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Biography
Use mdy dates|date=June 2011Infobox musical artist| name = Billy Eckstine| image = Portrait of Billy Eckstine, New York, N.Y., between 1946 and 1948 (LOC).jpg| image_size = 225px| background = solo_singer| birth_name = William Clarence Eckstine| alias = Mr. B| Born = Birth date|1914|07|08 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania , USA| Died = Death date and age|1993|03|08|1914|07|08 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania , USA| instrument = Vocals, trumpet| genre = Jazz | occupation = Singer| years_active = 1940s–1990s| associated_acts = Dizzy Gillespie Charlie Parker Sarah Vaughan William Clarence Eckstine (July 8, 1914 – March 8, 1993)cite book | first= David | last= Roberts | year= 2006 | title= British Hit Singles & Albums | edition= 19th | publisher=Guinness World Records Limited | location= London | isbn= 1-904994-10-5 | page= 178 was an American singer of ballad s and a bandleader of the swing era . 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.Citation needed|date=November 2010
Biography
Eckstine's grandparents were William F. Eckstein and Nannie Eckstein, a mixed race, lawfully married couple who lived in Washington D.C. ; both were born in the year 1863. William F. was born in Prussia and Nannie in Virginia. His parents were William Eckstein, a chauffeur and Charlotte Eckstein. He was born in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania a State Historical Marker is placed at 5913 Bryant St, Highland Park, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania to mark the house where he grew up. http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMWRF_Billy_Eckstine Later moving to Washington, D.C., Eckstine began singing at the age of seven and entered many amateur talent shows.He attended Armstrong High School, St. Paul Normal and Industrial School, and Howard University.cite web|url= http://www.bigbandlibrary.com/billyeckstine.html |title=Billy Eckstine "Mr. B and His Band" |publisher=Big Band Library |accessdate=May 25, 2011 He left Howard in 1933, after winning first place in an amateur talent contest.cite web|url= http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php? id=6481 |title=Billy Eckstine at All About Jazz |publisher=Allaboutjazz.com |accessdate=May 25, 2011 He married his first wife, June, in 1942; she too was a vocalist. After their divorce he married actress and model Carolle Drake in 1953, and remained married until his death. He was the father of five children and two step children, including Ed Eckstine, who was a president of Mercury Records, Guy Eckstine, who was a Columbia and Verve Records A& R executive and record producer, and singer Gina Eckstine.
An influence looming large in the cultural development of Soul music|soul and R& B singers from Sam Cooke to Prince (musician)|Prince , Eckstine was able to play it straight on his pop hits " Prisoner of Love (1931 song)|Prisoner of Love ", " My Foolish Heart (song)|My Foolish Heart " and " I Apologize (song)|I Apologize ". He had originally planned on a football career, but after breaking his collar bone, he made music his focus. After working his way west to Chicago, Eckstine joined Earl Hines ' Grand Terrace Orchestra in 1939, staying with the band as vocalist and, occasionally, trumpeter, until 1943. By that time, he had begun to make a name for himself through the Hines band's radio shows with such juke box hits as "Stormy Monday Blues" and his own "Jelly Jelly."
In 1944, Eckstine formed his own big band and made it a fountainhead for young musicians who would reshape jazz by the end of the decade, including Dizzy Gillespie , Dexter Gordon , Miles Davis , Art Blakey , Charlie Parker , and Fats Navarro . Tadd Dameron and Gil Fuller were among the band's arrangers, and Sarah Vaughan gave the vocals a contemporary air. 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 1940s, with Top Ten entries including " A Cottage for Sale " and " Prisoner of Love (1931 song)|Prisoner of Love ". On the group's frequent European and American tours, Eckstine, popularly known as Mr. B, also played trumpet, valve trombone and guitar.
Dizzy Gillespie , in reflecting on the band in his 1979 autobiography To Be or Not to Bop places it in perspective: "There was no band that sounded like Billy Eckstine's. Our attack was strong, and we were playing bebop, the modern style. No other band like this one existed in the world."
After a few years of touring with road-hardened be-boppers, Eckstine became a solo performer in 1947, and seamlessly made the transition to string-filled balladry. He recorded more than a dozen hits during the late 1940s, including "My Foolish Heart" and "I Apologize." He was one of the first artists to sign with the newly-established MGM Records , and had immediate hits with revivals of " Everything I Have Is Yours (song)|Everything I Have Is Yours " (1947), Richard Rodgers ’ and Lorenz Hart ’s " Blue Moon (song)|Blue Moon " (1948), and Juan Tizol ’s " Caravan (song)|Caravan " (1949).
Eckstine had further success in 1950 with Victor Young ’s theme song to " My Foolish Heart (song)|My Foolish Heart " and a revival of the 1931 Bing Crosby hit, " I Apologize (song)|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.Citation needed|date=May 2011 While enjoying success in the middle-of-the-road and pop fields, Eckstine occasionally returned to his jazz roots, recording with Vaughan, Count Basie and Quincy Jones for separate LPs, and he regularly topped the Metronome and Downbeat polls in the Top Male Vocalist category: He won Esquire (magazine)|Esquire magazine's New Star Award in 1946; the Down Beat magazine Readers Polls from 1948 to 1952; and the Metronome magazine|Metronome magazine award as "Top Male Vocalist" from 1949 to 1954.
His 1950 appearance at the Paramount Theatre (New York City)|Paramount Theatre in New York City drew a larger audience than Frank Sinatra at his Paramount performance.
Among Eckstine's recordings of the 1950s was a 1957 Duet (music)|duet with Sarah Vaughan , " Passing Strangers (1957 song)|Passing Strangers ", a minor hit in 1957, but an initial No.22 success in the UK Singles Chart . Even before folding his band, Eckstine had recorded solo to support it, scoring two million-sellers in 1945 with " A Cottage for Sale|Cottage for Sale " and a revival of " Prisoner of Love (1931 song)|Prisoner of Love ". Far more successful than his band recordings, these prefigured Eckstine’s future career.
The 1960 Las Vegas live album, No Cover, No Minimum , featured Eckstine taking a few trumpet solos as well. He recorded several albums for Mercury and Roulette during the early 1960s, and he appeared on Motown for a few standards albums during the mid to late 1960s. After recording sparingly during the 1970s 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.
Eckstine made numerous appearances on television variety shows, including " The Ed Sullivan Show ", "The Nat King Cole Show", " The Tonight 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 ", and " Playboy After Dark ". He also performed as an actor in the TV sitcom " Sanford and Son ", and in such films as Skirts Ahoy , ''Let's Do It Again , and Jo Jo Dancer .
Eckstine was a style leader and noted sharp dresser. He designed and patented a high roll collar that formed a "B" over a Windsor knot|Windsor-knotted tie, which became known as a "Mr. B. Collar." In addition to looking cool, the collar could expand and contract without popping open, which allowed his neck to swell while playing his horns.."Citation needed|date=May 2011 The collars were worn by many a Hipster (1940s subculture)|hipster in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Legend has it that his refined appearance even had an effect on trumpeter Miles Davis . Once, when Eckstine came across a disheveled Davis in the depths of his heroin excess, his remark "Looking sharp, Miles" served as a wake-up call for Davis, who promptly returned to his father's farm in the winter of 1953 and finally kicked the habit.Tom Schnabel, Café LA, KCRW
In 1986, Billy recorded his final album Billy Eckstine Sings with Benny Carter . Eckstine died on March 8, 1993, aged 78.
Tributes
His friend Duke Ellington recalled Eckstine's artistry in his 1973 autobiography Music is My Mistress : "Eckstine-style love songs opened new lines of communication for the man in the man-woman merry-go-round, and blues a la B were the essence of cool. When he made a recording of Caravan, I was happy and honored to watch one of our tunes help take him into the stratosphere of universal acclaim. And, of course, he hasn't looked back since. A remarkable artist, the sonorous B." ... "His style and technique have seen extensively copied by some of the neocommercial singers, but despite their efforts he remains out front to show how and what should have been done."
Quincy Jones was quoted in Billboard : "I looked up to Mr. B as an idol. I wanted to dress like him, talk like him, pattern my whole life as a musician and as a complete person in the image of dignity that he projected. ... As a black man, Eckstine was not immune to the prejudice that characterized the 1950s." Jones is quoted in The Pleasures of Jazz : "If he’d been white, the sky would have been the limit. As it was, he didn’t have his own radio or TV show, much less a movie career. He had to fight the system, so things never quite fell into place."Citation needed|date=May 2011 Lionel Hampton : "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."cite journal | author = | editor = | date = March 29, 1993 | title = Billy Eckstine Cremated Following Private Rites; Stars Pay Tribute to Him | journal = Jet (magazine)|JET | volume = 83 | issue = 22 | series = | page = 18 | location = | publisher = | issn = 0021-5996 | separator = . | postscript =
Discography
col-begincol-break
1950 Billy Eckstine Sings (Savoy)
1951 Billy Eckstine - Sarah Vaughan "You're All I Need" - "Dedicated To You"
1986 Billy Eckstine Sings with Benny Carter (Verve)
1994 Everything I Have Is Yours (Billy Eckstine album)|Everything I Have Is Yours – Anthology (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 Billy Eckstine|Timeless (Savoy)
col-end
References
;Notes reflistRefimprove|date=January 2009
External links
Portal|Biography
aaregistry|996
Allmusic|class=artist|id=p6442
IMDb name|248751
Find a Grave|8396
Persondata | NAME = Eckstine, Billy | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = | DATE OF BIRTH = July 8, 1914 | PLACE OF BIRTH = | DATE OF DEATH = March 8, 1993 | PLACE OF DEATH = DEFAULTSORT:Eckstine, Billy Category:African American singers Category:American jazz singers Category:American jazz trombonists Category:American jazz trumpeters Category:American jazz guitarists Category:American jazz bandleaders Category:American male singers Category:Musicians from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Category:Mercury Records artists Category:RCA Victor artists Category:MGM Records artists Category:1914 births Category:1993 deaths
