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Biography
cleanup-reorganize|date=December 2010Copy edit|date=December 2010Infobox musical artist| name = Della Reese| background = solo_singer| image = DellaReeseJuly09.jpg| caption = Reese in July 2009| birth_name = Delloreese Patricia Early| Born = Birth date and age|1931|07|06cite web|author=Andrea LeVasseur|title=Della Reese: Biography|url= http://movies.msn.com/celebrities/celebrity-biography/della-reese|work=All Movie Guide|publisher=MSN|year=2009|accessdate=2009-12-27| origin = Detroit , Michigan , United States| genre = Gospel music|Gospel , Pop music|pop , jazz , Rhythm and blues|R& B , traditional pop | occupation = Singer , actress , Ordination|minister , game show panelist | years_active = 1953present| label = Jubilee Records RCA Records | associated_acts = Mahalia Jackson Erskine Hawkins | website = http://www.dellareese.com/ www.DellaReese.com Delloreese Patricia Early , known professionally as Della Reese (born July 6, 1931), is an American actress , singer , game show panelist of the 1970s, one-time talk-show presenter|hostess and ordained minister . She started her career in the 1950s as a gospel, pop and jazz singer, scoring a hit with her 1959 single " Don't You Know? " In her four decades of acting, she gained a new generation of fans in the 1990s through playing Tess, the lead role on the television show Touched by an Angel . In the late 1960s, she hosted her own talk show, Della, which ran for 297 episodes.cite web | author=|title= Della (1969)|url= http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063892|work=Internet Movie Database|year=2009|accessdate=2009-12-27cite interview|subject=Colson Whitehead and Della Reese|interviewer= Tavis Smiley |title=|url= http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/video/flv/generic.html? s=tavi08s29c1q9d6|format=Video|program= The Tavis Smiley Show| Tavis Smiley Late Night |callsign=PBS|date=12 June 2009|accessdate=2009-12-27 In more recent times, she became an ordained New Thought minister in the Understanding Principles for Better Living Church in Los Angeles, California .
Early years
Reese was born Delloreese Patricia Early in the historic Black Bottom, Detroit|Black Bottom neighborhood of Detroit, Michigan to African American steelworker, Richard Thaddeus Early, and Nellie Mitchelle, a Native Americans in the United States|Native American ( Cherokee ) cook.cite web|author=|title=Della Reese Biography|url= http://www.filmreference.com/film/64/Della-Reese.html|work=filmreference|year=2009|accessdate=2009-12-27cite web|author=Hilary de Vries|title=Della Reese: Earning Her Wings|url= http://www.nytimes.com/1998/06/14/tv/cover-story-della-reese-earning-her-wings.html|work=The New York Times|date=14 June 1998|accessdate=2009-12-27 Delloreese's mother also had several older children, before her birth, all of whom did not live with her, hence, she was an only child. http://www.biography.com/ At only six years old, Reese began singing in Church building|church . From this experience, she became an avid Gospel music|gospel singer. As a young lady of the 1940s, on the weekends, she and her mother would go to the movies, independently, to watch the likes of Joan Crawford , Bette Davis and Lena Horne portray glamorous lives on screen. Afterwards, Reese would act out the scenes from every single film. In 1944, she began her career directing the young people's choir, after she'd nurtured acting plus her obvious musical talent. She was often chosen on radio, as a regular singer. At the age of thirteen, she was hired to sing with Mahalia Jackson 's gospel group. On entering Detroit, Michigan|Detroit 's popular Cass Technical High School (where she attended the same high with an unknown star, Edna Rae Gillooly, later known as Ellen Burstyn ). At Cass Tech, she was a brilliant, no-nonsense student. She also continued with her touring with Jackson. With higher grades, she was the first in her family to graduate from high school in 1947, at only 15. Afterwards, she formed her own gospel group, the Meditation Singers . However, due in part to the death of her mother, and her father's serious illness, Reese had to interrupt her schooling at Wayne State University to help support her family. Faithful to the memory of Deloreese's memory of her mother, she also moved out of her father's house, due to her feuding with her father, who had a new girlfriend. She then took on odd jobs such as truck driver, dental receptionist, even elevator operator, after 1949.
Performing in clubs, Early soon realized that she had no choice but to shorten her name from Delloreese Early to Della Reese , knowing that her birth name was too long for a club marquee.
Musical career
Reese was discovered by the gospel singer Mahalia Jackson , and big break came when she won a contest, which gave her a week to sing at Detroit's well known and talked-about Flame Show Bar. Reese remained there for eight weeks. Although her roots were in gospel music , she now was being exposed to and influenced by such great jazz artists as Ella Fitzgerald , Sarah Vaughan and Billie Holiday . In 1953, she signed a recording contract with Jubilee Records , for which she recorded six albums. Later that year, she also joined the Hawkins Orchestra. Her first recordings for Jubilee were songs such as " In the Still of the Night (1937 song) ", " I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm ", and " Time after Time (1947 song) ". Although the EP did not enter the charts, it sold 500,000 copies, and the songs were later included on the 1959 album And That Reminds Me .
In 1957, Reese released a single called " And That Reminds Me ." After years of performing, she gained chart success with this song. It became a Top Twenty Pop hit and a million-seller record. That year, Reese was voted by Billboard (magazine)|Billboard , Cashbox (magazine)|Cashbox , and various other magazines, as "The Most Promising Singer."
In 1959, Reese moved to a RCA Records , and released her first RCA single called " Don't You Know? ," which was adapted from Puccini 's music for La Bohθme , specifically, the aria '' Musetta's Waltz . It became her biggest hit to date, reaching the #2 spot on the Pop charts, and topping the Rhythm and blues|R& B charts, which were then called the "Black Singles Charts," that year. Eventually, the song came to be widely considered the signature song of her early career.
Reese received a Grammy nomination for her 1960 album, Della , and then released a successful follow-up single called "Not One Minute More" (#16), and she remained on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with the songs "And Now" (#69), " Someday (You'll Want Me to Want You) " (#56) and "The Most Beautiful Words" (#67).
Reese recorded regularly throughout the 1960s, releasing singles and several albums. Two of the most significant were The Classic Della (1962) and Waltz with Me, Della (1963), which broadened her fan base internationally. She recorded several jazz-focused albums, including Della Reese Live (1966), On Strings of Blue (1967), and One of a Kind (1978). She also performed in Las Vegas, Nevada|Las Vegas for nine years, and toured across the country.
Reese continued to record albums in the following decades, receiving two more Grammy nominations in the gospel category for the album Della Reese and Brilliance (1991) and for the live recorded album, My Soul Feels Better Right Now (1999).cite web | author= | title=Music | url= http://www.dellareese.com/html/music.html | work=dellareese.com | year=2009 | accessdate=2009-12-27
Television career
In 1969, she began a transition into acting work which would eventually lead to her greatest fame. Her first attempt at television stardom was a 1969 eponymously titled variety series, which was canceled after one season.
In 1970, Reese became the first black woman to guest host The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson . She appeared in several TV movies and miniseries, was a regular on Chico and the Man , and she played the mother of B. A. Baracus in The A-Team episode "Lease with an Option to Die." In 1991, she starred opposite Redd Foxx in his final sitcom, The Royal Family (TV series)|The Royal Family , but his death halted production of the series for several months. Reese also did voice over for the animated series A Pup Named Scooby-Doo .
In 1989, she starred alongside Eddie Murphy , Richard Pryor , and Arsenio Hall in the theatrical release movie Harlem Nights , in which she was seen doing a fight scene with Eddie Murphy .
Reese appeared as a panelist on several episodes of the popular television game show Match Game and was featured on '' That's So Raven in The Four Aces. On May 18, 2009, she guest starred on the daytime drama The Young and the Restless as Virginia Hamilton.
No-nonsense character actress
Reese also had a wide variety of guest-starring roles, beginning with an episode of The Mod Squad . This led to other roles such as: The Bold Ones: The New Doctors , Getting Together , Police Woman (TV series)|Police Woman , Petrocelli , Joe Forrester , Police Story (TV series)|Police Story , The Rookies , McCloud (TV series)|McCloud , Sanford and Son with old friend Redd Foxx , Vega$ , Insight (TV series)|Insight , two episodes of The Love Boat . She also had a recurring role on It Takes Two opposite Richard Crenna and Patty Duke , three episodes of Crazy Like a Fox (TV series)|Crazy Like a Fox , four episodes of Charlie & Co. opposite Flip Wilson , 227 (TV series)|227 with best friend Marla Gibbs , MacGyver , Night Court , Dream On (TV series)|Dream On , Designing Women , Picket Fences . She also had a recurring role as Tess, on Promised Land with Wendy Phillips and Gerald McRaney , among many others.
Touched by an Angel
After coping with the death of one of her best friends, Redd Foxx, in 1991, she was reluctant to have an older female lead in Touched by an Angel , but went ahead and auditioned for Tess. She wanted to have a one-shot agreement between Columbia Broadcasting System|CBS and producer Martha Williamson , but ordered more episodes. She portrayed the character of Tess on the inspirational television drama Touched by an Angel . Reese was widely seen as a key component of the show's success.
Already starring on Touched by an Angel was an unfamiliar Irish people|Irish actress and future wife of reality television show s producer ( Mark Burnett ), Roma Downey , who played the role of case worker Tess's angel/employee, Monica. In numerous interviews, there was an on- and off-screen chemistry of both Reese and Downey, as the two clicked as second mother and second daughter of any other 1990s TV series, when Reese was playing the boss whilst Downey played employee.
The character of Tess was the angelic supervisor who sent the other angels out on missions to help people redeem their lives and show them God's love, while at the same time, she was sassy, had no-nonsense, but always had an attitude. The show often featured a climactic monologue delivered by the angel Monica in which she reveals herself as an angel to a human with the words, "I am an angel sent by God to tell you that he loves you." The character of Tess balanced the emotional tone of the show, and was portrayed by Reese as down to earth, experienced, and direct.
The series introduced Reese to a new young fan base, and added to her appeal with television viewers who remembered her earlier career highlights. Reese also sang the show's theme song, "Walk With You" and was featured prominently on the soundtrack album produced in conjunction with the show.
During its first season in 1994, many critics had been skeptical about the new drama, it being the second prime-time fantasy series ( Highway to Heaven being the first) that talked about God . The program featured kind-hearted angels who appeared on Earth, and helped guide people in their toughest moments. The show also had a rocky start, and was not a ratings winner, hence, they cancelled it after the first season with only 11 episodes, but with the help of die-hard fans and massive letter-writing, the show was resuscitated the following season and became a huge ratings winner for the next seven seasons. The same year, unfamiliar actor John Dye played Andrew. Though he was a handsome actor, there had been threats to the familiar TV star. At the beginning of the fourth season in 1997, unlike her co-stars making more money, Reese was offered a lesser salary, hence, she threatened to leave the Angel set. Angry about the imbalance of her paycheck, Reese fought with both CBS and Williamson, and she continued playing Tess until the end, having raised her salary. http://www.biography.com
During its final season in 2002, Touched by an Angel Columbia Broadcasting System|CBS decided to cancel the show after nine seasons and 212 episodes. Despite the show being cancelled, it continued re-running heavily into syndication and on The Hallmark Channel .
Roma Downey said of her on- and off-screen relationship with Reese, who had adopted her as a daughter: "She's very wise, she's very loving, she can be a little gruff at times. But she's always adoring and adorable. I lost my mother, when I was very young, and during my whole adolescence and into my twenties, I'd been looking for a mother figure, and I really think I can say with absolute truth and sincerity that I feel that I finally found her in Della Reese." The last thing Downey said about her TV boss/mother was that she could be as loving as her mentor's Jesus: "I think I'll just always remember the feel of her neck against my cheek when she hugs me, and the love, I know that she has for me, and the love that I feel for her, and the love that she has for God. To know Della is to know that she loves God."
Personal life
NewThoughtReese's mother, Nellie Mitchelle Early, died in 1949 of a cerebral hemorrhage.
Reese's father, Richard Early, died in 1959.
Reese had an adoptive daughter, Deloreese Daniels Owens, in 1961, who died on March 14, 2002, after complications stemming from pituitary disease . She said about the painful experience, sharing her frustration with the lack of awareness and knowledge of pituitary disorders, "When it happened, I thought, 'It's such an odd thing to die from,' because pituitary problems aren't something you hear about. It makes it harder because you don't understand what happened. It seemed so strange and hard to explain. It still is, to be honest." http://www.cushings-help.com/reese.htm
In 1979, after taping a guest spot for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson|The Tonight Show , she suffered a near-fatal brain aneurysm , but made a full recovery after two operations by neurosurgeon Charles George Drake|Dr. Charles Drake at University Hospital (London, Ontario)|University Hospital in London, Ontario .
In 1983, she married Franklin Thomas Lett, Jr. , a concert producer and writer.
In 2002, Reese announced on Larry King Live that she had been diagnosed with type-2 diabetes . She became a spokesman|spokeswoman for the American Diabetes Association , traveling around the United States to raise awareness about this disorder.
In 2005, Reese was honored by Oprah Winfrey at her Legends Ball ceremony, along with 25 other women of African-American descent.
Reese was ordained as a Minister (Christianity)|minister in 2010, after serving as the senior minister and founder of the Understanding Principles for Better Living Church, an independent " Christian New Thought" congregation, which currently meets at First Lutheran Church (www.firsting.org) in Inglewood, California .cite web | author= | title=Ministry | url= http://www.dellareese.com/html/minst.html | work=dellareese.com | year=2009 | accessdate=2009-12-27 In her ministerial work, she is known as the Rev. Dr. Della Reese Lett.cite web | author= | title=Ministry: Biography | url= http://www.upchurch.org/index.php? page=home | publisher=Understanding Principles for Better Living Church | year=2009 | accessdate=2009-12-27
Episode: "Fox Hunt" Episode: "Is There a Fox in the House? "
Charlie & Co.
Aunt Rachel
4 episodes
ABC Afterschool Specials
Aunt Faith
Episode: "The Gift of Amazing Grace"
1987
227
Rita
Episode: "Far from the Tree"
1988
A Pup Named Scooby-Doo
Additional Voices
TV series
1989
Night Court
Aunt Ruth
Episode: "Auntie Maim"
Harlem Nights
Vera
1990
227
Grace
Episode: "Where Do We Go from Here? "
The Kid Who Loved Christmas
Alicia Slater
TV movie
The Young Riders
Stagecoach Sally
Episode: "Born to Hang"
MacGyver
Mama Colton
Episode: "Squeeze Play"
1991
Episode: "The Coltons"
Married People
Episode: "Dance Ten, Friends Zero"
The Royal Family
Victoria Royal
1991-1992 (15 episodes)
1992
Dream On
Receptionist
Episode: "No Deposit, No Return"
The Distinguished Gentleman
Elevator Operator (uncredited)
1993
Designing Women
Mrs. Toussant
Episode: "Wedding Redux"
L.A. Law
Lucille Lake
Episode: "Vindaloo in the Villows"
Picket Fences
Naomi Grand
Episode: "The Lullaby League"
1994
Touched by an Angel
Tess
1994-2003 (212 episodes)
1996
Promised Land
1996-1998 (5 episodes)
A Thin Line Between Love and Hate
Ma Wright
1997
Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child
The Blues Fairy
Episode: "Pinocchio"
A Match Made in Heaven
Katie Beale
TV movies
Miracle in the Woods
Lilly Cooper
1998
''Emma's Wish
Mona Washburn
'' Mama Flora's Family
Nana Fleming
1999
Chasing Secrets
Honey
''Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years
Martha Logan
'' Anya's Bell
Anya Herpick
2000
The Moving of Sophia Myles
Sophia Myles
Dinosaur
Eema (voice)
2005
Beauty Shop
Mrs. Towner
2006
'' That's So Raven
Miss Rhonnie Wilcox
Episode: "The Four Aces"
2007
If I Had Known I Was a Genius
Nana
2009
The Young and the Restless
Aunt Virginia
2 episodes
2010
Expecting Mary
Doris Dorkus
Awards and nominations
; Awards
1994: Hollywood Walk of Fame : Hollywood Boulevard|7060 Hollywood Boulevard Television
1996: NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series|Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Touched by an Angel
1997: Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Touched by an Angel
1998: Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Touched by an Angel
1999: Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Touched by an Angel
2000: Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Touched by an Angel
2001: Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Touched by an Angel
2002: Image Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series Touched by an Angel
; Nominations
1960: Grammy Award ''Don't You Know
1961: Grammy Award Della (Album)
1991: Grammy Award Della Reese and Brilliance
1997: Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress Drama Series|Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Touched by an Angel
1997: Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series Touched by an Angel
1998: Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Touched by an Angel
1998: Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress Series, Miniseries or Television Film|Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Made for TV Series Touched by an Angel
1998: Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series Touched by an Angel
1999: Grammy Award My Soul Feels Better Right Now
2000: Annie Award|Annie Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting By a Female Performer in an Animated Feature Dinosaur (film)|Dinosaur
References
Reflist|2
External links
http://www.dellareese.com/ Della Reese Official Website
IMDb name|5343
http://www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/della-reese Della Reese Interview at Archive of American Television|The Archive of American Television
http://upchurch.org Understanding Principles for Better Living Church
http://www.tvparty.com/mysdella.html Della Reese's Tough TV Career
http://www.visionaryproject.com/reesedella Della Reese's oral history video excerpts at The National Visionary Leadership Project
Persondata | NAME =Reese, Della | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = | DATE OF BIRTH =1931-07-06 | PLACE OF BIRTH = | DATE OF DEATH = | PLACE OF DEATH = DEFAULTSORT:Reese, Della Category:1931 births Category:African American actors Category:African American writers Category:American Christians Category:American evangelists Category:American female singers Category:American film actors Category:American performers of Christian music Category:American television actors Category:American television personalities Category:American television talk show hosts Category:American voice actors Category:American people of Cherokee descent Category:American people of Native American descent Category:California Democrats Category:Cass Technical High School alumni Category:Jubilee Records artists Category:Living people Category:Michigan Democrats Category:New Thought writers Category:People from Detroit, Michigan Category:RCA Victor artists Category:Stroke survivors Category:Traditional pop music singers Category:Wayne State University alumni Category:American jazz singers
