Gloria Parker (néeRosenthal; August 20, 1921 – April 13, 2022) was an American musician and bandleader who had a radio show during the big band era.The Gloria Parker Show was broadcast nightly from 1950 to 1957, coast to coast on WABC. She played themarimba, organ, and singing glasses (glass harp). DubbedPrincess of the Marimba,[1] she conducted the 21-piece Swingphony from the Kelly Lyceum Ballroom in Buffalo, New York. This was the largestbig band led by a female bandleader.Edgar Battle andWalter Thomas were arrangers for the Swingphony.
Parker was born inBrooklyn on August 20, 1921.[2] Her father, Jack, was the owner of a garage; her mother, Rose (Glickman), was a violinist withMark Warnow & theHit Parade Orchestra.[2][3] Her grandfatherimmigrated to the United States from the modern-dayCzech Republic,[4] and taught her how to play glasses. She started learning the violin at the age of four or five,[2] playing a quarter-sized version of the instrument at theBrooklyn Academy of Music during the latter year.[5]
Parker worked as a songwriter, bandleader and musician. She performed with her orchestras playing the marimba, glass harp or musical glasses, piano, organ, violin,viola,vibraphone,xylophone, guitar, drums and allLatin percussion instruments.[2][6]
The big band era included amusicians' recording ban from August 1942 to November 1944. The union that a majority of musicians belonged to did not allow its members to record until the record companies such as CBS agreed to pay them each time their music was played on the radio. This happened after an earlier ban ofASCAP songs from radio stations which led to the demise of this style of swing music.[7][8] Parker emerged as a spokesperson for musicians and earned the title "Famous One Share Stockholder" in her battle for musician rights withCBS,RCA, andTime Inc. The national media would anxiously await Parker's head to head confrontations with CBS founderWilliam S. Paley and RCA chairman of the boardDavid Sarnoff at the annual stockholder meetings.[3][9]
Starting in 1952, Parker had her own program,The Gloria Parker Show, onWJZ-TV in New York City.[10] It featured her all-female Swingphony, the largest big band led by a woman. During the early 1950s, she hosted a radio program withVincent Lopez from theTaft Hotel in Manhattan calledShake the Maracas.[6][11] She hosted an evening broadcast onWOR from the New York CityHotel Edison. Parker would open the show with the glass harp or musical glasses and feature the popular latin sound on her marimba with her orchestra.[3]
Parker was also known for her starring roles in music films (Soundies), such asBroadway and Main withStepin Fetchit,[12]Four Letters,[13]Here Comes the Fattest Man in Town with comedic personalityMel Blanc as Santa Claus,[14]Penthouse Party featuring Parker playing the glass harp,[15] andWise Men Say,[16] all produced and directed byWilliam Forest Crouch. She composed the music and wrote the lyrics for the films. Soundies were viewed on aPanoram, a coin-operated film jukebox in bars, nightclubs, restaurants, amusement parks, and community centers.[2]
Parker was engaged to Barney Young until his death during the late 1960s. He was her manager and co-wrote several songs with her.[3] She resided inLaurel Hollow onLong Island at the time of her death.[2][4]
Parker died on April 13, 2022, at a hospital inSyosset, New York. She was 100 years old.[2]
"Daddy from Georgia Way" recorded by Bob Chester and his Orchestra onColumbia Records, lyrics and music by Daisy Lawton, apen name for Gloria Parker[20]
Radio Music Live 1920–1950, A Pictorial Gamut by Morris N. Young and John C. Stoltzfus, Published by Arrangement with Life Music, Inc., pp. 47, 50, 237, 239, 240, 241
Singing Glasses is also the name of a 1980 record album composed by Gloria Parker playing theglass harp.
Life, May 1959, "Rising to a Point of Disorder", Famous One Share Stockholder Gloria Parker confronting Radio Corporation of America (RCA) with Billings-Gate at the annual stock holder meeting.
