MUSICIAN

Benny Goodman

1909 - 1986

Photo of Benny Goodman

Icon of person Benny Goodman

Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American jazz clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing".In the mid-1930s, Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in the United States. His concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City on January 16, 1938 is described by critic Bruce Eder as "the single most important jazz or popular music concert in history: jazz's 'coming out' party to the world of 'respectable' music."Goodman's bands started the careers of many jazz musicians. During an era of racial segregation, he led one of the first integrated jazz groups. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Benny Goodman has received more than 1,822,876 page views. His biography is available in 57 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 56 in 2019). Benny Goodman is the 88th most popular musician (down from 84th in 2019), the 565th most popular biography from United States (down from 496th in 2019) and the 27th most popular American Musician.

Benny Goodman is most famous for being a jazz musician who played the clarinet and led a band.

Memorability Metrics

  • 1.8M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 73.91

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 57

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 6.41

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 4.32

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Page views of Benny Goodmen by language


Among MUSICIANS

Among musicians, Benny Goodman ranks 88 out of 2,675. Before him are Cosima Wagner, Richard Wright, Maurice Gibb, Angus Young, Paco de Lucía, and Robert Fripp. After him are Richard Clayderman, João Gilberto, Thomas Bangalter, Henryk Wieniawski, John Dowland, and Sid Vicious.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1909, Benny Goodman ranks 15. Before him are Kwame Nkrumah, U Thant, Osamu Dazai, Elia Kazan, Errol Flynn, and Li Xiannian. After him are Isaiah Berlin, Mohammed V of Morocco, Ernst Gombrich, Victor Borge, Mohammed Daoud Khan, and Talal of Jordan. Among people deceased in 1986, Benny Goodman ranks 17. Before him are Joseph Beuys, Henry Moore, Jean Genet, Harold Macmillan, Cliff Burton, and Frank Herbert. After him are Celâl Bayar, Urho Kekkonen, Albert Szent-Györgyi, L. Ron Hubbard, Vincente Minnelli, and Dmitry Kabalevsky.

Others Born in 1909

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Others Deceased in 1986

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Benny Goodman ranks 565 out of 15,968. Before him are Richard Stallman (1953), Scott Joplin (1868), Glenn Close (1947), John Wayne Gacy (1942), Martin Landau (1928), and Michael Keaton (1951). After him are Gertrude B. Elion (1918), Josephine Cochrane (1839), Steven Tyler (1948), Ted Kennedy (1932), Alan Shepard (1923), and Willem Dafoe (1955).

Others born in United States

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Among MUSICIANS In United States

Among musicians born in United States, Benny Goodman ranks 27. Before him are John Coltrane (1926), Duke Ellington (1899), Cliff Burton (1962), Yehudi Menuhin (1916), Nat King Cole (1919), and Lou Reed (1942). After him are Buddy Holly (1936), Glenn Miller (1904), Alice Cooper (1948), Ritchie Valens (1941), Bill Evans (1929), and Don Shirley (1927).

American born Musicians

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