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MUSIC
EDDY ARNOLD
NINA SIMONE
Country crooner Eddy Arnold was born
in Henderson, Tenn., in 1918, son of
a sharecropper. At the age of 7, Eddy
picked up the guitar, and by his teens,
“the Tennessee Plowboy” was a regular
on the local club circuit and radio. In
1943, Arnold became a member of the
Grand Ole Opry. The next year, championed by RCA executive Steve Sholes,
Arnold released his first vinyl, produced
by Chet Atkins. Collaborations include
Colonel Tom Parker, LeAnn Rimes and
Jim Reeves. With 85 million records
sold, this Country Music Hall of Famer’s
credits comprise countless chart-toppers, The Eddy Arnold Show, and a host
of films. Accolades include the Country
Music Association’s first Entertainer
of the Year award, the National Medal
of Arts, and induction into the Grammy
Hall of Fame. This country royal passed
away in 2008, just shy of his 90th
birthday. With seven decades of classics to collect, remember Eddy Arnold
with his 1949 title “C-H-R-I-S-T-M-AS,” from A Golden Oldies Christmas.
Singer, pianist, arranger, composer and
activist Nina Simone was born Eunice
Kathleen Waymon in February 1933
in Tyron, N.C. Simone, often referred
to as the High Priestess of Soul, grew
up the daughter of a preacher. She
was one of eight children raised in a
strict Methodist home. A child prodigy,
she started playing