Charles Agnew

This article is about the American dance band leader. For the British art dealer and philanthropist, see Charles Morland Agnew.

Charles Agnew
Also known as	Charlie Agnew
Born	June 22, 1901
Died	25 October 1978(1978-10-25) (aged 77)
Genres	dance band

Charles Agnew (June 22, 1901 – October 25, 1978) [1] was a popular dance-band leader. Most popular in the 1930s as a midwestern territory band appearing in a sequence of hotel ballrooms, he enjoyed a long career that extended into the 1960s.

Biography

Agnew was raised in New Jersey.[2] Agnew's band was primarily based in the Chicago area, where he was often engaged at the Aragon Ballroom,[2] the Edgewater Hotel (with Irene Taylor on vocals)[3] and the Stephens Hotel.[4] With co-composers Charles Newman and Audree Collins, he wrote a song called "Slow but Steady" which was copyright in 1931.[5] He appeared, alongside the Paul Whiteman and Gus Edwards orchestras, at the "Marathon Opera" which benefitted the Chicago Herald and Examiner Milk Fund.[6] Through the 1930s his orchestra was heard nationally in the United States on the NBC Radio network.[7][8][9] On July 25, 1933, he recorded several songs for Columbia Records, the most popular of which was "Don't Blame Me."[4] The New Yorker magazine reviewed this recording as "richly played."[10] Represented by the Musical Corporation of America, he spent the summer of 1936 playing at the Colonial Hotel in Indiana, where featured vocalists were Lon Saxon and Emrie Ann Lincoln.[11] He continued to lead his dance band into the 1940s.[12] During World War II he actively toured the country, playing for the benefit of enlisted personnel[2] and continuing his hotel engagements.[13] While many big band leaders disbanded, Agnew kept his unit together until the late 1950s. At that point he downsized to a smaller group, until retiring about 1968.[2]

Agnew could play many different instruments, from disparate classifications.[2] He was receiving treatment for cancer when he died on October 25, 1978, in Waukegan, Illinois.[2]

Discography

Title	Recording Date	Vocalist	Issue	Notes
Don't Blame Me	July 25, 1933	Stanley Jacobsen	Columbia 2793-D	[14]
My Last Year's Girl	July 25, 1933	Dusty Roades	Columbia 2797-D	[14]
To Be or Not To Be In Love	July 25, 1933	Dusty Roades	Columbia 2797-D	[14]
Trouble in Paradise	July 25, 1933	Stanley Jacobsen	Columbia 2793-D	[14]

References

1. "Charlie Agnew", in American Big Bands, William F. Lee, ed. (Hal Leonard Corporation, 2005) p87
2. "Deaths Elsewhere - Charles Agnew". The Toledo Blade. October 26, 1978. p. 23. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
3. "Co-Hop Leaders Obtain Taylor to Bolster Bill". The Daily Trojan. January 19, 1937. p. 1. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
4. Whitburn, Joel (1986). Pop Memories 1890-1954. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research, Inc. p. 21. ISBN 0-89820-083-0.
5. Catalog of Copyright Entries: Musical compositions, Part 3. Library of Congress, Copyright Office. 1932. p. 803. Retrieved July 17, 2013. Charles Agnew orchestra.
6. Rayno, Don (2012). Paul Whiteman: Pioneer in American Music, 1930-1967. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 499. ISBN 9780810882041.
7. Butterfield, C. E. (December 26, 1931). "Today's Radio Programs" (PDF). The Poughkeepsie Eagle-News. p. 5. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
8. "Radio". The Lewiston Daily Sun. Lewiston, Maine. March 29, 1932. p. 10. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
9. "Radio News and Programs" (PDF). The Wisconsin State Journal. April 26, 1936. p. 14. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
10. "none". The New Yorker. August 26, 1933. p. 43.
11. Tombaugh, Wendell C. "HISTORICAL TRIVIA 1936-1940 - Fulton County, Indiana - From The Rochester News-Sentinel" (PDF). Fulton County, Indiana Public Library. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 16, 2012. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
12. "Hadassah Group Plans Benefit Affair". The Jewish Criterion. March 15, 1940. p. 11.
13. "Orchestra Notes". Billboard. August 28, 1943. p. 16. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
14. Abrams, Steve; Settlemier, Tyrone (December 21, 2012). "COLUMBIA 78rpm numerical listing discography: 2500-D to 3000-D". Online Discographical Project. Retrieved July 17, 2013.