Harold "Scrappy" Lambert (May 12, 1901 – November 30, 1987) was an American dance-band

vocalist Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

who appeared on hundreds of recordings from the 1920s to the 1940s. At

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

, he was a cheerleader and played piano for a jazz group, the Rutgers Jazz Bandits. In February 1925, fellow student Billy Hillpot and he formed a musical duo impersonating the Smith Brothers. They were discovered in 1926 by

Ben Bernie Benjamin Anzelevitz, known professionally as Ben Bernie (May 30, 1891 – October 20, 1943),DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P ...

, who signed them to perform with his orchestra. Lambert and Hillpot appeared on many recordings with the orchestra and remained under Bernie's employ until 1928.Scrappy Lambert
The Jazz Age. Accessed July 6, 2008. Other bandleaders who employed Lambert include

Red Nichols Ernest Loring "Red" Nichols (May 8, 1905 – June 28, 1965) was an American jazz cornetist, composer, and jazz bandleader. He was one of the most prolific and influential jazz musicians in the late 1920s and early 1930s, appearing on over 4,000 ...

, Frank Britton Wenzel, Fred Rich, and Sam Lanin. In the 1920s and early 1930s, Lambert was one of the most prolific "band vocalists" (hired to sing the vocal chorus on recordings by both performing orchestras and studio groups). His voice is featured on hundreds of recordings and a series of vocal solo recordings for Brunswick. In the 1930s, Lambert and Hillpot took their comedy routine to the

National Broadcasting Company The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

. Appeared with NBC, alongside Tom Howard on the Musical Grocery Store Program in 1933. In 1943, MCA offered Lambert a job overseeing their radio department in

Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. A notable and historic suburb of Los Angeles, it is located just southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Beverly Hil ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. This marked the end of his singing career, and he worked for MCA until 1948. He was living in

Palm Springs Palm Springs (Cahuilla language, Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Rivers ...

at the time of his death, in

Riverside, California Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. As of the 2020 census, the city has a population of 314,998. It is the most populous city in th ...

. "Cheerio, Cherry Lips, Cheerio", a 1929 vocal that Lambert recorded under the name Gordon Wallace, has been the closing theme of Dr. Demento's weekly radio broadcast since the early 1970s.

External links

Scrappy Lambert recordings
at the

Discography of American Historical Recordings The Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) is a database catalog of master recordings made by American record companies during the 78rpm era. The 78rpm era was the time period in which any flat disc records were being played at ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lambert, Scrappy 1901 births 1987 deaths American jazz singers Rutgers University alumni 20th-century American singers The Charleston Chasers members