Gene Austin

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Gene Austin, born Lemeul Eugene Lucas on 24 June 1900 in Gainesville, Texas, was an American singer and songwriter and one of the first crooners. He took the name of his stepfather and grew up in Minden, Louisiana. At fifteen he ran away from home, sang for the first time in a vaudeville show in Houston and joined the army. After his return in 1919 he lived in Baltimore, where he played piano and sang in bars and put together a vaudeville act. In 1924 he was in New York's Tin Pan Alley. He died on 24 January 1972.

Music and breakthrough

His great years were the late 1920s. Bye Bye Blackbird from 1926 made that year's top twenty. My Blue Heaven spent 26 weeks in the charts in 1928, thirteen of them at number 1, and was the best-selling record of all time until Bing Crosby's White Christmas. Ramona and Carolina Moon followed, both also at number 1. At the height of his career Austin demanded that only the pianist Fats Waller accompany him on his records. The Depression of the 1930s hit the record industry and with it his career.

Influence

Austin never learned to read music, but wrote more than a hundred songs. When My Sugar Walks Down the Street and The Lonesome Road became jazz and pop standards, and The Lonesome Road has been recorded by dozens of artists, from Bing Crosby to Frank Sinatra. He appeared in films such as Belle of the Nineties and My Little Chickadee and had a radio series from 1932 to 1934. In this way he helped to shape the crooning sound.

Listening

Discography

Studio albums

• 1972This Is Gene Austin