Lynn Anderson

Posted in Woodlawn Memorial Park (TN) with tags , , on June 10, 2024 by Cade

September 26, 1947 – July 30, 2015

Lynn Anderson never promised you a rose garden, but – in the end – you got one anyway.

As a young girl, Anderson’s family relocated from California to Nashville when her mother, Liz Anderson, began getting noticed for her songwriting. When she wasn’t singing and performing, Lynn spent her free time with horses. In addition to her career in music, she raised quarter horses and raced them professionally.

Living in Nashville in the ’60s with a mom who was a prolific songwriter had its benefits. Lynn was discovered while singing with her mom at a party and was signed to a record deal. Her first Top 10 hit was 1967’s “If I Kiss You (Will You Go Away)”…which was written by Liz.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

Gertrude Stein

Posted in Père Lachaise Cemetery with tags , on June 3, 2024 by Cade

February 3, 1874 – July 27, 1946

Novelist, poet and playwright, Gertrude Stein, was born in Pennsylvania to a affluent, upper-middle class family. As a young child, Stein’s family moved to Europe (Vienna and Paris, to be precise) and her parents wanted to instill a strong sense of European life and sensibility in them.

It worked.
Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

Rudyard Kipling

Posted in Westminster Abbey with tags , on May 27, 2024 by Cade

December 30, 1865 – January 18, 1936

Joseph Rudyard Kipling was and English writer born in Bombay, British India.

Not satisfied with that base level of international poly-citizenship, Kipling would spend much of his life traveling and exploring the world abroad. British custom at the time required that Rudyard and his sister spend their formative years in England. Their parents stayed in India, so the children bounced back and forth for much of their young lives.

Kipling loved to write, but his education stopped short of attending university. Instead, he went to work at a newspaper in India where he published dozens of short stories – a genre he helped popularize – over the course of several years. He returned to London by way of a 7 month journey through Asia and North America. His time in Japan and America, in particular, proved to be influential to him both personally and creatively. While in New York, Kipling dropped in on an unsuspecting Mark Twain and the two enjoyed a productive conversation.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

Corin Redgrave

Posted in Highgate Cemetery with tags , , on May 20, 2024 by Cade

July 16, 1939 – April 06, 2010

Tony Award nominated actor, Corin Redgrave was the middle child – and only son – of legendary British actors Rachel Kempson and Michael Redgrave. Along with sisters, Lynn and Vanessa, Corin was part of the successful third generation of the Redgrave acting family.

Known most widely for his stage performances, Redgrave made a name for himself in productions ranging from Shakespeare to Tennessee Williams in both London and New York. In 1999, he was nominated for Tony and Evening Standard awards for his work in Williams’ Not About Nightingales.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

Lester Flatt

Posted in Oaklawn Memorial Cemetery with tags , , , , on May 13, 2024 by Cade

June 19, 1914 – May 11, 1979

Guitarist, mandolinist, singer and songwriter, Lester Flatt, played in a number of bands during his 20s all throughout the American south. In 1945, he joined Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys and the history of country music was altered forever. Flatt played rhythm guitar and sang lead vocals for the legendary group for 3 years, churning out dozens of hits that shaped the eponymous new genre: Bluegrass.

In 1948, Flatt left the Blue Grass Boys along with banjo player, Earl Scruggs. The two would team up to form Flatt and Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys and become one of the most popular bluegrass acts of all time.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

Émile Zola

Posted in The Pantheon with tags , on May 6, 2024 by Cade

April 02, 1840 – September 29, 1902

French author, journalist and playwright, Émile Zola, is widely regarded as the preeminent writer in the Naturalism movement in literature. With more than 30 works to his credit, Zola was one of the most prominent writers of his time. A large percentage of his books centered around multiple generations of a single family living in Napoleon III’s France.

His naturalistic portrayals of common people and his negative depictions of real-life political figures led Zola to a life of activism in addition to his writing. He became an outspoken proponent of the liberalization of France and his vocal critiques gained him a lot of enemies in the public sphere.

He was tried for criminal libel and forced to flee to England for a time.

And he may or may not have been murdered.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

Chita Rivera

Posted in Saint Anthony's Catholic Cemetery with tags , , , , on April 29, 2024 by Cade

January 23, 1933 – January 30, 2024

Broadway legends aren’t super rare, but Broadway icons are much more precious and exceptional. And friends, Chita Rivera was an ICON.

Born Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero in Washington D.C., the dancer, actress and singer who would eventually become “Chita Rivera” took dance lessons as a teenager and found her way to New York by way of her growing reputation. By the time she was 18, she was already getting dancing roles in hit Broadway musicals like Guys and Dolls and Can-Can. Then, in 1957, Rivera landed her first featured role: Anita in a new musical called West Side Story.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

Bessie Smith

Posted in Mount Lawn Cemetery with tags , on April 22, 2024 by Cade

bsmith3April 15, 1894 – September 26, 1937

Combining deep-seated poverty, a troubled childhood and one of the most powerful singing voices ever known is enough to lead anyone to take up residence in the music genre known as “the blues.” But, once in a lifetime – perhaps, in SEVERAL lifetimes – it leads to someone making an entire empire out of it.

Columbia records dubbed Bessie Smith the “Queen of the Blues.” The moniker didn’t last long. By the time her career was in full swing in the late 1920’s, Smith had taken her rightful place at the top of the music world with the more apt title “EMPRESS of the Blues.”

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

Conrad Veidt

Posted in Golders Green Crematorium with tags , , on April 15, 2024 by Cade

January 22, 1893 – April 03, 1943

Conrad “Conny” Veidt was a German-British actor whose largest impact on the film industry was arguably his performances in classic German Expressionism silent films like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) and The Man Who Laughs (1928). He appeared in more than 70 early films in his native Germany, many of which have been lost. He learned to speak English and French and continued to work his way across the globe, eventually making it to Hollywood, where he played perhaps his most recognizable role: Major Strasser opposite Humphrey Bogart in the 1941 classic, Casablanca. It would be the last movie released in Veidt’s lifetime.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

Isaac Newton

Posted in Westminster Abbey with tags , on April 8, 2024 by Cade

December 25, 1642 – March 20, 1726

It would be easy to just say that Sir Isaac Newton invented gravity, the tides, comets and colored light. It would be wrong…but it would be easy.

Newton is widely regarded as one of the greatest scientific minds in human history and one of the principle minds behind what would become the Enlightenment. A genius, he used mathematics to explain everything from philosophy to the movement of the planets. He created the first reflecting telescope to study the movement of comets and other celestial objects. He determined, via prism, that the light spectrum contained an array of colors that were intrinsic to the white light itself. Love it or hate it, he invented Calculus.

And, as legend has it, he used observations of an apple tree in his garden to formulate his theory of gravitation.

Continue reading →

Leave a comment »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »