Al Jolson

Jolson, Al (b. Asa Yoelson)

(?1886–1950) popular singer, movie actor; born in Srednice, Lithuania. In 1894 he emigrated to Washington, D.C., with his family to join his father, a rabbi and cantor. He began singing on street corners, then went to New York City and made his debut as an extra in Children of the Ghetto (1899). By age 15 he was touring in vaudeville and minstrel shows as a boy soprano and whistler; by 1906 he was in San Francisco performing a solo act. His earliest success came with Lew Dockstader's Minstrels in 1909; he sang "Mammy" in blackface and thus launched his career and the stereotype with which he would forever be associated (and imitated); musically he blended a vaguely African-American style with his own expressive Jewish tradition. He was also known for whistling improvised melodies in the style of jazz musicians. In 1911 he made his first recording and starred in La Belle Paree in New York; he went on to star in a series of Broadway musicals, his last being Hold on to Your Hats (1940). In 1926 he sang three songs in an experimental sound short, April Showers, and then he starred in the first full-length "talkie" film, The Jazz Singer (1927). By 1932 he had his own radio program; during the 1930s his records were extremely popular and he appeared in several movies. He entertained troops during World War II, but changing tastes in music effectively ended his career until the release of the biofilm, The Jolson Story (1946), for which he dubbed the singing; this led to a brief revival of popularity (and imitations). His signature songs include "Swanee," "Sonny Boy," and "California, Here I Come."

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.