BILLY ECKSTINE

| This MySpace site is administered by the Eckstine Family Trust along with his children, Ken, Ron, William, Edward, Guy, C.C., and Gina Eckstine.

Billy Eckstine, (Born, Pittsburgh, PA July 8, 1914, Died, Pittsburgh, PA, March 8, 1993)
Billy Eckstine's smooth baritone and distinctive vibrato broke down barriers throughout the 1940s, first as leader of the original bop big-band, then as the first romantic black male in popular music. An influence looming large in the cultural development of soul and R&B singers from Sam Cooke to Prince, Eckstine was able to play it straight on his pop hits "Prisoner of Love," "My Foolish Heart" and "I Apologize." Born in Pittsburgh but raised in Washington, D.C., Eckstine began singing at the age of seven and entered many amateur talent shows. He had also planned on a football career, though after breaking his collar bone he made music his focus.

After working his way west to Chicago during the late '30s, Eckstine was hired by Earl Hines to join his Grand Terrace Orchestra in 1939. Though white bands of the era featured males singing straightahead romantic ballads, black bands were forced to stick to novelty or blues vocal numbers until the advent of Eckstine and Herb Jeffries (from Duke Ellington's Orchestra)

One of the most distinctive of all ballad singers, Eckstine, affectionately known as Mr. B., was both a pivotal figure in the history of jazz (because of his commitment to bebop) and the first black singer to achieve lasting success in the pop mainstream. After winning a talent contest in 1930 by imitating Cab Calloway, Eckstine sang briefly with Tommy Myles’ band, before returning to college. On the recommendation of composer and tenor saxophonist Buddy Johnson he joined Earl Hines’ band in 1939 as singer and occasionally playing trumpet and in turn encouraged Hines to sign up Charlie Parker and Sarah Vaughan. Eckstine’s recordings with the band include ‘Stormy Monday Blues’ and his own ‘Jelly Jelly’.

Though several of Eckstine's first hits with Hines were novelties like "Jelly, Jelly" and "The Jitney Man," he also recorded several straightahead songs, including the hit "Stormy Monday." By 1943, he gained a trio of stellar bandmates — Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Sarah Vaughan. After forming his own big band that year, he hired all three and gradually recruited still more modernist figures and future stars: Wardell Gray, Dexter Gordon, Miles Davis, Kenny Dorham, Fats Navarro, and Art Blakey as well as arrangers Tadd Dameron and Gil Fuller.

The Billy Eckstine Orchestra was the first bop big-band, and its leader reflected bop innovations by stretching his vocal harmonics into his normal ballads. Despite the group's modernist slant, Eckstine hit the charts often during the mid-'40s, with Top Ten entries including "A Cottage for Sale" and "Prisoner of Love." On the group's frequent European and American tours, Eckstine also played trumpet, valve trombone and guitar.

After a few years of touring with road hardend be-boppers, in 1947 Eckstine became a solo peformer. Eckstine made the transition to string-filled balladry with ease. He recorded more than a dozen hits during the late '40s, including "My Foolish Heart" and "I Apologize." He was one of the first signings to the newly established MGM Records and had immediate hits with revivals of ‘Everything I Have Is Yours’ (1947), Richard Rodgers’ and Lorenz Hart’s ‘Blue Moon’ (1948), and Duke Ellington’s, Irving Mills and Juan Tizol’s ‘Caravan’ (1949).

He had further success in 1950 with Victor Young’s theme song to ‘My Foolish Heart’ and a revival of the 1931 Bing Crosby hit, ‘I Apologize’. However, unlike Nat ‘King’ Cole who followed him into the pop charts, Eckstine’s singing, especially his exaggerated vibrato, sounded increasingly mannered and he was unable to sustain his recording success throughout the decade. His best record of the fifties was the thrilling duet with Sarah Vaughan, ‘Passing Strangers’, a minor hit in 1957, but a perennial hit in the U.K.

Even before folding his band, Eckstine had recorded solo to support it, scoring two million-sellers in 1945 with ‘Cottage for Sale’ and a revival of ‘Prisoner of Love’. Far more successful than his band recordings, though more mannered and pompously sung, these prefigured Eckstine’s future career. Where before black bands had played ballads, jazz and dance music, in the immediate post-war years they had to choose. Lacking an interest in the blues and frustrated by the failure of his big band, Eckstine, at first reluctantly, turned to ballads. Henceforth his successes would be in the pop charts. He even created a fashion craze with the Mr. B "roll" collar, popular with hipsters and gangsters alike.

He was also quite popular in Britain, hitting the Top Ten there twice during the '50s — "No One But You" and "Gigi" — as well as several duet entries with Sarah Vaughan. Eckstine returned to his jazz roots occasionally as well, recording with Vaughan, Count Basie, and Quincy Jones for separate LPs, and he regulary topped the Metronome and Downbeat Polls, as the Top Male Vocalist of the era. The classic 1960 live in Las Vegas LP No Cover, No Minimum featured him taking a few trumpet solos as well.

He recorded several albums for Mercury and Roulette during the early '60s, and he appeared on Motown for a few standards albums during the mid-'60s. After recording very sparingly during the '70s, for Al Bell's, Stax/Enterprise imprint, Eckstine although still performing to adoring audiences throughout the world, made his last recording, the Grammy nominated (Billy Eckstine Sings with Benny Carter) in 1986. He also made numerous appearances on television variety shows including, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Nat King Cole Show, The Tonite Show, with Steve Allen, Jack Paar, and Johnny Carson, The Merv Griffin Show, The Art Linkletter Show, The Joey Bishop Show, The Dean Martin Show, The Flip Wilson Show, Playboy After Dark, and he also performed as an actor on occasion including, Sanford and Son, and movies Skirts Ahoy, Let's Do It Again, and Jo Jo Dancer. -Excerpted, updated and augmented from biography by John Bush-

His memory and legacy live on in his friends and fans worldwide. Some of his closest musical friends share their warmest memories of the man known around the world as "Mr. B."

Quincy Jones, hitmaking producer-composer and former jazz trumpeter recalls: "A few years ago, Billy said he wouldn't die until there was a good band up there to play with. Now he has Dizzy, Bird, Miles, Sarah, Art Blakey and Dexter Gordon to keep him company. Billy Eckstine was a very special human being: I love him and I'll miss him very much. . .Billy Eckstine was a one-of-a-kind human being and one of my first role models. I got my first chance to play with hm when he came through Seattle in 1948. I was 15 years old and playing trumpet with Bumps Blackwell's band and we backed him on some gigs. Like most of my contemporaries, I looked up to "Mr. B" as an idol. I wanted to dress like him, talk like him, pattern my whole life as a musciain and as a complete person in the image of dignity that he projected. ... Billy was very patient and very kind to me: he taught me that if I could just get through the tough spots, success as a musician would be easy to handle. He gave me a lot of "life lessons" that I carry around to this day ..."

Cab Calloway, legendary band-leader: "I remember Billy as a real swell guy and one who will help anybody that he possibly can; a generous man."

Lionel Hampton, legendary vibraphonist: "He was one of the greatest singers of all time. ... We were proud of him because he was the first Black popular singer singing popular songs in our race. We, the whole music profession, were so happy to see him achieve what he was doing. He was one of the greatest singers of that era . . .He was our singer."

Tony Bennett, famed jazz singer who marched in Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s historic Selma to Montgomery March for equality: "We marched and roomed together in Selma, Alabama. We were very close and great, great friends."

Lena Horne, legendary performer: "I loved him dearly. He was a fine friend. I'll miss him terribly. On the occassions we worked together I had a ball. It was fun working with someone I admired and respected so much and who was a great singer."

Joe Williams, blues-vocalist singing legend: "He was a romantic balladeer when it wasn't popular for Blacks to be. He was in the forefront of the bebop era, certainly a marvelous singer and there will never be another rich, vibrant voice like B's. Billy was a rough, tough individual but women saw the tenderness in him. We'll probably hear more of his music than we have in the past, except those marvelous gems done in the '40s. I'll miss my old golf buddy. He was an excellent player, with a six handicap. In a fight, I would like to have Billy on my side. ... B was just as much a man as he was pretty. He'd rumble in a minute."
Dorothy Donegan, veteran jazz pianist-singer: "I'll remember him as handsome, witty and talented. He had a great taste for picking musicians. And he had a lot of sex appeal. He was always clean and sharp. But he could also be mean at times, but never to me. There'll never be another heartthrob like Mr. B. When they made him they broke the mold."

Musician Bobby Tucker, Eckstine's accompanist for 43 years and one of his dearest friends: Eckstine, who was married twice, once told Tucker, "Hey, you outlasted my two wives." Tucker said he will remember the entertainer "as a friend, who happened to be my employer."

Illinois Jacquet, famed jazz saxophonist: "He helped a lot of musicians, a lot of people didn't know him like we did. He was very generous to all his friends and musicians because sometimes when anybody was short of money or short of food, his apartment was always open with a refrigerator full of food. You could just walk in and fix a sandwich without asking for it. I'll never forget those moments."

SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY- 1950 Billy Eckstine Sings (Savoy) 1952 Tenderly (MGM) 1954 Blues for Sale (EmArcy) 1954 Favorites (MGM) 1954 I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart (MGM) 1954 Songs by Billy Eckstine (MGM) 1954 The Great Mr. B (King) 1954 The Love Songs of Mr. B (EmArcy) 1955 I Surrender, Dear (EmArcy) 1955 Mister B with a Beat (MGM) 1955 Rendezvous (MGM) 1955 That Old Feeling (MGM) 1958 Billy's Best! (Mercury) 1958 Billy Eckstine's Imagination (EmArcy) 1958 Imagination (EmArcy) 1959 Basie and Eckstine, Inc. (Roulette) 1959 Billy and Sarah (Lion) 1960 No Cover, No Minimum (Roulette) 1960 Once More With Feeling (Roulette) 1961 At Basin St. East [live] (EmArcy) 1961 Billy Eckstine & Sarah Vaughan Sing Irving Berlin (Mercury) 1961 Billy Eckstine and Quincy Jones (Mercury) 1961 Broadway, Bongos and Mr. B (Mercury) 1962 Don't Worry 'bout Me (Mercury) 1964 12 Great Movies (Mercury) 1964 Modern Sound of Mr. B (Mercury) 1965 Prime of My Life (Motown) 1966 My Way (Motown) 1969 For Love of Ivy (Motown)1971 Feel the Warm (Enterprise) 1971 Moment (Capitol) 1972 Senior Soul (Enterprise) 1974 If She Walked into My Life (Enterprise) 1978 Momento Brasiliero - (Portugese) 1986 Billy Eckstine Sings with Benny Carter (Verve)1994 Everthing I Have Is Yours -Antholology (Verve) 1995 I Apologize (Polydor) 2002 How High the Moon (Past Perfect) 2002 Billy Eckstine and His Orchestra (Deluxe) 2002 Stardust (Polydor) 2003 The Motown Years (Motown) 2004 Love Songs (Savoy) 2006 Timeless (Savoy)