Gussie Davis: Difference between revisions
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[[Image:Gussie Davis.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Gussie Lord Davis [n.d.]. Performing Arts Reading Room, Library of Congress.]] |
[[Image:Gussie Davis.jpg|right|thumb|250px|Gussie Lord Davis [n.d.]. Performing Arts Reading Room, Library of Congress.]] |
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'''Gussie Lord Davis''' (December 3, 1863 |
'''Gussie Lord Davis''' (December 3, 1863 – December 18, 1899<ref>http://musicsack.com/PersonFMTDetail.cfm?PersonPK=100020237 Music Sack</ref>) was an [[African-American]] [[songwriter]] born in [[Dayton]], [[Ohio]].<ref>International Dictionary of Black Composers, ed. Samuel A. Floyd, Jr., New York, 1999, p. 349</ref> Davis was one of America's earliest successful African-American music artists, having been the first Black songwriter to acquire fame on [[Tin Pan Alley]] as a composer of popular music. |
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==Early life== |
==Early life== |
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*[http://www.wylieww.com/cowboy.html Wylie and the Wild West, Cowboy Ballads and Dance Songs] |
*[http://www.wylieww.com/cowboy.html Wylie and the Wild West, Cowboy Ballads and Dance Songs] |
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*[http://boundless.uoregon.edu/u?/sheetmusic,704 Why Does Papa Always Stay So Late Sheet music] |
*[http://boundless.uoregon.edu/u?/sheetmusic,704 Why Does Papa Always Stay So Late Sheet music] |
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*[http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/4199/Davis-Gussie-Lord-1863-1899.html Davis, Gussie Lord |
*[http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/4199/Davis-Gussie-Lord-1863-1899.html Davis, Gussie Lord – Composer, lyricist, entrepreneur, Early Career Path, Songwriting Successes, Chronology] |
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*[http://alexandria.ucsb.edu/search.php?query=Gussie+Davis&queryType=@attr+1%3D1016 Early recordings of Gussie Davis songs, Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project, University of California, Santa Barbara] |
*[http://alexandria.ucsb.edu/search.php?query=Gussie+Davis&queryType=@attr+1%3D1016 Early recordings of Gussie Davis songs, Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project, University of California, Santa Barbara] |
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Revision as of 15:31, 13 December 2012
Gussie Lord Davis (December 3, 1863 – December 18, 1899[1]) was an African-American songwriter born in Dayton, Ohio.[2] Davis was one of America's earliest successful African-American music artists, having been the first Black songwriter to acquire fame on Tin Pan Alley as a composer of popular music.
Early life
Gussie Davis received musical training at the Nelson Musical College in Cincinnati, OH, where his application was rejected due to his color. However, he agreed to give janitorial services at a low wage in exchange for private lessons. Written at the young age of eighteen, We Sat Beneath the Maple on the Hill became a hit which helped propagate his success.
Career
In 1886, Davis was brought to New York for Tin Pan Alley. He had climbed high on the ladder to success within a short time and many of his songs were being published. In 1895, he won second place in a contest sponsored by New York World to find the ten best songwriters in the nation. His song, Send Back the Picture and the Ring, won him nearly $500 in gold. Also a performer, he played the piano on Bergen Star Concerts and toured with his Davis Operatic and Plantation Minstrels.
Death
At the time of his death in December 1899, Davis published more than two hundred songs and certainly left more in manuscript. He wrote a variety of musical forms, including sentimental ballads, comic minstrel songs, art songs, and choral music.[3] One of his musicals, A Hot Old Time in Dixie, was on the road when he died.[4]
Notable Songs
- We Sat Beneath the Maple On The Hill
- In The Baggage Coach Ahead
- Footprints In The Snow
- My Creole Sue
- She Waited at the Altar in Vain
- Why Does Papa Stay so Late?
Perhaps his most notable song, Irene, Good Night (1886), entered the folk song repertoire albeit significantly altered as Goodnight, Irene in Negro Folk Songs as Sung by Leadbelly (1936), edited by John Lomax and Alan Lomax.
References
- ^ http://musicsack.com/PersonFMTDetail.cfm?PersonPK=100020237 Music Sack
- ^ International Dictionary of Black Composers, ed. Samuel A. Floyd, Jr., New York, 1999, p. 349
- ^ http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.200152701/default.html Gussie Lord Davis
- ^ Southern, Eileen (1997). The Music of Black Americans. WW Norton & Company. pp. 242–244.
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External links
- Library of Congress's electronic archive of Gussie Davis's sheet music
- Life in Nineteeth Century Ohio: Minstrel Songs
- Wylie and the Wild West, Cowboy Ballads and Dance Songs
- Why Does Papa Always Stay So Late Sheet music
- Davis, Gussie Lord – Composer, lyricist, entrepreneur, Early Career Path, Songwriting Successes, Chronology
- Early recordings of Gussie Davis songs, Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project, University of California, Santa Barbara
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