Artie Shaw was well known before he recorded “Begin the Beguine.” But that record made him extremely famous. He and his band earned as much as sixty thousand dollars each week. That was a huge amount of money then. However, the fame caused problems for Shaw. He could not go anywhere without being recognized. He no longer had a private life.
Artie Shaw was married eight times. Two of his wives were Lana Turner and Ava Gardner. They were the most famous and beautiful Hollywood movie actresses of that time. Those marriages increased his fame and made it even harder to have a private life. The fame may have helped lead to the failure of his marriages.
His attempts to create better music also caused problems for Artie Shaw. Many years later, he said people always wanted to hear the old songs he had recorded. They did not want to hear new music he was writing. He did not like playing the same old songs again and again.
Critics have always said his playing was very special. Sometimes Shaw did not follow the music. He would improvise. This means he would play the music as he felt it. He often took a song that everyone knew and changed it so it sounded very different.
Listen to Artie Shaw improvise with a song called “Stardust.” It was recorded in nineteen forty. It was another major hit for Shaw and his band and sold millions of records.
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Artie Shaw made his last public appearance as a musician in nineteen fifty-four. He said the struggle with fame and trying to produce a perfect sound was destroying him. He was only forty-four years old. He never played the clarinet again.
Artie Shaw wrote several books in his later years. He wrote stories for magazines. He spoke about music at colleges and universities. But he had very little to do with the world of recording or music. During those years however, he received many awards and honors for his music. These included a Hall of Fame award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
Music experts will tell you that Artie Shaw was one of the best of the big band leaders and musicians. Much of his work from so long ago is still fresh and exciting today.
We leave you with one more Artie Shaw song. He recorded it in nineteen forty. It is called “Blues.” Listen as Artie Shaw makes his clarinet fly.
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This program was written and produced by Paul Thompson. Bob Doughty was our engineer and I’m Doug Johnson. Listen again next week for another People In America program in VOA Special English.
