Grace Kerns

Grace Miriam Kerns (August 27, 1879[1] – September 10, 1936) was an American soprano, called the "Nightingale of the Trenches" for her popularity during World War I. She made over a hundred recordings during the 1910s.

Grace Kerns
A white woman with short dark wavy hair, wearing a headband with a laurel-crown effect, and a dark dress with a deep scooped neckline, and a strand of pearls
Grace Kerns, from a 1922 publication
Born(1879-08-27)August 27, 1879
Norfolk, Virginia, United States
DiedSeptember 10, 1936(1936-09-10) (aged 57)
near Williamsburg, Virginia, United States
Other namesMiriam Clark, Grace Nash, Katherine Clark, Catherine Clarke, Jane Clarke
OccupationSinger

Early life

Kerns was born in Norfolk, Virginia,[2] and lived in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, a daughter in the large family of Andrew Jackson Kerns and Catharine Marinda Clark Kerns. Her father was a saw manufacturer.[1] She studied voice with Emma Cecilia Thursby.[3] She studied in Europe in the summer of 1913.[4]

Career

Kerns began her professional singing career as a church and oratorio soloist in New York City.[5][6] She made over a hundred recordings during the 1910s, for Victor, Columbia, Okeh, Empire, and Edison labels.[7][8] She recorded duets with other singers including Margaret Keyes, Reed Miller, John Barnes Wells, Nevada Van der Veer, and Henry Burr.[7][9][10] She sometimes sang under other names, including Miriam Clark and Grace Nash.[11]

During World War I, she went to France to entertain the troops,[11][12] earning the nickname "Nightingale of the Trenches."[13] After the war, she returned to church soloist work, and giving concerts.[14][15] She also sang in radio broadcasts.[16] In her later years she taught voice at Randolph-Macon Women's College in Virginia.[17][18]

Personal life

Kerns, her brother, and her nephew all died in a car accident near Williamsburg, Virginia in 1936.[18]

References
  1. Some sources give her birth year as 1880 (her grave stone) or 1886 (her death certificate); however, she appears in her family's household as a child under one year of age in the 1880 Federal Census returns. (via Ancestry)
  2. "Miss Grace Kerns". Virginian-Pilot and the Norfolk Landmark. March 3, 1913. p. 5. Retrieved October 7, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. "Emma Thursby Warmly Greeted". Musical Courier. 67: 7. August 13, 1913.
  4. "Grace Kerns Returns from Europe". Musical Courier. 67: 37. October 15, 1913.
  5. "New Directions for Oratorio". Musical America. 24: 97. October 14, 1916.
  6. "Oratorio Society's Work". Musical America. 24: 146. October 14, 1916.
  7. "Grace Kerns". Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved October 6, 2022.
  8. Laird, Ross; Rust, Brian A. L.; Rust, Brian (2004). Discography of OKeh Records, 1918-1934. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-313-31142-0.
  9. Sullivan, Steve (May 17, 2017). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 27, 31. ISBN 978-1-4422-5449-7.
  10. Tyler, Don (March 21, 2016). Music of the First World War. ABC-CLIO. pp. 70, 81, 150, 240. ISBN 978-1-4408-3997-9.
  11. Hoffmann, Frank (November 12, 2004). Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound. Routledge. p. 570. ISBN 978-1-135-94949-5.
  12. Bauer, Emilie Frances (July 1921). "With the Summer Concertists". Dresses: 23.
  13. "Norfolk had a big voice in WWI". The Virginian-Pilot. December 2, 2018. Retrieved October 6, 2022.
  14. "Grace Kerns Concert Troupe Here November 7". Springfield Reporter. October 4, 1923. p. 1. Retrieved October 7, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. "Miss Grace Kerns, American Lyric Soprano, to Take Part in Choral Program Here Friday". The Warren Tribune. April 25, 1928. p. 8. Retrieved October 7, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. Hall, Edwin (September 1922). "Grace Kerns, Prominent Concert Artist, Makes a Prophecy to Edwin Hall, her Interviewer". The Wireless Age. 9: 27.
  17. "Grace Kerns, Instructor, Killed in Motor Crash". Messenger-Inquirer. September 10, 1936. p. 1. Retrieved October 6, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. "Three Victims of Auto Crash are Buried at Triple Funeral". Norfolk Virginian-Pilot. September 13, 1936. p. 13. Retrieved October 6, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
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