Hal Singer

Harold Joseph "Hal" Singer (born October 8, 1919), also known as Hal "Cornbread" Singer, is an American R&B and jazz bandleader and saxophonist.

Biography

Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma's African-American district, Greenwood. After surviving the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921, Singer grew up in Greenwood where he studied violin as a child but, as a teenager, switched to clarinet and then tenor saxophone, which became his instrument of choice. From the late 1930s he began playing in local bands, including Ernie Fields', before joining Jay McShann's orchestra in 1943 and then moving to New York. After working in other bands, he joined Oran "Hot Lips" Page's band in 1947 and began working as a session musician with King Records.

In early 1948 he left Page, formed his own small group, and was signed to Mercury Records where he cut his first single "Fine As Wine" with a B side "Rock Around the Clock" (not the same title made famous by Bill Haley), co-written with Sam Theard. For the Savoy label of Newark, New Jersey he recorded the instrumental "Corn Bread," which made #1 on the R & B charts in September 1948, and gave Singer a new popularity and nickname. His follow-up the following year, "Beef Stew," was a much smaller hit.