Biography for
Artie Shaw More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

23 May 1910, New York City, New York, USA

Date of Death

30 December 2004, Thousand Oaks, California, USA (natural causes)

Birth Name

Arthur Jacob Arshawsky

Nickname

King of the Clarinet

Mini Biography

Artie Shaw was the rival of Benny Goodman in the Swing era. With a different style of playing, his sound on clarinet was more liquid than Goodman's sound. After playing in different orchestras in the late 1920s and '30s, he formed his own orchestra in 1936, and he added a string quartet to the Big Band. In 1938, he had a famous hit with the recording of the Cole Porter song "Begin the Beguine." After months of success and popularity, he dissolved his band in 1939. The year after, he appeared with a new band.

In the 1950s, he went into a semi-retirement and wrote two books: "The trouble with Cinderella" and "I love you, I hate you, drop dead." His last recordings were in 1954 with a small group with Hank Jones on piano and others. After this, he retired from the music scene, except for a brief appearance for a week in the 1980s.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Eric Nesich (christyjazz45)

Spouse

Evelyn Keyes	(1957 - 1985) (divorced)
Doris Dowling	(19 June 1952 - 1956) (divorced) 1 child
Kathleen Winsor	(28 October 1946 - 1948) (divorced)
Ava Gardner	(17 October 1945 - 25 October 1946) (divorced)
Elizabeth Kern	(3 March 1942 - 1943) (divorced)
Lana Turner	(13 February 1940 - 12 September 1940) (divorced)
Margaret Allen	(1934 - 1937) (divorced)
Jane Cairns	(1932 - 1932) (annulled)

Trade Mark

Theme song: "Nightmare"

Trivia

His paintings continue to be shown, at venues like Webster Hall in New York City.

Jazz clarinetist and bandleader.

Inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1990.

Was the son-in-law of composer Jerome Kern while married to Kern's daughter Elizabeth

Winner of a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award, 2004.

Father of Jonathan Shaw, born in 1954, from his marriage to Doris Dowling. He is now a famous tattoo artist who owned Manhattan's oldest tattoo parlor until 2004.

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume 7, 2003-2005, pages 506-509. Farmington Hills, MI: Thomson Gale, 2007.

In the 1960s he dabbled in independent film distribution under his banner Artixo Productions, releasing several films including the classic Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964).

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 1709 Vine Street in Hollywood, California.

Personal Quotes

On why he left fame behind in 1954: "It's like having a gangrenous arm. The only thing you can do is amputate it. Obviously you're gonna miss the arm, but if you don't cut it off you'll die."

You have no idea of the women I didn't marry.

Benny Goodman played clarinet. I played music.

I could never understand why people wanted to dance to my music. I made it good enough to listen to.

I did all you can do with a clarinet. Any more would have been less.

[on Ava Gardner] Ava has been completely victimized by the kind of life she has led, and as a result has become the kind of person she is today.