Louis Armstrong
Born August 4, 1901 (New Orleans, Louisiana)
Died July 6, 1971 (Long Island, New York)
Musician
Celebrated as one of the greatest jazz performers of all time, Louis Armstrong had a career spanning more than fifty years, from the 1910s to the 1960s. A supremely talented, versatile trumpet player with an unforgettable, gravelly singing voice, Armstrong was popular all over the world, especially during the last twenty-five years of his life. It was during the Roaring Twenties, though, that he played a vital role in the development of jazz, the unique new musical form that was setting the decade on fire. Armstrong's innovative approach, along with his ability to express through his music both deep sorrow and boundless joy, secured his place in history.
An Early Interest in Dixieland Music
Armstrong was born into poverty in New Orleans, Louisiana, on August 4, 1901 (he would later give his birth date as July 4, 1900). His parents were divorced, and for some of his childhood he lived with his grandmother and some with his father (along with his father's new family). His best years, however, were spent with his mother and younger sister
Beatrice. They lived in the run-down Storyville section of New Orleans, where bars and dance halls, popularly known as "honky-tonks," lined the streets and the air was filled with the sounds of ragtime music.
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