Delloreese Patricia Early, known professionally as Della Reese, was an American jazz and gospel singer, actress, and ordained minister whose career spanned seven decades.
41 Facts About Della Reese
2.
Della Reese achieved continued success in the religious television drama Touched by an Angel, in which she played the leading role of Tess.
3.
Della Reese was born Delloreese Patricia Early on July 6,1931, in the historic Black Bottom neighborhood of Detroit, Michigan, to Richard Thaddeus Early, an African-American steelworker, and Nellie, a cook with alleged Cherokee ancestry.
4.
Della Reese's mother had had several children before Reese's birth, none of whom lived with her; hence, Reese grew up as an only child.
5.
At six years old, Della Reese began singing in church; from this experience she became an avid gospel singer.
6.
Della Reese was often chosen, on radio, as a regular singer.
7.
Della Reese entered Detroit's Cass Technical High School.
8.
However, due in part to her father's serious illness and the death of her mother, Della Reese had to interrupt her schooling at Wayne State University to help support her family.
9.
Della Reese then took on odd jobs, such as truck driver, dental receptionist, and elevator operator, after 1949.
10.
Della Reese was discovered by the gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, and her big break came when she won a contest, which gave her a week to sing at Detroit's well-known Flame Show Bar.
11.
In 1957, Della Reese released a single called "And That Reminds Me".
12.
That year, Della Reese was voted by Billboard, Cashbox and various other magazines, as "The Most Promising Singer".
13.
Della Reese then released a successful follow-up single called "Not One Minute More".
14.
Della Reese remained on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with "And Now".
15.
In November 1960, Della Reese appeared in advertisements in Ebony magazine for the newly launched AMI Continental jukebox.
16.
Della Reese recorded regularly throughout the 1960s, releasing singles and several albums.
17.
Della Reese recorded several jazz-focused albums, including Della Reese Live, On Strings of Blue and One of a Kind.
18.
Della Reese performed in Las Vegas for nine years, and toured across the country.
19.
In 1986, Della Reese formed the gospel group Brilliance with fellow singers OC.
20.
In 1969, Della Reese began a transition into acting work, which would eventually lead to her highest profile.
21.
Della Reese's first attempt at television stardom was a talk show series, Della, which was cancelled after 197 episodes.
22.
In 1970, Della Reese became the first black woman to guest host The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
23.
Della Reese appeared in several TV movies and miniseries, was a regular on Chico and the Man and played the mother of B A Baracus in The A-Team episode "Lease with an Option to Die".
24.
Della Reese did voice-over for the late 1980s Hanna-Barbera animated series A Pup Named Scooby-Doo on ABC.
25.
Della Reese appeared as a panelist on several episodes of the television game show Match Game.
26.
Della Reese had a wide variety of guest-starring roles, beginning with an episode of The Mod Squad.
27.
Della Reese had a recurring role in It Takes Two opposite Richard Crenna and Patty Duke.
28.
Della Reese wanted to have a one-shot agreement between CBS and producer Martha Williamson, but the network ordered more episodes.
29.
Della Reese was widely seen as a key component of the show's success.
30.
Della Reese sang the show's theme song, "Walk with You", and was featured prominently on the soundtrack album produced in conjunction with the show.
31.
At the beginning of the fourth season in 1997, Della Reese threatened to leave the show because she was making less than her co-stars; CBS ended up raising her salary.
32.
Della Reese can be a little gruff at times, but she's always adoring and adorable.
33.
Della Reese was the godmother of Roma Downey's daughter Reilly Marie.
34.
Della Reese officiated at the marriage ceremony of Downey and Mark Burnett in the absence of Downey's late mother.
35.
Della Reese had an adoptive daughter from a family member unable to care for her, named Delorese Daniels Owens, born in 1961.
36.
In 1952, Della Reese married factory worker Vermont Adolphus Bon Taliaferro, nineteen years her senior.
37.
In 1961, Della Reese was briefly married to bandleader Mercer Ellington, before their union was annulled later that year due to Ellington's Mexican divorce from his wife Evelyn Walker being ruled invalid.
38.
In 1979, during taping for a guest spot on The Tonight Show, Della Reese suffered a near-fatal brain aneurysm, but made a full recovery after two surgeries by neurosurgeon Charles Drake at University Hospital in London, Ontario.
39.
In 2016, shortly after her 85th birthday, Della Reese was said to be in poor health, and had undergone multiple surgeries.
40.
Della Reese stated that she had neglected her health for years, which had contributed to her developing type 2 diabetes.
41.
Della Reese died at her home in the Encino neighborhood of Los Angeles on November 19,2017, at the age of 86.