TWO SINGERS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 87, 21 February 1941, Page 4

TWO SINGERS

Sir,-There are two singers who are often on the air, and who have great personality. I have been watching in The Listener for photographs of either of them, but so far have not seen any. The first singer is Jack Daly. He has a wonderful rich brogue. Is he a real Irishman, and if so, is he Northern or Southern, and where does he record? I don’t know a note of music myself, but would like to know how he stands as a singer--I mean in his particular class. The second singer is Arthur Tracy. Is he blind? Also, what is his nationality and where does he record? Somehow these two men have the same wonderful quality in their voices which a number of great singers lack. What is it?--" CURIOUS" (Thames). (We know little about the Irish baritone, Jack Daly, beyond the fact that he has a large number of Regal-Zono-phone recordings of Irish and other ballads to his credit. How Arthur Tracy came to be called the "street" singer was a pure accident. At a party in New York years ago Tracy was singing and the host asked who the "sweet" singer was. A radio talent scout present said he was just one of the boys, but what did the host mean by " street singer"? "‘I said ‘sweet’ not ‘street’,’’ replied the host. "But that would be a dandy title for a radio artist," said the scout. A gruelling audition followed a few days later, and Arthur Tracy deserted vaudeville and musical comedy for fame and a long contract as a radio star. He was born in Philadelphia, where his father and mother were both prominent in church and club music circles, his father being a well known professional singer. Arthur began singing publicly at ten. At fifteen he bought all the Caruso records and studied the great Italian’s technique. At the Pennsylvania University later he soon became better known for his singing than for his proficiency as a student of. architecture. At the suggestion of the Dean he transferred his activities to the Curtis School of Music where he studied voice and violin. He was engaged to sing in "Blossom Time," ‘‘The Student Prince" and other operettas. After five years of theatrical singing he came into his own when the alert manager of Vincent Lopez heard him and steered him over to Columbia Broadcasting. He later went to England for seven weeks engagement and stayed for over four years. Arthur Tracy’s picture appeared in The List of J y 31.)