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Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

• Big band music--History.
• Big bands--History.
• Hal Kemp Orchestra.
• Kemp family.
• Kemp, Hal.
• Musicians--United States--History--20th century.
• Popular music--1931-1940.
• Popular music--United States.

James Hal Kemp, orchestra and band leader, was born in Marion, Ala., on 21 March 1904. He was the son of T. D. Kemp, Sr., and Leila Rush Kemp, a poet. Kemp began his musical training while working at Marion's Bonita Theater, playing piano. After his family moved to Charlotte, N.C., he attended and was graduated from Central High School in that city. While in school, he organized his first dance band, a five-piece combo called the Merrymakers.

In 1922, Kemp entered the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, where he organized a campus band known as the Carolina Club Orchestra. This band performed in Europe during summer vacations. Kemp was active on campus and held memberships in the Musical Club, band, orchestra, glee club, and Delta Sigma Phi and Lambda Phi Epsilon fraternities. He also served as president of Wigue and Masque, the dramatic arts association. During his time at UNC, Kemp also formed a seven-piece combo, the forerunner of his nationally-known orchestra. Members of the combo included Skinnay Ennis, John Scott, and Saxie Dowell.

Kemp never completed his academic pursuits at the University of North Carolina. His musical success, however, soon led to the launching of a professional career that earned him national and international recognition. His orchestra played in New York during the mid 1920s and toured throughout Europe and the United States. In 1932, Kemp married Dallas, Tex., debutante Betsy Slaughter. The couple moved to Shogum Lake, N.J. They had two children: Sally and Hal, Jr.

Hal Kemp was a proficient trumpet, clarinet, and saxophone player. He was recognized for the clean, smooth style in the saxophone and brass sections of his orchestra, as well as his unusual choral arrangements. In addition, he arranged "When the Summer is Gone (How I'll Miss You)," the band's theme song. Other popular tunes recorded by the band included "Got a Date with an Angel," "Lamplight," and "Remember Me."

The band played on a number of radio shows, including Penzoil Parade and Chesterfield Program. Bandleader Kay Kyser credited Kemp with encouraging him to enter the field. Several vocalists also achieved fame with Kemp's band, among them Maxine Gray and Bob Allen. Kemp's band was the first to be featured in a motion picture, Radio City Revels of 1938. In addition, the band was named by Variety magazine as the favorite "sweet-swing" band of 1938 and received the Associated Collegiate Press All-American Musical award for that year.

In 1938, Kemp's marriage to Betsy Slaughter ended in divorce, and he married Martha Stephenson in January 1939. He served as a guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony in 1939, partially fulfilling his secret ambition to be a symphony conductor. An automobile accident cut short his dreams, however. He sustained severe injuries, including a punctured lung, in a head-on collision in Madera, Cal. Kemp developed pneumonia and died 21 December 1940 at the age of 36.

Adapted from "James Hal Kemp" by William B. Allen in the Dictionary of North Carolina Biography (1988).

This collection is comprised of correspondence, photographs, clippings, legal documents, sheet music, and recorded music documenting Hal Kemp's career as a musician and band leader. Included are many photographs of Kemp, beginning at age one and continuing throughout his life, as well as group and individual photographs of various Kemp family members,celebrities, and members of the Hal Kemp Orchestra.

Note that additions have not been integrated with other materials. Researchers should check additions to be sure they have identified all files of interest to them.

Items separated include oversize papers (1/OP-4923), photographs (P-4923/1-20), oversize photographs (OP-P-4923/1-13), photograph albums/scrapbooks (PA-4923/1-5), newspaper clipping scrapbooks (S-4923/1-3), audio cassettes (C-4923/1-40), and record albums (D-4923/1-4).