May 1921 in Music History

Events in Music

May 23 Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake's musical revue "Shuffle Along", the 1st hit Broadway show with an all-Black cast opens at Cort 63rd Street Theatre, NYC; runs for 504 performances [1]

Birthdays in Music

May 3 Joe Ames, American singer and actor (The Ames Brothers Show), born in Malden, Massachusetts (d. 2007)
May 4 John van Kesteren, Dutch tenor (Komische Oper, West-Berlin), born in The Hague, Netherlands (d. 2008)
May 4 Virginia "Patsy" Garrett, American singer (Fred Waring's Pleasure Time), and actress (Nanny & the Professor), born in Atlantic City, New Jersey (d. 2015)
May 5 Sonja Oosterman, Dutch singer (Marketensters) (d. 2008)
May 6 Freddy Randall, English jazz trumpeter, born in London (d. 1999)
May 7 Gale Robbins [Betty Gale Murphy], American singer and actress (Fuller Brush Girl; Mr Hex), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1980)
May 12 (Otis W.) "Joe" Maphis, American session and country music guitarist ("Dim Lights"), born in Suffolk, Virginia (d. 1986)
May 12 Edvard Mirzoyan, Armenian composer, born in Gori, Georgia (d. 2012)
May 17 Bob Merrill, American composer and lyricist (People, Mambo Italiano), born in Atlantic City, New Jersey (d. 1998)
May 17 Dennis Brain, British classical horn player (Serenade), born in London, England (d. 1957)
May 21 Leona Wood, painter and dancer, born in Seattle, Washington
May 23 Humphrey Lyttelton, British jazz trumpeter and bandleader ("Bad Penny Blues"), and broadcaster (BBC2 - Best Of Jazz, 1967-2007; BBC4 - I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, 1972-2008), born in Eton, Buckinghamshire (d. 2008)
May 25 Hal David, American lyricist ("Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head"; "What The World Needs Now Is Love";"Do You Know the Way to San Jose"), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 2012)
May 25 Kitty Kallen, American singer ("Little Things Mean a Lot"), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 2016)