Benjamin Lothair Shook was a bandleader, singer, and composer. He and his band along with the bands of Theodore Finney and Fred S. Stone "monopolized" Detroit's "entertainment and social world to the almost complete exclusion of white performers.. up into the 1920s."[1]
He was born in Nashville, Tennessee. Benjamin M. Shook was his father. His family moved to Cleveland and he was part of the Young Star Quartette there.[2]
He attended Fisk University. The school's catalogue listed him as from Cleveland.[3]
He was a bandleader in Detroit.[1] He succeeded Thomas J. Finney as bandleader of the Finney Quartette. Later in his career he managed and performed with touring bands and owned a theater.[2]
A song he wrote was in In Dahomey.
Songs
edit- "Dat Gal of Mine"[4]
References
edit- ^ a b "Benjamin Shook". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA.
- ^ a b Abbott, Lynn; Seroff, Doug (September 18, 2009). Out of Sight: The Rise of African American Popular Music, 1889-1895. Univ. Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-60473-039-5 – via Google Books.
- ^ University, Fisk (March 3, 1893). "Catalogue of the ..." The University – via Google Books.
- ^ Shook, Benjamin (composer) (January 1, 1903). "Dat gal of mine - African American sheet music 1883-1923". Library of Congress.