William Clarence Eckstine was an American jazz and pop singer and a bandleader during the swing and bebop eras.
22 Facts About Billy Eckstine
2.
Billy Eckstine was noted for his rich, almost operatic bass-baritone voice.
3.
Billy Eckstine was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, the son of William Eckstein, a chauffeur, and Charlotte Eckstein, a seamstress.
4.
Billy Eckstine left Howard in 1933 after winning first place in an amateur talent contest, imitating Cab Calloway singing a nursery rhyme and scatting.
5.
In 1944, Billy Eckstine formed his own big band, and it became the finishing school for adventurous young musicians who would shape the future of jazz including Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, Gene Ammons, Miles Davis, Art Blakey, Cecil Payne, Fats Navarro, Lucky Thompson, John Malachi, Sarah Vaughan, Pearl Bailey, and Lena Horne.
6.
The Billy Eckstine Orchestra is considered to be the first bebop big-band, and had Top Ten chart entries that included "A Cottage for Sale" and "Prisoner of Love".
7.
Billy Eckstine became a solo performer in 1947, with records featuring lush, sophisticated orchestrations.
8.
Billy Eckstine would go on to record over a dozen hits during the late 1940s.
9.
Billy Eckstine had further success in 1950 with Victor Young's theme song to "My Foolish Heart," and the next year with a revival of the 1931 Bing Crosby hit, "I Apologize".
10.
Billy Eckstine was the subject of a three-page profile in the April 25,1950 issue of Life magazine, in which the photographer Martha Holmes accompanied Billy Eckstine and his entourage during a week in New York City.
11.
In 1951, Billy Eckstine performed at the seventh Cavalcade of Jazz concert held on July 8 at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles, produced by Leon Hefflin, Sr.
12.
The 1960 Las Vegas live album, No Cover, No Minimum, featured Billy Eckstine taking a few trumpet solos and showcasing his nightclub act.
13.
Billy Eckstine recorded albums for Mercury and Roulette in the early 1960s and appeared on Motown albums during the mid to late years of the decade.
14.
Billy Eckstine made numerous appearances on television variety shows, including on 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.
15.
Billy Eckstine 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.
16.
Billy Eckstine performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" prior to Game 4 of the 1979 World Series at Three Rivers Stadium in his native Pittsburgh.
17.
In 1984, Billy Eckstine recorded his penultimate album, I Am a Singer, arranged and conducted by Angelo DiPippo and featuring Toots Thielemans on harmonica.
18.
Billy Eckstine made his final recordings for Motorcity Records, a label for ex-Motown artists founded by Ian Levine.
19.
Billy Eckstine suffered a stroke while performing in Salina, Kansas, in April 1992, and never performed again.
20.
Billy Eckstine had to fight the system, so things never quite fell into place.
21.
Billy Eckstine was one of the greatest singers of all time.
22.
Billy Eckstine was one of the greatest singers of that era.