ABSTRACT
American popular singer, born Asal Yoelson in Srednike, Lithuania. He immigrated to the U.S. with his father in 1890, settling in Washington, D.C., and worked in vaudeville as a boy soprano, whistler, and finally a baritone, achieving great success in blackface roles. After a 1909 success in a New York show he was signed by Victor and soon produced a million-selling record in the new ragtime idiom: “Ragging the Baby to Sleep” (#17081; 1912). The 1917 Victor catalog had nine items, showing him primarily in his comic mode; for example, “Movin’ Man, Don’t Take My Baby Grand” (#17081; 1912). In 1913 he began to work for Columbia, starting with “Pullman Porters’Parade” and a hit from the film Honeymoon Express, “You Made Me Love You” (Columbia A-1374). Jolson’s outstanding discs were his “Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody” (Columbia A-2560; 1918), “April Showers” (Columbia A-3500; 1921), and “Toot, Toot, Tootsie, Goo’bye” (Columbia A-3705; 1922). For Brunswick he did “California, Here I Come” (Brunswick 2569, with Isham Jones’s orchestra; 1924),
the famous blackface rendition of “To My Mammy” sung in the film Mammy (Brunswick 3912; 1928), and “Sonny Boy” (Brunswick 4033; 1928). After a long absence from the studio, Jolson made V-Discs for American troops during World War II, including his old favorites and a recording of “Rosie, You Are My Posie” made with the Tommy Dorsey orchestra (V-Disc 306). Jolson had a notable screen career, beginning with the first feature talking picture, The Jazz Singer (1927). A film about his life, The Jolson Story (1946) had him singing behind the scenes as Larry Parks acted out the part. He died in San Francisco.
