Una Mae Carlisle

Una Mae Carlisle ( born December 26, 1915 in Xenia, Ohio, † December 12, 1956 in New York) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist of the swing.

Life and work

Una Mae Carlisle was discovered by Fats Waller, when she was still a teenager and appeared in Cincinnati live and on the radio. The piano style of Carlisle was very influenced by Waller, with whom she was on tour until 1934 and first recorded disks. She played in a Boogie-Woogie/Stride style and put her performances with great humor. A career as a dancer at the Cotton Club beat them out, first worked for Irving Mills as Notenkopistin and occasionally wrote arrangements. As a soloist she played until 1937, then touring with the Blackbirds Revue through Europe, took place in London for Leonard Feather with English musicians in Paris with Danny Polo. In Paris she founded a jazz club and studied at the Sorbonne harmony.

In 1940 she returned due to the war back to the United States. There Carlisle played as a band leader for Bluebird Records, a plurality of disk pages. In her band she had sidemen such as Lester Young, Benny Carter, Al Casey, Everett Barksdale, Slam Stewart, Clyde Hart, Zutty Singleton and Harold Doc West (1939 /40). With John Kirby's band, she took on 1941/42. Your single hit in the Billboard Top 20 in May 1941 she had with the song " Walking By the River". Her song I See a Million People, she recorded with John Kirby, was quite successful.

In conjunction with her producer and manager Joe Davis produced numerous records, including Ray Nance, Budd Johnson and Shadow Wilson. Success came as a songwriter; Cab Calloway and Peggy Lee took over their songs. In the 1940s she had her own radio and television shows. In the early 1950s emerged last recordings for Columbia Records with Don Redman. Illness forced in 1952 to withdraw from the show business.

Auswahldiskographie

• Una Mae Carlisle 1940-1942 The Complete & John Kirby 1941-1942 (RCA)