Louis Armstrong
The Spectacular Man That Once Was
You have to think that if people took the time to make hand drawn pictures of him then he must have been important.
The Life of Louis Armstrong
On August 4, 1901, Louis Armstrong or as some people knew him "Satchmo" was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. While growing up he lived in a place where everything was dirty, sinful and worst is that no attention is ever paid to the children in families. The conditions were so bad that people called that area "the battlefield". His parents worked, his father was a dedicated factory worker that left them almost as soon as Louis was born and his mother was forced to sell her body on the street for money so Louis often stayed with his maternal grandmother. In the fifth grade, Louis had to drop out of school so he could start working. He made money collecting trash and delivering people their coal. Louis worked like this until New Year's Eve when he fired his father's gun up in the air and was simultaneously arrested. At his detention center, he was forced to take a class on learning to play the cornet and once he was released he fell head over heals for music. Although he sill had to do some of the grunt work, he was rapidly sliding up the evolutionary ladder of music. He started off as Joe "King" Oliver's mentor and quickly slid up to the point where he replaced Oliver in "Kid Ory's" band. Right after that, he no longer had to do his other jobs and he could solely rely on the income of his music career. As a second cornet Louis Armstrong joined in a band with his old buddy King Oliver. His first wife Lillian Hardin strongly advised him to quit out from King Oliver's band and join in Fletcher Henderson's orchestra. He vividly came to life with many jazz solos in the orchestra's concerts. Unfortunately Louis Armstrong had to break off from the orchestra because of the other musicians and the fact that he couldn't sing because of his coarse voice. He made a life by himself and later with a band in his name. Currently many people say that these were some of the most important times in jazz and blues history. He and his band later played music for silent films, which was the point at which he switched from the cornet to the trumpet. From then on he worked more as a lone performer and with some exceptions, duets. In 1928 some of his greatest hits came out such as "Weather Bird," and "West End Blues." From then on he lived a happy life of making beautiful music in his later years. After his life time manager passed away, he stopped performing. One year later he died in his sleep before his final concert on July 6, 1971.
He certainly had a time in history.
Armstong playing his famous trumpet.
He often needed a handkerchief when he was on stage.
Modern Artists Following in His Footsteps
Adele as the Idol She is Today
Adele Laurie Blue Adkins was born on May 5, 1988 in the northern piece of London. She grew up with her mother and they lived in a descent neighborhood where everything was alright. As a child she always looked up to The Spice Girls and Gabrielle as role models. She would sing little concerts of their songs to her mother and her friends as if she was them. One day when she was singing with a microphone, something suddenly clicked in her brain and she decided right then that she was going to be a singer. From then on she sang and she sang, slowly but steadily drawing attention of the major music producers. Eventually she was discovered and when she came in, she came in big. At first, her producers thought that she wouldn't do too well in America based on the stats from her first album sales. But when she performed on "Saturday Night Live" with Sarah Palin, her sales skyrocketed and they didn't come down. I believe that Adele is a lot like Louis Armstrong because she stepped out of the box with her music simply by singing really high and quite low with the same tone and volume which by the way is spectacular.They are also a lot alike in the manner that they have a stage presence that is unmatchable, when they are standing up on a stage, everyone's eyes just gravitate to them. Another similar experience is that they both only had their mom and when that happens, the attention for each child gets lower and lower. It definitely could have changed their perspective and made them a little less needy. I think that the most important similarity between the two is their claim to fame. Louis Armstrong was arrested and forced to take the cornet when he fell in love with it and Adele had always been neutral with music until the first time she picked up a microphone and she knew on the spot that she was going to have a career in music.
Adele writes most of her own music and sings live most times.
Adele is a very famous British singer who is committed to music.
Adele has won many awards on her voice and her song "Skyfall".
Adele - Set Fire To The Rain (Live at The Royal Albert Hall)
Above is a live video of Adele singing "Set Fire to the Rain" live compared to the below video where Louis Armstrong is singing his rendition of "Mack the Knife".
Louis Armstrong sings "Mack the Knife"
Long Lasting Effects on Modern day Music
Louis Armstrong has played a very important roll in the evolution of music as an idol of singing with growl in your voice. He was also the king of jazz, mostly because of his ability to hit notes a lot higher than most trumpet players or cornet players combined with the fact that he could write music and he had one of the most unique voices out of any singer. His style of jazz changed the entire world with songs that hit notes high and low the same with extreme upbeat rhythms. But he was also capable of slowing it down with the same passion as other songs.
One More Thing
Even though this wasn't created in the 1920s, this was his most famous song and a loved one at that. This song was created in 1968 and has never gone away, I present to you, "What A Wonderful World".
What a wonderful world - LOUIS ARMSTRONG.