The belt sound may have originated in the early twentieth century vaudeville, with performers such as May Irwin, Stella Mayhew, Ethel Levey, and Sophie Tucker who sang in a style parodying African American women.2 In 1930, Ethel Merman made belt famous when she sang the final C^sub 5^ (C above middle C) of I have Got Rhythm for sixteen bars in a loud chest voice without amplification over a band o