Belle Baker (December 25, 1893 in New York City â€" April 29, 1957 in
Los Angeles, California) was an American singer and actress. Popular
throughout the 1910s and 1920s, Baker introduced a number of ragtime
and torch songs including Irving Berlin's "Blue Skies" and "My
Yiddishe Mama". She performed in the Ziegfeld Follies and introduced a
number of Irving Berlin's songs. An early adapter to radio, Baker
hosted her own radio show during the 1930s. Eddie Cantor called her
“Dinah Shore, Patti Page, Peggy Lee, Judy Garland all rolled into
one.†Baker was born Bella Becker in 1893 to a Russian Jewish family.
Baker started performing at the Lower East Side's Cannon Street Music
Hall at age 11, where she was discovered by the Yiddish Theatre
manager Jacob Adler. She was managed in vaudeville by Lew Leslie, who
would become Baker's first husband. She made her vaudeville debut in
Scranton, Pennsylvania at the age of 15. She performed in Oscar
Hammerstein I's Victoria Theatre in 1911, although her performance was
panned, mainly for her song choices. By age 17, she was a headliner.
One of her earliest hits was, "Cohen Owes Me $97".By 1917, she was a
top headliner in New York. In the early 1920s, when she was well known
as The Ragtime Singer, Baker took part in a Baltimore song competition
with Catherine Calvert, Pearl and Violet Hamilton, and Jessie Fordyce.
She was the first artist to record "All of Me", one of the most
recorded songs of its era, and she was also the first person in the
United States to do a radio broadcast from a moving train. Baker
became known for her ragtime and torch songs including, "Hard Hearted
Hannah", "My Sin", "My Kid", "When the Black Sheep Returns to the
Fold", and "I'll Pick Myself a California Rose". She made a handful of
recordings, including "Hard Hearted Hannah" in 1924.[citation
needed]As Baker's fame rose as a vocalist, she became known for her
Yiddish themed torch songs. In 1925, fellow vaudevillian Sophie Tucker
gave Baker a song that had been sent to her for consideration. "My
Yiddishe Mama" was a blatant tearjerker, but it was immensely popular
and became Baker’s signature song. Similar songs Baker recorded
included, "My Man", "My Kid", "Baby Your Mother" and "My
Sin".[citation needed]
Los Angeles, California) was an American singer and actress. Popular
throughout the 1910s and 1920s, Baker introduced a number of ragtime
and torch songs including Irving Berlin's "Blue Skies" and "My
Yiddishe Mama". She performed in the Ziegfeld Follies and introduced a
number of Irving Berlin's songs. An early adapter to radio, Baker
hosted her own radio show during the 1930s. Eddie Cantor called her
“Dinah Shore, Patti Page, Peggy Lee, Judy Garland all rolled into
one.†Baker was born Bella Becker in 1893 to a Russian Jewish family.
Baker started performing at the Lower East Side's Cannon Street Music
Hall at age 11, where she was discovered by the Yiddish Theatre
manager Jacob Adler. She was managed in vaudeville by Lew Leslie, who
would become Baker's first husband. She made her vaudeville debut in
Scranton, Pennsylvania at the age of 15. She performed in Oscar
Hammerstein I's Victoria Theatre in 1911, although her performance was
panned, mainly for her song choices. By age 17, she was a headliner.
One of her earliest hits was, "Cohen Owes Me $97".By 1917, she was a
top headliner in New York. In the early 1920s, when she was well known
as The Ragtime Singer, Baker took part in a Baltimore song competition
with Catherine Calvert, Pearl and Violet Hamilton, and Jessie Fordyce.
She was the first artist to record "All of Me", one of the most
recorded songs of its era, and she was also the first person in the
United States to do a radio broadcast from a moving train. Baker
became known for her ragtime and torch songs including, "Hard Hearted
Hannah", "My Sin", "My Kid", "When the Black Sheep Returns to the
Fold", and "I'll Pick Myself a California Rose". She made a handful of
recordings, including "Hard Hearted Hannah" in 1924.[citation
needed]As Baker's fame rose as a vocalist, she became known for her
Yiddish themed torch songs. In 1925, fellow vaudevillian Sophie Tucker
gave Baker a song that had been sent to her for consideration. "My
Yiddishe Mama" was a blatant tearjerker, but it was immensely popular
and became Baker’s signature song. Similar songs Baker recorded
included, "My Man", "My Kid", "Baby Your Mother" and "My
Sin".[citation needed]
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