Fred Waring & The Pennsylvanians

Fred Waring & The Pennsylvanians 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 formed his first professional band around 1916, a six-man string outfit called Waring's Banjazztra. After graduating from college, he took the group to Detroit, where it began to attract the attention of the local music crowd. He later dropped banjo from the line-up and changed the name of the group to the Pennsylvanians.

The newly-named orchestra soon became a favorite on the collegiate circuit. Their first recording, ''Sleep,'' on the Victor label in 1923, was a tremendous success. Waring's orchestra supposedly has the distinction of being the first to record a George Gershwin tune, the first to record a rumba, and the first dance band to record with a vocal chorus. Aside from Victor, the group also released material on the Columbia and Decca labels. Vocalists included Stuart Churchill, Waring's own brother, Tom, and drummer Poley McClintock (the froggy voice on “I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Ice Cream”).