The Barry Sisters: Difference between revisions
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==Musical influence== |
==Musical influence== |
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The Barry Sisters also recorded with |
The Barry Sisters also recorded with noted Jewish singer [[Moishe Oysher]]. |
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The Barry Sisters are thought to be the inspiration for the [[Saturday Night Live]] skit, "The Sweeney Sisters," in which Jan Hooks and Nora Dunn portrayed a sister cabaret act. Mark Shaiman did the musical arrangements for those sketches. |
The Barry Sisters are thought to be the inspiration for the [[Saturday Night Live]] skit, "The Sweeney Sisters," in which Jan Hooks and Nora Dunn portrayed a sister cabaret act. Mark Shaiman did the musical arrangements for those sketches. |
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Revision as of 21:15, 17 March 2013
Clara and Minnie Barry were popular American Jazz and Klezmer entertainers of the 1940s to the early 1970s.
Early years
Born in the Bronx, New York in a Yiddish-speaking home to a Russian-born father and a mother from Vienna, when the sisters decided to entertain by singing in Yiddish, their father told them they would need to do it in the manner of the Old World and not with American accents.[1]
The young girls got their first break as singers on WLTH Radio's "Uncle Norman" show for children and were then known as The Bagelman Sisters. They made their first recordings with RCA Records in the late 1930s.[1] They made a name for themselves as Yiddish jazz singers.
When the Andrews Sisters' version of the Yiddish song, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schön", became a hit, musician and composer Sam Medoff started his "Yiddish Melodies in Swing" radio program on New York's WHN. Before joining the radio show, the sisters made a change of their stage surname from Bagelman to Barry.[1] From 1937 until the mid 1950s they performed on the program, where they would sing jazz recordings in the Yiddish language.[2] Their recordings included popular tunes, such as "Rain Drops Keep Falling on My Head" translated into Yiddish (Trop'ns Fin Regen Oif Mein Kop).[3]
They also performed in the New York Catskills resort hotels. They eventually toured with Mickey Katz.During the height of their popularity, they even made appearances on the Ed Sullivan and Jack Paar shows and were one of the few American acts to tour the Soviet Union in 1959.[1][4][5] The sisters also entertained Israeli troops during the Yom Kippur War.[1]
Musical influence
The Barry Sisters also recorded with noted Jewish singer Moishe Oysher.
The Barry Sisters are thought to be the inspiration for the Saturday Night Live skit, "The Sweeney Sisters," in which Jan Hooks and Nora Dunn portrayed a sister cabaret act. Mark Shaiman did the musical arrangements for those sketches.
Merna Barry was born in 1925 and died in 1976.[6] Claire Barry, born in 1923, continues to sing and perform, and was featured in the 2002 NPR radio show, "The Yiddish Radio Project.".[7]
The duo's 11th and final album, "My Way," was issued in 1973.[8]
Danny Stiles frequently played their records on his radio show.
Discography
- The Barry Sisters; Banner BA-1009 (compilation of recodings originally released as 78rpms)
- The Barry Sisters; Cadence CLP-4001
- At Home with the Barry Sisters; Roulette SR-25060 (w/Abe Ellstein)
- Side by Side; Roulette SR-25136
- We Belong Together; Roulette SR-25156; 1961 (w/Jerry Fielding)
- Shalom; Roulette SR-25157
- The Barry Sisters in Israel (live); Roulette SR-25198
- The World of the Barry Sisters: Memorable Jewish Melodies; Roulette SR-25258
- Fiddler on the Roof; ABC-Paramount ABCS-516
- Something Spanish; ABC-Paramount ABCS-578 (arr. & cond. Chico O'Farrill)
- A Time To Remember; ABC-Paramount ABCS-597
- Our Way (Tahka-Tahka); Roulette/Mainstream/Red Lion MRL-393; 1973 (w/Jim Tyler, Jerry Graff)
References
- ^ a b c d e "Our Way-album liner notes". Mainstream Records. 1973. Retrieved 15 December 2012.
- ^ The Rise of Yiddish Swing, on www.yiddishradioproject.org
- ^ www.thecjm.org
- ^ MOG mog.com
- ^ www.jewishjukebox.com
- ^ Vintage Lady
- ^ Yiddish Radio Project web site
- ^ Jessica Emmerich, THE IDELSOHN SOCIETY FOR MUSICAL PRESERVATION (Formerly Reboot Stereophonic)