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Al Jolson (1886-1950) aka "The World's Greatest Entertainer" was the greatest singer/star of the first 50 years of the 20th century.

King of the Broadway musical comedy from 1911 - 1926, he went to Hollywood in 1927 and made the first talking picture, The Jazz Singer, which revolutionized motion pictures overnight, and made him the biggest star in Hollywood for a couple of years.

He was also one of the first radio singers, first to entertain the troops overseas in WW2 and Korea, and was as popular in his 60s at the end of his life as he had been 30 years earlier. He beat out good friend Bing Crosby for the 1948 "Favorite Entertainer of the Year" Award.

In his career he had 26 #1 song hits, and 90 Top 10 hits (second only to Bing Crosby in those categories.)

A fact that is forgotten by many today who take offense at his performing in blackface on stage 100 years ago is the fact that he was also one of the first big white stars to champion equal treatment for African Americans on the stage and in Hollywood. African Americans of that time period considered Jolson almost as "one of their own".

He had the most unique singing voice of any popular singer and the energy he threw into his performances was legendary.

Wikipedia has a great page on him: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Jolson