Voting Station

Don Shirley

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Musician

The Resume

    (January 29, 1927-April 6, 2013)
    Born in Pensacola, Florida
    Birth name was Donald Walbridge Shirley
    Albums include 'Tonal Expressions,' 'Improvisations,' 'The Gospel According to Don Shirley,' and 'The Don Shirley Point of View'
    Performed with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra
    Basis for the movie 'Green Book' (2018)

Why he might be annoying:

    He was nicknamed 'Doctor Shirley.'
    He liked to wear a Dashiki robe around the house.
    He had a throne in his apartment above Carnegie Hall.
    His birthplace was incorrectly given as Kingston, Jamaica, because his label advertised him as being Jamaican-born.
    His record label also falsely claimed that he studied music in Europe.
    The film based on his life, 'Green Book,' has been called a textbook example of the 'White Savior' narrative movie.
    The film's message was seen to be so tone deaf that surviving members of his family actually took publicly to complain about it misrepresenting his relationship with Tony 'Lip' Vallelonga.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was fluent in Russian.
    He learned the piano at the age of two.
    He had two honorary doctorates.
    He pioneered blending the styles of jazz and classical music.
    As a child, he studied abroad at the Leningrad Conservatory of Music in Saint Petersburg.
    He was 22 when he performed at Carnegie Hall.
    He chose his own repertoire, even at white-only theaters.
    Mahershala Ali won his second Best Supporting Actor Oscar for portraying him in 'Green Book.'
    He did remain good friends with Tony Lip throughout the rest of his life (although the exact degree to which that was the case remains unclear).

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 5 Votes: 20.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 8 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 6 Votes: 66.67% Annoying