Shirehorses

Compare with Weird Al Yankovic. These include her smash hits "Wheel of Fortune" (her biggest hit, #1 for 10 weeks), "Side by Side," "The Man Upstairs," and "Rock and Roll Waltz.". The Shirehorses have released two albums to date:. Most of her songs have jazz influences, and, like Frankie Laine and Johnnie Ray, are sung in a style that sound decidedly close to the rock and roll songs that follow. Formerly a double act on BBC Radio 1, in March of 2004 they went their separate ways, Radcliffe to BBC Radio 2, Riley to BBC 6 Music. However, at this time, traditional pop music was being superseded by Rock and roll, and Kay had only one hit, which is sometimes consifered her attempt to sing R'n'R and sometimes as a song making fun of R'n'R: "The Rock and Roll Waltz." She stayed at RCA Victor until 1959, then returned to Capitol. Marc Riley was formerly a member of The Fall and later Creepers before embarking on his current career as a radio personality with Mark Radcliffe. In 1955, she signed with RCA Victor Records.

However, they have played large venues, supporting Blur on their 1997 tour of the UK, which took in several stadia, and even played Glastonbury in 1998. Eventually Acuff came up with a new lyric, and "Bonaparte's Retreat" becme her biggest hit up to that point, coming close to a million sales. The band has toured extensively, playing many university gigs because of their popularity with students. She spoke to Acuff directly, and he was happy to let her record it, but it took a while for her to make clear that she wasn't a fiddler, but a singer, and she needed to have some lyrics written. When they rewrote the Seahorses' Love is the Law as (Now) I know (where I'm going) our kid they chose the stage-name "Shirehorses", which then stuck. Around 1950 she made a trip back home to Dougherty and heard a fiddle recording of Pee Wee King's song, "Bonaparte's Retreat." She liked it so much that she wanted to record it, and contacted Roy Acuff's publishing house in Nashville, Tennessee. As part of their radio show, they have produced pastiches of recent chart songs, such as Lardy Boy for Placebo's Nancy Boy, and Why Is It Always Dairylea for Travis's Why Does It Always Rain On Me, using the band names "Gazebo" and "Travisty" respectively. Since she was junior to all these other artists, every song she wanted to sing got offered to all the others, untill finally he put out a list of old songs from earlier in the century, which nobody else wanted to record.

The Shirehorses are a spoof band made up of two BBC Radio DJs from Manchester, Mark Radcliffe and Marc Riley (known collectively as Mark and Lard). In 1948 when the American Federation of Musicians was threatening a strike, Capitol wanted to have all its singers record a lot of songs for future release. Our Kid Eh, a play on the name of Radiohead's album, 'Kid A'. Capitol had a number of other female singers signed up (such as Peggy Lee, Ella Mae Morse, Jo Stafford, and Margaret Whiting), so it was hard to find her a niche. Worst album in the world ever.....EVER!, a parody of the long string of compilation albums released in the UK since the 1990s called The Best (genre) Album in the world ever!. In 1946 she became a soloist, and in 1947 signed a solo contract with Capitol Records. She then retired for a year because she developed pneumonia and lost her voice as a result of fatigue and overwork.

After finishing high school, she moved to Los Angeles and signed with Wingy Manone's band; then from 1943 to 1945 she sang with Charlie Barnet's band. It was, however, woth Miller that she cut her first record: "Baby Me"/"Love with a Capital You." It was not a great success, in part because the band played in a key more appropriate for Marion Hutton, which was, however, less suited for Kay's vocal range. Although she had brief stints in 1939 with Bob Crosby and Glenn Miller (who hired her in July of that year when his regular singer, Marion Hutton, was sick), she spent most of her next few years with Venuti, until he dissolved his band in 1942. Because she was still in junior high school, her parents insisted that Venuti take her home no later than midnight.

Venuti had a contract to play in the Peabody Hotel in Memphis which called for his band to feature a girl singer, which he did not have; Venuti's road manager heard her on the radio, and suggested her to Venuti. It was while she was on the Memphis radio station WMPS that, as a result of misspellings in her fan mail, she and her parents decided to give her the name "Kay Starr." At the age of fifteen, she was chosen to sing with the Joe Venuti orchestra. As a result of her father's changing jobs, her family moved to Memphis, Tennessee, and she continued performing on the radio, singing "Western swing music," still mostly a mix of country and pop. By the age of 10, she was making $3 a night, a lot of money in the Depression days.

She sang pop and "hillbilly" songs with a piano accompaniment. As a result of the fact that her aunt, Nora, was impressed by her singing, she began to sing at the age of seven on a Dallas radio station, WRR, first in a talent competition where she finished third one week and won every week thereafter, then with her own weekly 15-minute show. When her father got a job installing water sprinkler systems, the family moved to Dallas, Texas. Her father, Harry, was a full-blooded Iroquois Indian; her mother, Annie, was of mixed Irish and American Indian heritage.

She was born Katherine Laverne Starks in Dougherty, Oklahoma. Kay Starr (born July 21, 1922) is an American jazz and popular singer. Baby Me Kay Starr Vocals On This Glenn Miller & His Orchestra Recording For (1939). You Were Only Foolin'(While I Was Falling In Love) (1948).

When My Dreamboat Comes Home (1953). Wheel Of Fortune (GOLD RECORD) (1952). The Rock And Roll Waltz (GOLD RECORD) (1956). The Man Upstairs (1954).

So Tired (1948). Side By Side (1953). Oh, Babe! (1950). Oceans Of Tears (1951).

My Heart Reminds Me (1957). Mississippi (1950). Kay's Lament (With The Lancers) (1952). I Waited A Little Too Long (1952).

I'll Never Be Free (With "Tennessee" Ernie Ford) (1950). If You Love Me (Really Love Me) (B-side of "The Man Upstairs") (1954). Hoop-Dee-Doo (1950) (better known by Perry Como). Half A Photograph (1953).

Good And Lonesome (1955). Fortune In Dreams (1954). Fool, Fool, Fool (With The Lancers — B-side of "Kay's Lament") (1952). Comes Along A-Love (1952).

Come On-A My House (1951) (better known by Rosemary Clooney). Changing Partners (1953) (better known by Patti Page). Bonaparte's Retreat (1950). Allez-Vous-En (1953).