Fred Waring--"The Man Who Taught America How to Sing"

 

Fredrick Malcolm Waring Sr. (June 9, 1900 – July 29, 1984) was an American musician, bandleader, and radio and television personality, sometimes referred to as "America's Singing Master" and "The Man Who Taught America How to Sing". He was also a promoter, financial backer and eponym of the Waring Blendor, the first modern electric blender on the market.

From 1923 until late 1932, "Waring's Pennsylvanians" were among Victor Records' best-selling bands. In late 1932, Waring abruptly quit recording, although his band continued to perform on radio. In 1933, "You Gotta Be a Football Hero" was performed on radio to great acclaim. His 1930 recording of "Love for Sale" by Cole Porter is one of the only period versions of this popular song.

The Fred Waring Show was heard on radio in various forms from 1933 to 1957.

Adding a men's singing group to his ensemble, he recruited Robert Shaw, recently out of the Pomona College glee club, to train his singers. Shaw later founded the Robert Shaw Chorale and directed the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Pembroke Davenport (1911–1985) was Waring's pianist and arranger.

During World War II, Waring and his ensemble appeared at war bond rallies and entertained the troops at training camps. He composed and performed dozens of patriotic songs, his most famous being "My America". In 1943, he acquired the Buckwood Inn in Shawnee on Delaware, Pennsylvania, and renamed the resort the Shawnee Inn. To promote the inn, he centered his musical activities at the inn itself. He created, rehearsed, and broadcast his radio programs from the stage of Shawnee's Worthington Hall throughout the 1950s.

Waring in the studio with Sinatra, 1964

During the 1940s and early 1950s, Waring and His Pennsylvanians produced a string of hits, selling millions of records. A few of his many choral hits include "Sleep", "Battle Hymn of the Republic", "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", "Button Up Your Overcoat", "White Christmas", "Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor", and "Dancing in the Dark". In 1964 he recorded two albums with Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby, America, I Hear You Singing and 12 Songs of Christmas, for Sinatra's Reprise label.

The song, "Breezin' Along with the Breeze" was used as a signature tune by Fred Waring. 

In 1947, Waring organized the Fred Waring Choral Workshop at his Pennsylvania headquarters in the old Castle Inn in Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania, which was also the home of Shawnee Press, the music publisher which he founded. At these sessions, musicians learned to sing with precision, sensitivity, and enthusiasm. When these vocalists returned home and shared what they had learned with fellow musicians, Waring's approach to choral singing spread throughout the nation. The first Fred Waring Music Workshop in the western United States was held in June 1968 as part of the University of Nevada's Summer Session curriculum in Reno, Nevada. Waring taught and supervised these summer workshop for 37 years until he died.

Waring expanded into television with The Fred Waring Show, which ran on CBS Television from June 20, 1948, to May 30, 1954, and received several awards for Best Musical Program. (The show was 60 minutes long until January 1952, and 30 minutes thereafter.) In the 1960s and 1970s, popular musical tastes turned from choral music, but Waring changed with the times, introducing his Young Pennsylvanians, a group of fresh-faced, long-haired, bell-bottomed performers who sang old favorites and choral arrangements of contemporary songs. In this way he continued as a popular touring attraction, logging some 40,000 miles a year.

In the 1930s, inventor Frederick Jacob Osius went to Waring for financial backing for an electric blender he had patented. The Osius patent (#2,109,501) was filed March 13, 1937, and awarded March 1, 1938.

After an initial $25,000 investment, the Waring-owned Miracle Mixer was introduced to the public at the National Restaurant Show in Chicago retailing for $29.75. In 1938, Fred Waring renamed his Miracle Mixer Corporation as the Waring Corporation, and the mixer's name was changed to the Waring Blendor (the "o" in blendor giving it a slight distinction from "blender").

The Waring Blendor became an important tool in hospitals for the implementation of specific diets, as well as a vital scientific research device. Jonas Salk used it while developing his polio vaccine. In 1954, the millionth Waring Blendor was sold.

Waring is now a division of the Conair Corporation.