Leo Fuld (1912-1997)

Amazing story from The Grauniad's rather good music pages. It says here: "When Linda Grant tracked down the Yiddish singing star she loved as a child, she didn't expect to find him winning over a whole new audience: young north Africans."

And at Calabash Music, one of the sites to which the Grant piece links, it expands:

"Leo Fuld (1912 - 1997) was among the world's royalty of popular Yiddish song. Fuld was the last performer of the Yiddish popular ballads. His career started well before the 2nd World War and lasted until his death in 1997. In 1938 he hit Broadway and recorded and performed with well-known artists like Frank Sinatra and Edith Piaf. Just a few months before his death he performed with the Algerian rock group Railand and recorded ´The Legend´. Never before had Yiddish music sounded so oriental as on The Legend, produced by Mohamed el-Fers and arranged by Kees Post. The Legend was so refreshing after decades of being earnest and very serious about the almost lost heritage of Yiddish music."

Wikipedia also has a useful small article - well, it did when I wrote this.

Click here to pop up the Leo Fuld music player at Calabash - fifteen one-minute samples.

And there you go. Fascinating stuff.