He ultimately went on to be a Kennedy Center Honor recipient in As such, the first person to sing this song was actually a Broadway star by the name of Carol Channing , who originally took on the titular character.
And apparently said undertaking has nothing to do with the musical itself outside of the utilization of its theme song. Also the entire aforementioned Hello, Dolly! That same year his rendition also resulted in Jerry Herman taking home the Song of the Year trophy. But that said, it should also be stated that Satchmo has had over 10 of works inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame itself. And this song was a big hit on the charts also. For instance, it scored three-consecutive Billboard Hot number ones over 14 straight weeks.
In doing so, it knocked The Beatles out of the top spot. And in accomplishing said feat, even well into the 21 st century, Armstrong holds the record of being the oldest artist ever to have topped the Hot More specifically, he was nearing 63 years of age when this song reached number one on the chart. And users of the content-management system WordPress can also likely attest to the 21 st century popularity of this song. And why? Once the record company was lined up, Glaser set about convincing Louis to do the session.
Finally, as a favor to Glaser, Louis agreed to do the session, and the entire band set out for New York. At that point, Louis didn't even know what songs they would be recording. Armstrong had agreed to take his band to New York on their day off because he trusted his manager.
But when the All Stars got to the studio and Louis was handed the sheet music to the song they were brought there to record, he was not happy. And he had good reason for his dismay. Still, Louis Armstrong was nothing if not a pro, so he set about putting his own inimitable stamp on the sappy little tune.
The most famous lyric alteration was actually recommended by Mickey Kapp, the session producer. Even after giving his performance his all, Armstrong realized that the recording needed something more. And Mickey Kapp even dubbed in some barely noticeable strings just before Louis begins to sing. When songwriter Jerry Hermann first heard that jazz superstar Louis Armstrong wanted to record his little ditty, he was dumbfounded. But when he heard the result, he was dumbfounded for a different reason.
The show that would become Hello Dolly! At that point the production, which didn't even have an official name yet, was still in rehearsals, and it was during a rehearsal break that Jerry Hermann first heard what Louis had done with his song. The publisher brought a copy of the record and played it for the entire cast and crew. The effect was electric. Armstrong had made it New Orleans Dixieland. He had taken the parochialism out of the number and substituted a universality.
The music publisher was the first to speak after Armstrong's growl faded away. Actually, the publisher was a bit conservative in his million-seller prediction. When Louis Armstrong took his band into that New York studio on that December day in , he had no intention of producing a record that would be released commercially.
But when the brass at Kapp Records heard it, they quickly realized that it had such potential that they needed to get it out into the marketplace as quickly as possible after the show opened on Broadway. The Broadway production of Hello Dolly! James Theater in New York on January 16, By May 9th it reached number one, displacing the Beatles, who had held the top spot for 14 consecutive weeks. And, of course, it began to get massive radio play. But Louis himself remained blissfully unaware of all the excitement the song was generating.
After that Sunday recording session, he and his All Stars continued their touring. Louis, who famously never listened to the radio, had no idea what they were talking about; the song had made so little an impression on him that he had completely forgotten about it.
When bass player Arvell Shaw reminded him of the tune they had recorded weeks earlier, Louis realized he needed to add it to the show. But there was just one problem — no one in the band could remember how it went!
Louis called New York to have the sheet music sent to them. Meanwhile, the band members had to listen to the record to refresh their memories. When they finally did start playing the song during live performances, audiences would go wild. Louis would sing "Hello Dolly!
Although he had been a celebrated A-list star for almost four decades, Satchmo now found his profile being elevated to an entirely new level. He even gave an impromptu acapella performance on What's My Line. And when the Hello Dolly! Then there were the Grammy Awards. When Armstrong saw this — as well as white protesters hurling invective at the students — he blew his top to the press, telling a reporter that President Dwight D.
Eisenhower had "no guts" for letting Faubus run the country, and stating, "The way they are treating my people in the South, the government can go to hell. Armstrong's words made front-page news around the world.
Though he had finally spoken out after years of remaining publicly silent, he received criticism at the time from both Black and white public figures. Not a single jazz musician who had previously criticized him took his side — but today, this is seen as one of the bravest, most definitive moments of Armstrong's life. Armstrong's four marriages never produced any children, and because he and wife Lucille Wilson had actively tried for years to no avail, many believed him to be sterile, incapable of having children.
However, controversy regarding Armstrong's fatherhood struck in , when a girlfriend that the musician had dated on the side, Lucille "Sweets" Preston, claimed she was pregnant with his child.
Preston gave birth to a daughter, Sharon Preston, in Shortly thereafter, Armstrong bragged about the child to his manager, Joe Glaser, in a letter that would later be published in the book Louis Armstrong In His Own Words Thereafter until his death in , however, Armstrong never publicly addressed whether he was in fact Sharon's father. In recent years, Armstrong's alleged daughter, who now goes by the name Sharon Preston Folta, has publicized various letters between her and her father.
The letters, dated as far back as , prove that Armstrong had indeed always believed Sharon to be his daughter, and that he even paid for her education and home, among several other things, throughout his life. Perhaps most importantly, the letters also detail Armstrong's fatherly love for Sharon. While only a DNA test could officially prove whether a blood relationship does exist between Armstrong and Sharon — and one has never been conducted between the two — believers and skeptics can at least agree on one thing: Sharon's uncanny resemblance to the jazz legend.
Armstrong continued a grueling touring schedule into the late '50s, and it caught up with him in , when he had a heart attack while traveling in Spoleto, Italy. The musician didn't let the incident stop him, however, and after taking a few weeks off to recover, he was back on the road, performing nights a year into the s.
Armstrong was still a popular attraction around the world in , but hadn't made a record in two years. In December of that year, he was called into the studio to record the title number for a Broadway show that hadn't opened yet: Hello, Dolly!
The record was released in and quickly climbed to the top of the pop music charts, hitting the No. This newfound popularity introduced Armstrong to a new, younger audience, and he continued making both successful records and concert appearances for the rest of the decade, even cracking the "Iron Curtain" with a tour of Communist countries such as East Berlin and Czechoslovakia in In , Armstrong recorded a new ballad, "What a Wonderful World.
Armstrong sang his heart out on the number, thinking of his home in Queens as he did so, but "What a Wonderful World" received little promotion in the United States. The tune did, however, become a No.
By , Armstrong's grueling lifestyle had finally caught up with him. Heart and kidney problems forced him to stop performing in That same year, his longtime manager, Joe Glaser, passed away. Armstrong spent much of that year at home, but managed to continue practicing the trumpet daily. By the summer of , Armstrong was allowed to perform publicly again and play the trumpet. After a successful engagement in Las Vegas, Armstrong began taking engagements around the world, including in London and Washington, D.
However, a heart attack two days after the Waldorf gig sidelined him for two months. Armstrong returned home in May , and though he soon resumed playing again and promised to perform in public once more, he died in his sleep on July 6, , at his home in Queens, New York.
Since his death, Armstrong's stature has only continued to grow. In the s and '90s, younger African American jazz musicians like Wynton Marsalis, Jon Faddis and Nicholas Payton began speaking about Armstrong's importance, both as a musician and a human being.
A series of new biographies on Armstrong made his role as a civil rights pioneer abundantly clear and, subsequently, argued for an embrace of his entire career's output, not just the revolutionary recordings from the s. Armstrong's home in Corona, Queens was declared a National Historic Landmark in ; today, the house is home to the Louis Armstrong House Museum , which annually receives thousands of visitors from all over the world. One of the most important figures in 20th century music, Armstrong's innovations as a trumpeter and vocalist are widely recognized today, and will continue to be for decades to come.
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Astronaut, military pilot, and educator, Neil Armstrong made history on July 20, , by becoming the first man to walk on the moon. Billie Holiday was one of the most influential jazz singers of all time. She had a thriving career for many years before she lost her battle with addiction. An originator of big-band jazz, Duke Ellington was an American composer, pianist and bandleader who composed thousands of scores over his year career. Lance Armstrong is a cancer survivor and former professional cyclist who was stripped of his seven Tour de France wins due to evidence of performance-enhancing drug use.
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