Search - Vaughn De Leath :: Ukulele Lady

The original radio girl

Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 05/08/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Born Leonore Vonderleath in 1894 (or maybe 1896), Vaughn De Leath got her lucky break when she teamed up with a controversial radio pioneer, Lee De Forest. Lee developed the radio broadcasting technology enabling Vaughn's singing to be broadcast on the radio, at first locally but later nationwide. So although there appears to be some doubt as to whether Vaughn was the first woman to sing live on radio, there is no doubt that she was the first female radio star. As her popularity grew rapidly, record companies became interested in recording her music. The twenties were a period of economic boom that ended with the stock market collapse of 1929. Vaughn was extremely popular in America throughout that decade. The music presented here covers the period 1921 to 1929.



Vaughn had a string of hits during that period including All by myself (from 1921 - revived in the seventies by Eric Carmen), Ukulele lady (from 1925), Blue skies (from 1925 - this song has generated many covers including one by Willie Nelson), The whisper song (from 1927), Are you lonesome tonight? (from 1927 - later revived by Elvis Presley), Together we two (from 1927), My blue heaven (from 1927), Can't help lovin' dat man (from 1927), The man I love (from 1927), I can't give you anything but love (from 1927 - this was Vaughn's biggest hit, peaking at number two), I wanna be loved by you (from 1928) and Button up your overcoat (from 1929). Of the other tracks included here, the most famous song is I'm just wild about Harry.



This is a fine collection of music from a decade that very few people alive now remember. So this music won't be likely to bring back memories for anybody, but it demonstrates that there was plenty of good music around then. The recording industry was still primitive and you must make allowance for this if you buy music this old. The sound quality is as good as can reasonably be expected. Enjoy it for what it is and remember even Elvis Presley, at the peak of his popularity, found one of Vaughn's songs worth reviving."