Connee's reworkings of the melodies and rhythms of popular songs, together with Glenn Miller's arrangements, and New York jazz musicians (including The Dorsey Brothers, Benny Goodman, Bunny Berigan, Fulton McGrath, Joe Venuti, Arthur Schutt, Eddie Lang, Joe Tarto, Manny Klein, Dick McDonough, and Carl Kress), made these recordings unlike any others.
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The name of their 1934 song "Rock and Roll" as featured in the film Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round is an early use of the phrase, but it refers to "the rolling rocking rhythm of the sea".
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The play starred Michelle Duffy, Elizabeth Ward Land, and Amy Pietz and was produced by the same team that produced Forever Plaid.
A song performed by The Boswell Sisters titled "Rock and Roll", written by Richard A. Whiting and Sidney Clare, is sometimes credited as the first use of that term in a popular song.
Sisters of Mercy | James Boswell | The Andrews Sisters | The Sisters of Mercy | Three Sisters | The Pointer Sisters | Sisters of Charity | Sisters of St. Joseph | Big Brothers Big Sisters of America | Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur | Three Sisters (play) | Sisters of Providence | Marist Sisters | Boswell Sisters | Sisters | Little Sisters of the Poor | Franciscan Sisters | Brothers and Sisters | Boswell | Wyrd Sisters | Viennese Singing Sisters | The Lennon Sisters | Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary | Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary | Seven Sisters station | Lane Sisters | John Boswell | Big Brothers Big Sisters | A Tale of Two Sisters | the Lennon Sisters |
The first big hit version (#5 on the Billboard charts) was by Fats Waller recorded on May 8, 1935 (Victor 25044), reaching further heights in the charts (#3) for the Boswell Sisters in the following year (January 6, 1936—Decca 671 B (60302-A)).
Other artists followed, including the Mills Brothers, Boswell Sisters, Earl Hines, Ted Lewis, Isham Jones and the Dorsey Brothers.