Mickey Katz
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Mickey Katz (June 15, 1909 - April 30, 1985) was a U.S. Jewish comedian who received his first moments as fame in the 1940s as a member of Spike Jones and His City Slickers where he was most famous for his "glugging" vocal sound effects on tunes like "Cocktails for Two" and others. He later went on to perform his own paradic musical review and record highly popular "ethnic" comedy albums on the Capitol label where he would perform English-Yiddish parody songs and was also recognized as a master of Klezmer style clarinet and had several hits during his long career. Though Katz sang primarily in Yiddish, he is often as recognized as one of the Godfathers of American Song Parody which would later be advanced by the likes of Allan Sherman and in the 1980s Weird Al Yankovic.
Katz is the father of Broadway legend Joel Grey and a grandfather of the actress Jennifer Grey. In the early 1980s he told the story of his life in a biography called Papa Play for Me.
Jazz musician Don Byron recorded a tribute to Mickey Katz in 1993 entitled Don Byron Plays The Music of Mickey Katz.
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