Band Leader, Entertainer. He was successful during his career, becoming one of the top bandleaders in the country and equally productive during his long period of retirement at age 41. He had eleven number-one hit recordings, which included "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition," "Three Little Fishes," "Jingle Jangle Jingle," "Old Buttermilk Sky" and "The Woody Woodpecker Song." In the late 1930s and early '40s, Kyser's band appeared in seven motion pictures, which included "Stage Door Canteen," "Thousands Cheer," and "Carolina Blues," which was his band's story. However, his greatest success was in radio, the medium which propelled him and his orchestra to fame with the radio show and eventual television program "Kay Kyser's Kollege of Musical Knowledge." Kyser in reality had a two-phase life with careers different in demeanor, one in show business and another in diverse public service and religion. He was born James Kern Kyser in Rocky Mount, North Carolina to parents Paul and Emily Kyser, both pharmacists. He exhibited little interest in music as a youngster, which would only surface later during his college days at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His attendance there was almost preordained by his family's history at the school. Many members, including his parents, not only were former students but would return to teach at UNC or serve in some official capacity. He was very active in high school, again showing no signs of a show business career but many indications of leadership. He was president of both his junior and senior classes, edited the school yearbook, and even formed a football team comprised of himself and other members, who were rejected by the school coach from the varsity team, deeming them unfit; yet they were undeterred from participation, leading cheers for the team. Finally, as a student at North Carolina, he was an excellent student but especially shined in the extracurricular activities including membership in fraternities, acting in school plays, establishing a cheering section at sports events and the ultimate in his junior year, as with no musical skills he formed a band which was destined to gain national fame. A first rehearsal in Gerrard Hall with six members produced a group with no dexterity and seemed barely qualified to be called a band. With his middle initial becoming his first name, he would become Kay Kyser. His band would prevail, improve and grow in popularity while playing not only at UNC but at many major schools around the area. After graduation, the band remained intact and began touring the country as the "Kay Kyser Orchestra" with little initial success. However, his band was ahead of its time as the Big Band era had not yet arrived. They would find some success at the Baltabarin Club in San Francisco, then Santa Monica, but a booking at the Blackhawk Restaurant in Chicago was the defining springboard to national fame. At first there were few in the audience, until Kyser and his band members started with an act that was part musical, quiz and singing. The show was called "Kay Kyser's Kollege of Musical Knowledge." He starred as "The Ol' Perfessor," with his catchphrase "Evenin' folks, how y'all?" Although Kay Kyser would sing, dance and direct during performances with his orchestra, he could not play a musical instrument. Attempted lessons with the clarinet proved futile, and he ascertained the band was better with him as an organizer and entertaining announcer than as a musician. The band members agreed. Broadcast locally, the show became a smash. In 1938 the American Tobacco Company bought the show for Lucky Strike and was aired nationally on NBC. The show had a waiting list of 60,000 people desiring tickets while some twenty million tuned in each week. It would eventually move to television, but had little success and was cancelled. In the meantime, the band broke attendance records everywhere that they played, and their recordings were bestsellers. During World War II, he aired his radio show from service camps and hospitals while selling millions of dollars in war bonds. Suffering from severe arthritis while still enjoying immense popularity, Kay Kyser quit in 1951 and went home to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, joining his wife the former Georgia Carroll, once a member of his band. The couple moved into an old house formerly owned by his uncle, a former UNC dean, on the edge of the campus, along with their three daughters, who would graduate from UNC. He became a high-profile active member of the Christian Science Church in the capacity of a faith healer and as a lecturer, spreading the church's doctrines. In the 1970s Kyser ran the TV-film department of the church in Boston. The denomination gave him an honorary title "President of the Worldwide Church of Christian Science." He donated to his alma mater, engaging in many philanthropist endeavors. At age 80, he died from heart failure and was honored at Chapel Hill with his burial on campus in the old Chapel Hill Cemetery. He was accorded a memorial service in Gerrard Hall, where he created the band. In public service, he was instrumental in improving health care in the state, establishing public television at UNC and a highway safety program still in effect today. The University of North Carolina was the recipient of the papers and artifacts of Kay Kyser after being donated by his widow. In the early 1960s, without its leader, several members of the Kay Kyser Orchestra reassembled to record an album of Kyser's greatest hits. He was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame posthumously in 1990.