Jacqueline Marie "Jackie" Evancho (pron.: /i??ve??ko?/ ee-vayng-koh; born April 9, 2000) is an American classical crossover singer who gained wide recognition at an early age and, since 2009, has issued five albums, including a platinum and gold album and three Billboard 200 top 10 debuts.^[1][2]

Between 2008 and 2010, Evancho entered several talent competitions; made singing appearances, mostly in Pennsylvania (including at a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball game); issued an independent album, Prelude to a Dream; and attracted interest on YouTube. Evancho impressed composers Tim Janis and David Foster, each of whom included her in his concerts beginning in 2009. Later in 2010, at the age of 10, she gained wider popularity with her performances in the fifth season of the America's Got Talent competition, finishing in second place.

jackieevancho.com

No more imitators please. You are embarrassing yourselves. LOL!

Legendary trumpet player, bandleader and recording artist Donaldson Toussaint L'Ouverture Byrd II, better known to the music world as Donald Byrd, passed away earlier this week.

R.I.P. Maestro!

Armstrong was born in one of the poorest sections of New Orleans on Aug. 4, 1901. "He was a prodigy," says art historian and curator Marc Miller, "a hard-working kid who helped support his mother and sister by working every type of job there was, including going out on street corners at night to sing for coins." At age 7, he bought his first real horn--a cornet. When Armstrong was 11 years old, juvenile court sent him to the Jones Home for Colored Waifs for firing a pistol on New Year's Eve. While there, he had his first formal music lessons and played in the home's brass band. After about 18 months he was released. From then on, he largely supported himself as a musician, playing with pick-up bands and in small clubs with his mentor Joe "King" Oliver. Oliver was one of a handful of noted musicians in New Orleans--along with Jelly Roll Morton, Sidney Bechet and others--who were creating a distinctive and widely popular new band music out of blues and ragtime. Soon, sheet music publishers and record companies would make jazz a household name.

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