Hole (band)

Although Love's flamboyant personality and controversial statements have often overshadowed the reception of Hole's music, it should be stressed that Hole's records all sold over 500,000 copies worldwide, and that their music releases (as well as the musicianship of the band members) have been critically praised. However, today there can be found no statue, plaque or even sign anywhere in New York honoring Jolson, his talents, or his contributions to the Broadway stage. Hole's band members have changed frequently over the years; the line-up of Hole's last album Celebrity Skin (1998) was Love (lead vocals), Melissa Auf der Maur (bass), Eric Erlandson (guitars), and Patty Schemel (drums). On the day he died, Broadway turned off its lights for 10 minutes in his honor. After a number of releases on independent record labels, including their first full length album Pretty on the Inside which received praise from underground critics, Hole released their major label debut Live Through This (1994) very shortly after the suicide death of Love's husband Kurt Cobain. He died on October 23, 1950 in San Francisco and was interred in the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California. Hole was a musical group, formed in 1989 and (officially) disbanded in 2002, fronted by Courtney Love and co-founded by Eric Erlandson. A life-long devotion to entertaining American troops, servicemen and women, (he first sang for servicemen of the Spanish-American War as a boy in Washington DC) and, against the advice of his doctors, he was entertaining troops in Korea in 1950 when his heart began to fail.

Celebrity Skin (1998). Jolson was billed as "The World's Greatest Entertainer", which is how many of the greatest stars (including Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Elvis Presley, Mick Jagger, Rod Stewart, Jackie Wilson, etc.) referred to him. My Body The Hand Grenade (1997). His legacy is considered by many to be severely neglected today because of his use of stage blackface which, while at the time was a theatrical convention used by many performers (both white and black), but is today seen by many as a racial slur. Ask For It (1995). Despite such singers as Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, and Perry Como being in their primes, Jolson was voted the "Most Popular Male Vocalist" in 1948 by a Variety poll. Live Through This (1994). A box office smash (it was the highest grossing film since Gone With the Wind) led to a whole new generation who became enthralled with Jolson's voice and charisma.

Pretty on the Inside (1991). However, Jolson scored what many believe to be the greatest comeback in show business history when Columbia Pictures produced the film biography The Jolson Story in 1946, which starred Larry Parks as Jolson, lip-synching to Jolson's voice. After leaving the Broadway stage Jolson starred on radio, and his shows were always in the top ten of ratings. "Jolie" as he was known to his friends in "The Show Business" was the first entertainer to sell one million records. His Broadway career is unmatched for length and popularity, having spanned close to 30 years (1911-1940).

He is best known, however, for his appearance in one of the first "talkies" The Jazz Singer, (the first film with sound to enjoy wide commercial success), in 1927 (See also blackface). Jolson became a popular singer and a superstar of the Broadway stage, radio and film, becoming the first pop music star to crossover to the silver screen, a career move taken for granted among pop stars today. Asa Yoelson (May 26, 1886 - October 23, 1950), better known as Al Jolson, was an American immigrant son of a Russian Jew, and was born in Seredzius, Lithuania.