Talk:Will Osborne (singer)

Needs to be rewritten.

I've been contemplating rewriting this page for years now, as after nearly 4 years of exhaustively researching into Will Osborne for a book I'm writing I figured out early on that it's a mess to say the least. Not just in formatting, but most everything said here is a destruction of regurgitated information from the 70s - 00s written in "Big Band Swing Years" books that's main focuses were on the top 20 or so leaders while having a couple paragraphs worth for nearly everyone else in most cases. Also noting several contemporary sources from the 20s - 40s present as well. However the more significant information and true contexts behind Osborne's significance as said in these articles, bafflingly, aren't even mentioned in this article here. Such as for source of the picture of Osborne used here coming from an multi-page magazine feature story on Osborne, Rudy Vallee, and Guy Lombardo in which a lot of biographical information is given.

Rewriting this in an acceptable way will be quite a challenge however, as many sources online that talk about Will are from blogposts or from otherwise lackluster attempts to tell his story, often with many falsehoods or lack of context throughout, despite excelling and bringing great info to the table in other aspects. Discographies written in the last few decades appear to tell his story the most accurately though. Unfortunately though, to recreate this page accurately would require relying on source material that perhaps many editors & authors across Wikipedia will probably look down upon, that being contemporary trade magazine and newspaper sources. To the extent that one or two paragraphs may have 20+ sources in them to back things up. However if this isn't a problem, I can do this well enough. The way I see headings and subheadings of this rewriting would go as follows:

Early Life: denoting Osborne and his sibling's early life, education, and exposure & inspirations of music.

Career: Summarizing his career and accomplishments from working in various New York based orchestras before broadcasting & recording with his own augmentations in the 20s & 30s, writing songs with Paul Denniker; Charles O'Flynn, etc while briefly touching of Osborne's feuding with Rudy Vallee from a non-biased viewpoint, rather than supporting the decades long assumption that Osborne stole Vallee's style which doubtlessly plays a large role in why Osborne is largely written off as a copier of Vallee and nothing more. Moving onwards to the mid 30s in which Will made his new "Slide Music" orchestra, it's accomplishments and the patent information. Along with songwriting, various mentions of musicians and singers in his band as well as recordings. Going into the 40s with his film featuring and famous radio work.

Later Life and Death: Talking about his move to Lake Tahoe, Nevada and work at Harvey's Wagon Wheel, other orchestral work in the area, and ultimate move to California in the last few years of his life until his 1981 death.

Meanwhile a few pictures being added of significant recordings, advertisements, sheet music or of Osborne himself placed fittingly in.

Just enough of all of this to the point that it's a sizable, accurate article, and no longer a stub as it's been since creation back in 2016. Other editors who have touched this page, or those coming here later please let me know what you think of this. CDPorter (talk) 11:08, 16 June 2023 (UTC)