American entertainer, 1895-1971.

Edwards is oftened remembered as the singer hired by Walt Disney to be the voice of Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio. But he'd already had nearly 4 dozen films to his credit at that time, and was known as a recording artist in his own right, with the nickname of "Ukulele Ike" (Edwards had come up through the vaudeville circuit and was the iconic ukulele-wielding crooner of the 1920's). Later, Disney would also have him voice Jim Crow in their animated feature Dumbo.

On Broadway, he introduced the world to George and Ira Gerswhin's "Fascinatin' Rhythm" (popularly associated with Fred Astaire) in the musical Lady Be Good. He also introduced "Singin' in the Rain" to audiences (popularly associated with Gene Kelley) in his first screen appearance, The Hollywood Revue of 1929.

Over the course of his career, Edwards would appear in 107 films and sell over 74 million records.

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