Gloria Parker

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Gloria Parker
Born Gloria Parker
Brooklyn, New York, USA
Occupation Musician, Bandleader, Songwriter, actress, and known for her ability to play the Musical Glasses or glass harp.
[Official website

Glorious Gloria Parker is an American entertainer active during the Swing Era as a bandleader of an All-female band, Gloria Parker and the Starletts. The Gloria Parker Show aired nightly coast to coast on WABC and Gloria entertained her audience playing the marimba, organ and the singing glasses or glass harp. Gloria Parker Princess of the Marimba conducted the 21-piece Swingphony broadcasting nationally from the Kelly Lyceum Ballroom in Buffalo, New York. This was the largest big band ever led by a female bandleader. Edgar Battle and Footsie Thomas were engaged as arrangers for the Swingphony. Gloria Parker and her Orchestra performed at Leon and Eddies Nightclub Celebrity Nite on 52nd Street in Manhattan, Honoring the Most Beautiful Bandleader on Broadway, Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin carried on stage her Musical Glasses or glass harp to open.

Gloria Parker is also known for her performances in Soundies. Gloria composed the music and wrote the lyrics for Broadway And Main with Stepin Fetchit, Four Letters, Here Comes The Fattest Man In Town with comedic personality Mel Blanc as Santa Claus, Penthouse Party featuring Parker playing the glass harp and Wise Men Say; all produced and directed by William Forest Crouch. Soundies were viewed on the Panoram, a coin-operated film jukebox, in nightclubs, bars, restaurants, amusement parks and community centers.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Musical Glasses

Gloria Parker is known for her unique ability to play the mystical Musical Glasses or glass harp. The very first American known to have practiced the art of Glasspiel was Benjamin Franklin and some of Gloria Parker's glasses date back to the time that Franklin lived. Gloria Parker learned the art from her grandfather, a native of Czechoslovakia, where most of her glasses were collected. She plays the glasses by rubbing her fingertips over the rims of each glass. The 28 glasses are arranged chromatically on a special table and some of them are partially filled with water to give the proper pitch. The range of her glasses is two octaves and the lowest note she can play is E below middle C. The resulting sound is reminiscent of a well played flute. Gloria performs hundreds of popular songs on these delightful glasses.

On February 18, 1979, Parker performed as a musical glass soloist with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra at the Jai-Lai Fronton in Hartford, CT. Richard Hayman, noted for his arrangements for Boston Pops conductor Arthur Fiedler, was the guest conductor for the 90-piece orchestra that accompanied the musical glasses which included songs such as Lara's Theme from the movie Dr. Zhivago, Lover and Amor.

[edit] Early life

Parker was born in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of Rita Rose, a musician, who studied the violin with Leopold Auer and performed on CBS Your Hit Parade with bandleader Mark Warnow and Raymond Scott. Gloria's father was a United States Air Force test pilot stationed in Hawaii during the Second World War.

By the age of three and a half, Glorious Gloria Parker was on her way to stardom. She played her personalized quarter-size violin and charmed everyone who heard her. By age five, she played in concert at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and by the time she was 14, she conducted her own all-girl orchestra, Gloria Parker and the Coquettes and was featured on stage with the marimba and glass harp.

[edit] Career

Glorious Gloria Parker is a talented songwriter, bandleader and musician. Gloria mastered and performed with her orchestra's playing the marimba, glass harp or musical glasses, piano, organ, violin, viola, vibraphone, xylophone, guitar, drums and all latin percussion instruments.

Gloria Parker was under the personal management of Joe Glazer as well as Louis Armstrong, Van Alexander, Les Brown, Billy Holiday, Lionel Hampton, Red Norvo, Russ Morgan, and Teddy Powell.

Gloria Parker and the Starletts toured on the USO Ballyhoo show produced by Theodore Hammerstein with Judy Garland, June Preisser, The Kim Sisters, an all-female band from Korea that played every musical instrument known, ventriloquist Canfield Smith with Snodgrass and many other notable personalities.

In the early 1950s, Gloria Parker and Vincent Lopez hosted a radio program on WABC broadcasted Saturday afternoon from the Taft Hotel in Manhattan called Shake the Maracas in which audience members competed for prizes by playing maracas with the orchestra. In addition, Gloria Parker and her Society Orchestra hosted an evening broadcast Gloria Parker Calling on WOR from the Green Room of the Edison Hotel in New York City. Gloria would open the show with the glass harp or musical glasses and feature the popular latin sound on her marimba and vibraharp with her orchestra.

On television,Gloria Parker, Princess of the Marimba aired Friday night on ABC, the show opened with Gloria playing, I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles on her glass harp and featured rhythms from South America.

The Big Band Era suffered with a musicians recording ban from August 1942 to November 1944. The union that a majority of musicians belonged to did not allow its members to record until the record companies such as CBS agree to pay them each time their music was played on the radio. This happened after an earlier ban of ASCAP songs from radio stations which lead to the demise of this style of swing music. Gloria emerged as a spokesperson for the musicians and earned the title as the "Famous One Share Stockholder" in her battle for musician rights with CBS, RCA and Time Inc. The national media would anxiously await Gloria's head to head confrontations with CBS founder William S. Paley and RCA Chairman of the Board David Sarnoff at the annual stockholder meetings.

[edit] Personal life

Gloria designs and makes her own wardrobe. She has utilized this talent throughout her career with show stopping gowns, suits, dresses and coats. Gloria considers all animals her friends. She has had parrots from Africa who sing and talk, and feeds squirrels, birds, raccoons and foxes every day. Gloria Parker currently resides on Long Island in New York.

Guest Appearances
Network Show
NBC Saturday Night Live, Christmas Special, Played the Singing Glasses
Late Night with David Letterman
The Mike Douglas Show
ABC The Morning Show, Regis Philbin
CBS The Ed Sullivan Show

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Swing Era music

  • "A Stairway to the Moon" recorded by Hugho Winterhalter and his Orchestra, recorded by Betty Jane Rhoades on Columbia Records, music and lyrics by Gloria Parker.
  • "Broadway And Main" music and lyrics by Gloria Parker.
  • "Clap Your Hands and Shake Your Blues Away" recorded by Lionel Hampton and his Orchestra, lyrics and music by Gloria Parker.
  • "Daddy From Georgia Way" recorded by Bob Chester and his Orchestra on Columbia Records, lyrics and music by Daisy Lawton, a pen name for Gloria Parker.
  • "Four Letters" Gloria composed the music and wrote the lyrics.
  • "Here Comes The Fattest Man In Town" lyrics and music by Gloria Parker.
  • "In Santiago by the Sea" by Gloria Parker and recorded by Vincent Lopez and his Orchestra.
  • "Marimba Merengue" by Gloria Parker.
  • "Shake The Maracas" lyrics and music by Gloria Parker, and name of a radio program on WABC hosted by Gloria Parker and Vincent Lopez.
  • "Stars and Stripes Forever Merengue" by Gloria Parker.
  • "The Best Idea You Had" by Gloria Parker and recorded by Una Mae Carlisle with Bob Chester and his Orchestra.
  • "The Dixieland Rhumba" lyrics and music by Gale Porter, a pen name for Gloria Parker.
  • "Tonight Be Tender To Me" by Gloria Parker and recorded by Una Mae Carlisle.
  • "The Sweetest Words I Know" by Gloria Parker on Columbia Records with Vincent Lopez Orchestra.
  • "The Up and Down Mambo" by Gloria Parker.
  • "Wise Men Say" lyrics and music by Gloria Parker.

[edit] References

  • Radio Music Live 1920-1950 A Pictorial Gamut by Morris N. Young and John C. Stoltzfus, Published by Arrangement with Life Music, Inc., pg. 47,50,237,239,240,241
  • Singing Glasses is also the name of a 1980 record album composed by Gloria Parker playing the glass harp.
  • Life Magazine, May 1959, Rising to a Point of Disorder, Famous One Share Stockholder Gloria Parker confronting Radio Corporation of America (RCA) with Billings-Gate at the annual stock holder meeting.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links