Kay Kyser
James Kern Kyser (June 18, 1905 – July 23, 1985), known as Kay Kyser, was an American bandleader and radio personality of the 1930s and 1940s.
Kay Kyser
James Kern Kyser
June 18, 1905
Rocky Mount, North Carolina, U.S.
July 23, 1985 (aged 80)[1]
Chapel Hill, North Carolina, U.S.
Vocalist, bandleader
1926–1950
Early years[edit]
Kyser was born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, the son of pharmacists Emily Royster Kyser (née Howell) and Paul Bynum Kyser.[2][3] He was one of six children, and his mother was the first registered female pharmacist in the state.[4] Journalist and newspaper editor Vermont C. Royster was his cousin.[5] Kyser graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1928, where he was senior class president and was a member of Sigma Nu fraternity.[2][3]
Owing to his popularity and enthusiasm as a cheerleader, he was invited by Hal Kemp to take over as bandleader when Kemp ventured north to further his career. He began taking clarinet lessons but was better as an entertaining announcer than a musician. He adopted the initial of his middle name as part of his stage name, for its alliterative effect.[4]
Post musical career[edit]
After retiring from music, Kyser became involved with his church, The First Church of Christ, Scientist. When he was a child, his mother turned to a Christian Science practitioner for healing while apparently on her deathbed.[14] In 1932, Kay recalled her recovery and turned to a practitioner himself while feeling the need for spiritual guidance; the practitioner encouraged him to continue with music, so he could use his talents to help people relieve tension in their lives. Kyser recalled: "I felt so healed that I quit worrying about it and for the next 18 years I couldn’t think of anything except how to make better records and how to make the music more danceable. ... Underlying that was the unquenchable desire to serve mankind’s needs."[14] In the 1940s, he began to experience his own health problems, which at times confined him to a wheelchair, and he turned to the religion in earnest; becoming a practitioner himself in 1961, a teacher of Christian Science a few years afterwards, and in 1974 working at the church's headquarters in Boston directing its radio and television broadcasting.[15][14] In the late 70s and early 80s he traveled around as a Christian Science lecturer, and in 1983, he became the church's president, a one-year position which he referred to as "honorary", joking that he hadn't "been elected Pope or anything".[12]
Kyser supported various philanthropic causes after his retirement from music including health care, educational television, and highway safety.[16] Kyser supported the construction of a wing in St. John's hospital in Santa Monica, and there is a portrait of him at the entrance of its medical library.[12] He also helped raise $62 million to build more hospitals and train nurses in his home state of North Carolina, lobbied the state legislature, and had his entertainment friends including Frank Sinatra and Dinah Shore do a commercial in support of expanding healthcare in the state.[16] Kyser also supported his old school, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, especially the arts, through the Kyser Foundation which gave scholarships to UNC music and drama students; and supported the university's theatre, pharmacy school, and its Center for Public Television. He also gave to the North Carolina Symphony Society, the first state symphony orchestra in the country.[17]
In 1962, several members of the Kay Kyser team (including Babbit, Kabibble, and Simms but not Kyser himself) reunited at Capitol Records to record an album of new versions of Kyser's greatest hits. Comedian Stan Freberg, one of Capitol's regular artists, did an impression of Kay's original song introductions.[18]
Family[edit]
Kyser and Georgia Carroll remained married until his death. They moved back to Kyser's home state of North Carolina where they lived in his uncle's old house, the oldest house in Chapel Hill, and raised their three daughters – Amanda, Carroll, and Kimberly, who all graduated from his alma mater, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.[17]
Legacy[edit]
Kyser was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1990. [20]
Kyser was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 1999.[21]
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is custodian of a large archive of documents and material about Kyser which was donated by his widow and made available to the public on April 8, 2008.[22]