He died in early January 1976.

Discographic notes

Web links

Commons : Irving Kaufman  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.lib.umd.edu/LAB/JERRYLEE/vocalists/0000000b.html
  2. ↑ http://www.phonostalgia.com/kaufman/final.html
  3. ↑ Pittsburg Post-Gazette December 18, 1974
  4. ^ Irving Kaufman in the Find a Grave database . Retrieved January 7, 2015.
personal data
SURNAME Kaufman, Irving
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kaufman, Isidore (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American singer
DATE OF BIRTH February 8, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Syracuse (New York)
DATE OF DEATH 3rd January 1976
Place of death Indio , California