Whispering Jack Smith

Legend has it that politely understated baritone Whispering Jack Smith developed his unique and intimate singing style as a result of bronchial injuries sustained during a gas attack on the battlefield in France during World War I. While he seems to have indeed survived such a harrowing experience, it is also known that Smith was capable of projecting his voice every bit as powerfully as any of his stage-performing peers. It was the introduction of the microphone in 1925 that enabled Smith to create the marvelous soft-spoken persona so radically different from his many loud-mo...