Advertisement
Advertisement
People named Donald Shirley
Below are 81 people with the first name Donald and the last name Shirley. Try the Shirley Family page if you can't find a particular Collaborative Biography in your family tree.
ADVERTISEMENT
BY ANCESTRY.COM
Find records of Donald Shirley
Explore what's going on in the
AncientFaces Community
AncientFaces Community
81 Donald Shirley Biographies
Sort:
Updated
Don Shirley
Born Donald Walbridge Shirley January 29, 1927 Pensacola, Florida, U.S.
Died April 6, 2013 (aged 86) Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Alma mater The Catholic University of America, University of Chicago, Leningrad Conservatory of Music
Occupation Musician and composer
Spouse: Jean C. Hill (m. 1952, divorced)
Musical career
Genres
Jazz classical chamber jazz
Instruments Piano and organ
Years active 1945–2013
Labels
CadenceColumbiaAtlantic
Donald Walbridge Shirley (January 29, 1927 – April 6, 2013) was an American classical and jazz pianist and composer. He recorded many albums for Cadence Records during the 1950s and 1960s, experimenting with jazz with a classical influence. He wrote organ symphonies, piano concerti, a cello concerto, three string quartets, a one-act opera, works for organ, piano and violin, a symphonic tone poem based on the 1939 novel Finnegans Wake by James Joyce, and a set of "Variations" on the 1858 opera Orpheus in the Underworld.
Born in Pensacola, Florida, Shirley was a promising young student of classical piano. Although he did not achieve recognition in his early career playing traditional classical music, he found success with his blending of various musical traditions.
During the 1960s, Shirley went on a number of concert tours, some in Deep South states. For a time, he hired New York nightclub bouncer Tony "Lip" Vallelonga as his driver and bodyguard. Their story was dramatized in the 2018 film Green Book, in which he was played by Mahershala Ali.[2][3]
Early life
Donald Walbridge Shirley was born on January 29, 1927, in Pensacola, Florida,[4] to Jamaican immigrants, Stella Gertrude (1903–1936), a teacher, and Edwin S. Shirley (1885–1982), an Episcopal priest.
Shirley started to learn piano when he was two years old. He briefly enrolled at Virginia State University and Prairie View College, then studied with Conrad Bernier and Thaddeus Jones at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he received his bachelor's degree in music in 1953.
Known as "Dr. Shirley," he had two honorary doctorates.
His birthplace was sometimes incorrectly given as Kingston, Jamaica, because his label advertised him as being Jamaican-born. According to some sources, Shirley traveled to the Soviet Union to study piano and music theory at the Leningrad Conservatory of Music. According to his nephew, Edwin, his record label falsely claimed that he studied music in Europe to "make him acceptable in areas where a Black man from a Black school wouldn’t have got any recognition at all."
Career: 1945–1953
In 1945, at the age of 18, Shirley performed the Tchaikovsky B-flat minor concerto with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. A year later, Shirley performed one of his compositions with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
In 1949, he received an invitation from the Haitian government to play at the Exposition Internationale du Bi-Centenaire de Port-au-Prince, followed by a request from President Estimé and Archbishop Joseph-Marie Le Gouaze for a repeat performance the next week.
Shirley was married to Jean C. Hill in Cook County, Illinois on December 23, 1952, but they later divorced.[[1
Discouraged by the lack of opportunities for black classical musicians, Shirley abandoned the piano as a career for a time. He studied psychology at the University of Chicago and began work in Chicago as a psychologist. There he returned to music. He was given a grant to study the relationship between music and juvenile crime, which had broken out in the postwar era of the early 1950s. Playing in a small club, he experimented with sound to determine how the audience responded. The audience was unaware of his experiments and that students had been planted to gauge their reactions.
Career: 1954–2013
At Arthur Fiedler's invitation, Shirley appeared with the Boston Pops in Chicago in June 1954. In 1955, he performed with the NBC Symphony at the premiere of Ellington's Piano Concerto at Carnegie Hall. He also appeared on TV on Arthur Godfrey and His Friends.
Shirley's first album as a leader was Tonal Expressions, for Cadence Records.[16] It reached No. 14 on Billboard's Best-Selling Pop Albums chart in 1955. During the 1950s and 1960s, he recorded many albums for Cadence, experimenting with jazz with a classical influence. In 1961, his single "Water Boy" reached No. 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed on the chart for 14 weeks. He performed in New York City at Basin Street East, where Duke Ellington heard him and they started a friendship.
Donald Dean Shirley of Electra, Wichita County, Texas was born on January 26, 1932, and died at age 79 years old on March 4, 2011.
Donald E Shirley of South Hamilton, Essex County, MA was born on April 11, 1921, and died at age 79 years old on December 3, 2000.
Donald W Shirley of Dallas County, TX was born circa 1956. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Donald W. Shirley.
Donald G Shirley was born on October 15, 1921, and died at age 67 years old on September 16, 1989. Donald Shirley was buried at Golden Gate National Cemetery
Section CB Site 742 Sneath Lane, in San Bruno, Ca. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Donald G Shirley.
Donald B Shirley of Rusk County, TX was born circa 1948. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Donald B. Shirley.
Donald D Shirley of Travis County, TX was born circa 1944. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Donald D. Shirley.
Donald D Shirley of Travis County, TX was born circa 1944. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Donald D. Shirley.
Donald D Shirley of Travis County, TX was born circa 1944. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Donald D. Shirley.
Donald D Shirley of Travis County, TX was born circa 1944. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Donald D. Shirley.
Donald R Shirley of Wilbarger County, TX was born circa 1976. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Donald R. Shirley.
Donald E Shirley of Hockley County, TX was born circa 1937. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Donald E. Shirley.
Donald J Shirley of Nueces County, TX was born circa 1948. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Donald J. Shirley.
Donald G Shirley of Travis County, TX was born circa 1956. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Donald G. Shirley.
Donald W Shirley of Bowie County, TX was born circa 1963. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Donald W. Shirley.
Donald D Shirley of Wichita County, TX was born circa 1932. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Donald D. Shirley.
Donald D Shirley of Travis County, TX was born circa 1944. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Donald D. Shirley.
Donald B Shirley of Rockwall County, TX was born circa 1948. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Donald B. Shirley.
Donald B Shirley of Burnet County, TX was born circa 1948. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Donald B. Shirley.
Donald W Shirley of Camp County, TX was born circa 1962. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Donald W. Shirley.
Donald G Shirley of Cass County, TX was born circa 1957. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Donald G. Shirley.
Donald G Shirley Jr of Travis County, TX was born circa 1957. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Donald G. Shirley Jr.
Donald B Shirley of Rusk County, TX was born circa 1948. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Donald B. Shirley.
Donald J Shirley of Bexar County, TX was born circa 1938. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Donald J. Shirley.
Donald Jerry Shirley of Taylor County, TX was born circa 1947. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Donald Jerry Shirley.
Donald J Shirley of Hays County, TX was born circa 1938. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Donald J. Shirley.
Donald Shirley was born on August 6, and died in August 1970. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Donald Shirley.
Donald William Shirley was born circa 1921, and died at age 20 years old on June 9, 1942. Donald Shirley was buried at Aylesbury Cemetery Sec. 15. Grave 161. in United Kingdom. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Donald William Shirley.
More people named Donald Shirley:
ADVERTISEMENT
BY ANCESTRY.COM
Find records of Donald Shirley
Advertisement
Similar Shirley names
Shirley biographies alphabetically beginning with Dickie and ending with Duard Shirley.
Dickie Shirley (Jan 4, 1935 - Apr 15, 2009)
Dillard Shirley (May 24, 1904 - Nov 1973)
Dillie Shirley (May 27, 1888 - Oct 1969)
Dinnis Shirley (Born circa 1915)
Dion Shirley (Apr 6, 1983 - Jul 19, 1999)
Divers Shirley (Oct 5, 1920 - Oct 28, 1994)
Docia Shirley (Mar 12, 1890 - Apr 1986)
Doll Shirley (Dec 17, 1921 - Mar 15, 2000)
Dollie Shirley
Dolor Omeara
Dolores Shirley
Dominique Shirley (Mar 25, 1998 - Jun 11, 1998)
Don Shirley
Dona Shirley (Mar 9, 1897 - Jan 1977)
Donald Shirley
Doni Tramontana
Donise Shirley (Born circa 1961)
Donna Shirley
Donnia Shirley
Donnie Shirley
Dora Shirley
Dorcas Shirley (Aug 2, 1898 - Sep 1978)
Doreen Shirley
Doretha Shirley (Mar 17, 1926 - Sep 15, 2008)
Doris Shirley
Dorl Shirley (Apr 14, 1929 - Mar 17, 1998)
Dorotha Shirley
Dorothea Shirley
Dorothy Shirley
Dorrel Shirley (Dec 6, 1936 - Mar 30, 2003)
Dorrine Shirley (Jun 25, 1913 - Feb 14, 1994)
Dorris Shirley (Nov 15, 1920 - Feb 10, 2000)
Dorsey Shirley
Dortha Shirley (Nov 7, 1930 - May 11, 2006)
Dorthy Shirley (Jan 1, 1910 - Sep 1991)
Doshia Shirley (Jan 21, 1924 - Feb 5, 1993)
Dossie Shirley
Dottis Shirley
Douglas Shirley
Dow Shirley (Nov 5, 1909 - Oct 1968)
Dowell Shirley
Doyle Shirley
Dramer Shirley (Sep 7, 1906 - Mar 17, 1992)
Drusilla Shirley (Apr 25, 1917 - Nov 27, 2001)
Dthy Evelyn Bannon
Duard Shirley (May 29, 1897 - Jan 1984)
More people with the last name Shirley
Dean - Dick
< Prev
Next >
Dudley - Elaine