Posted by Harold Groot on 12/04/06 02:34

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

Similarly to Louis Armstrong, Count Basie (born 1902) had his first
(and only) "Billboard Top-40 hit" in 1956 with April In Paris. So if
you just use the charts he could qualify. But according to the Joel
Whitburn entry his "best-known recording" (One O'Clock Jump) is in the
Grammy Hall Of Fame. That sounds like a "hit" to me - and that was
made in 1937. Again, this illustrates the problems involved if one
ONLY uses the charts to determine what a "hit" was for older artists,
especially those who were famous for a long time. From your post, I'm
GUESSING that you are looking for someone who was not famous prior to
the age of 50 and first became famous, had that "first hit" after the
age of 50.

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