Fred Waring

Fred Waring (June 9th, 1900 - July 29th, 1984) was a popular musician, bandleader and radio-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.

Life
Fredrick Malcolm Waring was born in Tyrone, Pennsylvania on June 9, 1900 to Jesse Calderwood and Frank Waring.

During his teenage years, Fred Waring, his brother Tom, and their friend Poley McClintock founded the Waring-McClintock Snap Orchestra, which evolved into Fred Waring's Banjo Orchestra. The band often played at fraternity parties, proms, and dances, and achieved local success.

Waring attended Penn State University, where he studied architectural engineering. He also aspired to be in the Penn State Glee Club, but he was rejected with every audition due to "college politics" and tension between him and the glee club's director, Dr. Clarence Robinson.[4] His Banjo Orchestra eventually became so successful that he decided to abandon his education in order to tour with the band, which eventually became known as Fred Waring and his Pennsylvanians.

He married his college sweetheart, Dorothy McAteer, in 1923, but divorced her in 1929. He remarried in 1933 to Evalyn Nair and had three children, but in 1954 they divorced. Their children were: Dixie, Fred Waring Jr., William "Bill", Paul and Malcolm. Son Fred Jr. was a conductor and jazz trombonist. Grandson Jordan Waring is an orchestral composer.

Fred Waring died of stroke at his summer home on July 29, 1984 in State College, Pennsylvania.