Kyser, Kay

Kyser, (James King Kern) Kay

(1906–85) bandleader; born in Rocky Mount, N.C. He formed his first band in college in the late-1920s; it toured widely and later expanded. In the early-1930s he performed at the Blackhawk Restaurant in Chicago and in 1937 he began broadcasting his popular radio show, Kay Kyser's College of Musical Knowledge; it appeared on television from 1949 to 1951, the year he retired. He appeared in several films and released many hit records.