Hampton was born on 20th April 1908 in Louisville, Kentucky, but moved to Chicago as a child, where he began his career as a drummer. He relocated to Los Angeles to play drums in Les Hite's band. They soon became the house band for Frank Sebastian's New Cotton Club, a popular L.A. jazz club.
During a 1930 recording date in the NBC studios in L.A., Louis Armstrong discovered a vibraphone. He asked Hampton if he could play it. Hampton, who knew how to play the xylophone, tried it and they agreed to record a few records with Hamp on vibes. Hampton is credited with popularizing the vibraphone as a jazz instrument.
In the mid-1930s, the Benny Goodman Orchestra came to Los Angeles to play the Palomar Ballroom. John Hammond brought Goodman to see Hampton play. Goodman asked Hampton to move to New York City and join Goodman, Teddy Wilson, and Gene Krupa who'd already formed a Benny Goodman Trio within the large band - to expand into the Benny Goodman Quartet. The Trio and Quartet were among the first racially integrated bands to record and play before wide audiences; they were just as well received at Goodman's famous 1938 Carnegie Hall concert as was the full Goodman band.
While Hampton worked for Goodman in New York, he recorded with several different small groups known as the Lionel Hampton Orchestra as well as assorted small groups within the Goodman band. In the early 40s he left the Goodman organization to form his own touring band.
Hampton's band fostered the talents of Illinois Jacquet, Dexter Gordon, Ernie Royal, Jack McVea, Charlie Mingus, Monk Montgomery, Wes Montgomery, Quincy Jones, Benny Golson, Fats Navarro, Kenny Dorham, Clifford Brown, Dinah Washington, Betty Carter, Joe Williams, Arnett Cobb, Earl Bostic, and John Colianni among many others.
Hampton's recording of "Flying Home" (1939) with the famous honking tenor sax solo by Jacquet, later refined and expanded by Cobb (1946), is considered by some to be the first rock and roll record. He was known for his tireless energy and his skill on the vibes, drums, and lightning speed two-fingered piano. The bars on the vibraphone are laid out like the piano; Hampton played both instruments the same way.
Beginning in the mid-1980s, Hampton and his band started playing at the University of Idaho's jazz concert, which in 1985 was renamed the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival. In 1987 the University's music college was renamed the Lionel Hampton School of Music, the first and only university music college to be named after a jazz musician.
Lionel Hampton died of cardiac arrest at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York on 31st August 2002. He was buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, New York.
Love is a many splendored thing
Lionel Hampton Lyrics
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It's the April rose that only grows in the early Spring
Love is nature's way of giving a reason to be living
The golden crown that makes a man a king
Once on a high and windy hill, In the morning mist
Two lovers kissed and the world stood still
Then your fingers touched my silent heart and taught it how to sing
Yes, true love's a many splendored thing
Love is a many splendored thing
It's the April rose that only grows in the early Spring
Love is nature's way of giving a reason to be living
The golden crown that makes a man a king
Once on a high and windy hill, In the morning mist
Two lovers kissed and the world stood still
Then your fingers touched my silent heart and taught it how to sing
Yes, true love's a many splendored thing
The lyrics to Lionel Hampton's "Love is a many splendored thing" is a romantic ode to the beauty and power of love. The song highlights how love connects people to nature and gives them a reason to live. The song also emphasizes how love can make a person feel like a king or queen, imbuing them with a sense of power and significance. The first line of the song, "Love is a many splendored thing," is a metaphor that suggests love is multifaceted and can mean different things to different people.
The second line of the song, "It's the April rose that only grows in the early Spring," continues the metaphor of comparing love to nature. The April rose is a rare and beautiful flower that blooms only in the spring, suggesting that love is also rare and precious. The line "Love is nature's way of giving a reason to be living" emphasizes how love is essential to the human experience and provides us with a sense of purpose.
The final lines of the song, "Once on a high and windy hill, In the morning mist, Two lovers kissed and the world stood still, Then your fingers touched my silent heart and taught it how to sing, Yes, true love's a many splendored thing," describe a romantic encounter between two people that transforms their lives. The lovers' kiss seems to freeze time, and the touch of one lover's fingers awakens the other's heart. The overall message of the song is that love has the power to transform people's lives and connect them to the beauty of the world.
Line by Line Meaning
Love is a many splendored thing
Love is a wonderful, multifaceted experience
It's the April rose that only grows in the early Spring
Love can be as delicate and fleeting as a rose that blooms only in the early Spring
Love is nature's way of giving a reason to be living
Love provides a meaningful purpose for living, as if it is a gift from nature itself
The golden crown that makes a man a king
Love elevates and transforms a person, just as a golden crown would make a man a king
Once on a high and windy hill, In the morning mist
A scene is set for a romantic moment
Two lovers kissed and the world stood still
Love has the power to make everything else fade away, leaving only the two lovers in the moment
Then your fingers touched my silent heart and taught it how to sing
The touch of love awakened something deep within me and infused my life with new meaning
Yes, true love's a many splendored thing
Love is truly a wondrous and multifaceted experience
Lyrics © Kanjian Music, Royalty Network, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Sammy Fain, Paul Webster
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind