Louis Armstrong mini-bio: Louis Armstrong grew up poor in a single-parent household.
He was 13 when he celebrated the New Year by running out on the street and firing a pistol that belonged to the current man in his mother's life.
At the Colored Waifs Home for Boys, he learned to play the bugle and the clarinet and joined the home's brass band. They played at socials, picnics and funerals for a small fee.
At 18 he got a job in the Kid Ory Band in New Orleans.
Four years later, in 1922, he went to Chicago, where he played second coronet in the Creole Jazz Band.
He made his first recordings with that band in 1923.
In 1929 Armstrong appeared on Broadway in "Hot Chocolates", in which he introduced Fats Waller's "Ain't Misbehavin', his first popular song hit.
He made a tour of Europe in 1932.
During a command performance for King George V, he forgot he had been told that performers were not to refer to members of the royal family while playing for them. Just before picking up his trumpet for a really hot number, he announced: "This one's for you, Rex."
Trade Mark: He had a distinctively gravelly singing voice.
Satchmo became Armstrong's nickname after his 1932 Grand Tour of Europe. A London music magazine editor wrote "Satchmo" in an article -- probably because he couldn't read his garbled notes. Up until that time Armstrong's nickname was Satchelmouth.
Pictured on a 32¢ US commemorative postage stamp in the Legends of American Music series, issued 1 September 1995.
Elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (under the category Early Influence).
Charter inductee of the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1978.
He was nicknamed "Pops" because that is the name he addressed everyone by. Later on in his career, he picked up the sobriquet "America's Jazz Ambassador" because of his frequent jazz concerts around the world.
For most of his life, Louis Armstrong always gave July 4, 1900, as his birthdate, possibly because it was easy to remember. In all likelihood, he probably believed it himself. It wasn't until many years after his death that a birth record was found confirming the correct date as August 4, 1901.
Although his career as a recording artist dates back to the 1920s, when he made now-classic recordings with Joe "King" Oliver, Bessie Smith and the legendary Jimmie Rodgers, as well as his own Hot Five and Hot Seven groups, his biggest hits as a recording artist came comparatively late in his life: "Mack the Knife" (1956), "Hello, Dolly!" (A number one hit in 1964), "What a Wonderful World" (1968) and "We Have All The Time In The World" (over 20 years after his death).
Interestingly enough, Armstrong had never heard of either the song or show "Hello, Dolly!" when he recorded it. To him, it was just the lead song on an album of show tunes, and he was more suprised than anyone when both the single and the album (Kapp: 1964) went to Number One on the Billboard charts. What makes this accomplishment all the more remarkable is that it happened at the height of the so-called "British Invasion", when the Beatles and other British rock groups seemed to be dominating every aspect of the pop music charts. Armstrong later repeated his hit in the film version of "Hello, Dolly!", singing it to Barbra Streisand.
Although the term didn't exist during his lifetime, there is much evidence to indicate that he may have been bulimic. He believed that it didn't matter what you ate, as long as you purged yourself regularly afterwards. He would do that with the help of an herbal laxative called Swiss Kriss, and even handed out mimeographed sheets on his diet regimen to friends. In all probability, this contributed to the health problems he suffered in the last years of his life.
Refused to go a State Department-sponsored concert tour of the Soviet Union in 1959 because he felt the Eisenhower administration wasn't doing enough to promote civil rights legislation.
Embittered by the treatment of blacks in his hometown of New Orleans, he chose to be buried in New York City.
The slang terms "cat" meaning a man about town and "chops" meaning a musician's playing ability were first coined by him.
Was only 16 when he married Daisy Parker.
Personal Quotes:
"I never tried to prove nothing, just wanted to give a good show. My life has always been my music, it's always come first, but the music ain't worth nothing if you can't lay it on the public. The main thing is to live for that audience, 'cause what you're there for is to please the people."
"All music is folk music. I ain't never heard no horse sing a song."
"What is jazz? Man, if you have to ask you'll never know."
"There's some folks, that, if they don't know, you can't tell 'em."
"If it wasn't for jazz, there wouldn't be no rock and roll."
"It sure feels good to be up there with those Beatles." (On being asked about his new number 1 song "Hello Dolly".)
Date of Death:
6 July 1971, New York, New York, USA. (heart attack)
