Pushy Dreamers

Her first dream was to be a dancer. Growing up in New York, she was inspired by “Snake Hips” Tucker, studying his serpentine moves and practicing them constantly with friends. Then, one fateful night at the Apollo Theater in 1934, the headlining Edwards Sisters brought down the house with their dancing. Amateur Hour began immediately after, and a 16-year-old Ella Fitzgerald stepped on stage, but was too intimidated to dance. Instead, she sang “Judy,” silenced the awestruck crowd, and won first prize. It was the beginning of one of the most celebrated careers in music history.

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BY CHUCK GALLOZZI
Today’s article is in response to a reader. What appears below are just a few of the comments he made. His lengthy e-mail has been condensed to fit in the available space. Our reader writes:

“I have been looking all over the Internet for ways to overcome my bad habits. There must be hundreds of self-help books but none of them offer any solid solutions to my problems.”

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Willie Jolley: The Comeback King, By Liz Davis
A LITTLE OVER 20 YEARS AGO, motivational speaker and author Willie Jolley was an award-winning jazz singer who made his living as a nightclub feature performer. One autumn evening, just after Jolley had delivered two exceptional performances in a row, the nightclub owner called him into the office and promptly let him go, citing the club’s need to cut the significant cost of a high-caliber singer like him, not to mention his backing band. Though Jolley couldn’t have realized it at the time, this bitter pill was actually the beginning of unimaginable future success.
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History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.”