Posted by Harold Groot on 12/04/06 02:08

On Sun, 3 Dec 2006 23:35:20 +1100, "Bob" <bob_carr5@hotmail.com>
wrote:

>Hello all
>I am researching a rather obscure point and am hoping there is some
>collective knowledge that can help me.
>I want to know if there are any musicians who had their first hit after the
>age of 50. I would prefer to know about ones who then went on to achieve
>more rather than to be one hit wonders.
>Can anyone help? If you respond, please remove the underscore in my hotmail
>address.
>Thanks in advance
>Bob

John already mentioned the UK side for Louis Armstrong. On the
American side, using "Billboard Top-40" as criteria for a "hit", Louis
(born in 1901) had his "first hit" in 1956 (A Theme from the
Threepenny Opera, aka Mack the Knife). He followed it up another hit
in 1956 (Blueberry Hill), another in 1964 (Hello Dolly) and another
in 1988 (What A Wonderful World).

But considering his fame prior to the beginning of the Billboard
Charts I don't think he should qualify. By 1929 he was considered to
be the most widely known black musician in the world. You would have
to use some other definition of "hit" back then, sales of records or
even sales of sheet music.

You're going to have the same problem on other artists who might
otherwise qualify. If they were musically famous prior to the
existence of the charts that are easily referenced (like Billboard),
what is your basis for deciding if they had had "hits" or not?

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