Sing a song of difference
Connie Boswell and a discourse of disability in jazz
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4304506 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Laurie Stras (0000-0002-0129-2047, University of Southampton, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 297-322 |
| Publication date | 2009-10-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Popular Music (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0261-1430 • E-ISSN: 1474-0095 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0261143009990080 |
| OpenAlex | W2043384709 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 15 |
Although a wheelchair-user and permanently disabled through polio, the southern American singer Connie Boswell was one of radio and vaudeville's biggest stars in the 1930s. She and her sisters were a compelling force in American popular entertainment for the first half of the decade; and when the group split in 1936, Connie carried on a solo career in radio, recording, film and television for another twenty-five years. Connie's unique position as the only visibly disabled 'A-list' female popular entertainer for most of the twentieth century - and one whose voice, both physical and musical, shaped the sound of jazz and popular music - makes her an obvious focus for any study that links popular music and disability. This essay is concerned with how disability may have operated as a discourse about and within Connie's chosen medium, jazz; and how disability studies can illuminate why the ways in which difference is figured in her work, initially a source of anxiety, could have also been a significant reason for her success
Art · Entertainment · Jazz · Literature · Media studies · Popular music · Sociology · Visual arts · History · Music History and Culture · Musicology and Musical Analysis · Psychology · Theater, Performance, and Music History
| Citations per year | 0.18 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2015 - 2020 (6) |
| Highly cited | No |