Nora Bayes
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Nora Bayes (1880 - 19 June 1928) was a popular United States entertainer of the early 20th century.
Bayes was born as Leonora Goldberg to a Jewish family in Joliet, Illinois. She was performing professionally in Vaudeville in Chicago by age 18. She toured from San Francisco, California to New York City, and soon became a star both on Vaudeville and Broadway. She was an accomplished singer, comedienne and actress.
In 1908 she married singer/songwriter Jack Norworth. The two toured together, and were credited as co-writing a number of tunes, including their huge hit Shine On, Harvest Moon, which the pair debuted in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1908.
Bayes made many phonograph records, some with Norworth and many more on her own, for the Victor Talking Machine Company and Columbia Records.
From 1924 through 1928, her accompanist was pianist Louis Alter, later to become better known as the songwriter of such tunes as "Manhattan Serenade," "Nina Never Knew" and "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?"
In 1928, Nora Bayes contracted cancer and died during surgery. She was buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, New York.
