Louis Armstrong

No one is sure of the exact date that Louis Armstrong was born. However, it is known that he was born in either 1899 or 1900 in New Orleans. As an African American in the South during the turn of the century, Armstrong grew up under difficult conditions. In order to escape these difficulties, he took an early interest in music. At about the age of ten, he joined three other boys in forming a quartet. Several times a week, the boys would sing for pennies on the streets of New Orleans (Tanenhaus 27). One New Year's Eve, when he was thirteen years old, Armstrong was arrested for shooting a gun which was loaded with blanks. As a result, he was sent to the "Colored Waifs' Home" for the next year and a half (Tanenhaus 32). At the home, Armstrong learned to play the cornet in the school band. It was at that time that Armstrong was nicknamed "Satchelmouth," because he had a mouth "as wide as an open satchel" (Iverson 14). Later, when Armstrong was touring Europe, an English reporter misunderstood this nickname and pronounced it "Satchmo." This new nickname soon became "stuck" in the public's imagination (Tanenhaus 93).

When he was released from the Waifs' Home, Armstrong decided that he wanted to make his living as a cornet player. His f

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upied with the Second World War. In 1947, however, Armstrong made a dramatic come-back in his career. In that year, he took the starring role in a Hollywood film entitled New Orleans. In addition, Armstrong began a series of important concerts that year in which he performed with a small Dixieland style band. This contrasted the big-band style of "swing" music which was popular at that time. In the late 1940s and through the 1950s, Louis Armstrong became increasingly popular with film and television appearances, as well as concert tours. He also had some hit songs on the radio, such as "Blueberry Hill" in 1949, and "Mack the Knife" in 1956 (Collier 150). After 1959, Armstrong's health declined as a result of heart problems. Nevertheless, he continued to work and perform over the following decade. In 1960, he became a goodwill ambassador for the U.S. State Department, and thereby earned himself the new nickname of "Ambassador Satch" (Collier 151). In 1964, Armstrong recorded the title song for a Broadway musical called Hello Dolly! This song went to number one in the music charts, thereby topping the Beatles, who were at the height of their own popularity that year (Tanenhaus 118). Armstrong continued to entertain audie
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Approximate Word count = 1896
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)

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