She might be most well known for her role as Nell Harper on the television show Gimme a Break!, but the late Nell Carter was first a Broadway performer, winning a Tony and an Emmy for her performance in Ain't Misbehavin'. The clip below is her singing "Mean to Me" from that show at a concert given at Carnegie Hall for a 1999 episode of PBS's Great Performances.
Although she may not have had the most profoundly beautiful singing voice, soprano Maria Callas was once the most famous opera star in the world. Born in America of Greek parents, she spent most of her youth in Greece and exhibited musical talent at an early age, eventually moving her career on to Italy and the United States. Originally a heavy dramatic singer, she was ultimately convinced to move to a bel canto style, a change which resulted in her becoming an international superstar. She is also well known for her affair with Aristotle Onassis prior to (and perhaps during) his relationship with Jacqueline Kennedy.
The clip below of Callas singing the Habanera ("L'amour est un oiseau rebelle") from Bizet's Carmen is apparently taken from a concert given at London's Covent Garden in the 1960s. This performance was long after she had had a significant weight loss which may have contributed to her deteriorated voice and relative lack of breath support, but it does show her personality and amazing stage presence. And it's still a great voice.
One of the first "things" on this site was about Leonard Bernstein, and although I didn't want to return to a subject already covered so soon, I recently watched a few of his Omnibus programs on DVD and wanted to share a little bit of one. In "The Art of Conducting," Bernstein explains why a conductor is important and what differentiates a good conductor from a great conductor. Here is a brief clip from that program which hints at the kind of insight Bernstein provides as he gives examples of ways a conductor can change an orchestra's sound.
Jazz vocalist Ella Fitzgerald, the First Lady of Song, was awarded 14 Grammys, a Kennedy Center Honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the National Medal of Art, and many other accolades throughout her illustrious career. Taken together, her recordings of the works of Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, Irving Berlin, the Gershwins, and other prominent American songwriters have become an essential component of the Great American Songbook.
One of the Gershwin tunes Ella Fitzgerald popularized was "The Man I Love" which is presented below from a televised recording session in 1974:
Postscript: It's great and all but, um, why is the drummer shirtless?
One of the most important fixtures in American music during the second half of the twentieth century was Leonard Bernstein. A celebrated conductor and composer, Bernstein also shared his passion for music as an educator through his Harvard lectures, his Omnibus television program, and his series of Young People's Concerts for CBS.
Bernstein was the longtime conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and is probably best known as the composer of the musicals On The Town and West Side Story and the operetta Candide. He also composed the film score for On the Waterfront. Through his many apperances on television spanning decades, Bernstein was an enthusiastic teacher of music, inspiring many throughout the world with his knowledge of and passion for the music he presented.
Below is one of my favorite Bernstein songs, the finale "Make Our Garden Grow" from Candide. This version is from a tribute done for his 70th birthday, sung by Jerry Hadley and Dawn Upshaw and conducted by Seiji Ozawa.
Postscript: Of course, his name is also among the few lyrics most people understand/remember from any verse of R.E.M.'s "It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" and is usually yelled if singing along with others.
Movies, Music, Television in Fine Arts 
