Dates

• Existence: 1944 - 2013

Biographical History

Eleanor Fell (1994-2013) was a famous harpist, and one of the first to play "pop" music on the harp.

Eleanor was born to Irving and Rose Fell in Chicago on July 1944. She attended pre-school through high school at University School in Bloomington, Indiana. After a year at Stephens College, she graduated in Harp Performance from Indiana University, where she trained with Susan McDonald. Her professional life as a harpist took her to South Africa, where Eleanor moved away from classical repertoire and became one of the first "pop" harpists. She began transcribing and arranging music from the Beatles to Broadway. She married Lamar Peterson, and together they formed Vanderbilt Music Company, that has served to employ young harpists, and publish harp music--including many of her own arrangements. Eleanor was a star, taking harp outside of the realm of classical music, sharing top billings with Frank Sinatra Jr. and Dave Burbeck (among others). She passed away from leukemia on June 16, 2013.

Citation:

The Jacobs School of Musis: The Harp Department, via WWW, November 14, 2013 (Her brother, Art, a pianist, urged her to join him in Africa in the early 1970s and she took a job playing harp in the elegant Hotel Cote d’Ivoire in Abidjan, in West Africa. Her life took a completely unexpected turn there after the hotel manager innocently asked the classically trained musician if she could play a popular song at the time, “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head.”;Fell was, instead, the most famous harpist in the world outside of classical music circles, sharing billings with Dave Brubeck, Frank Sinatra Jr. and Lionel Hampton, among many others.)

The Funeral Chapel, via WWW, Novemeber 2013 (b. 07/29/1944; d. 06/16/2013; school - university school)

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