Grace Elizabeth Agnes Annie Cole was a British trumpeter and bandleader.
11 Facts About Gracie Cole
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Gracie Cole was lead soloist in Ivy Benson's all-girls band during the 1940s, going on to form her own all-female band in the 1950s.
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Gracie Cole was born on 8 September 1924 in Rowlands Gill, County Durham.
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Gracie Cole played with local brass bands in her teens, including the Firbeck Colliery Band alongside her father.
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From 1940, Gracie Cole appeared as a guest soloist in two concerts with the Besses o' th' Barn brass band, and played with various other bands including the Grimethorpe Colliery Band.
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Later in 1942 Gracie Cole switched to being a dance band trumpeter, initially joining Gloria Gaye's All Girls Band, who toured playing theatres and forces entertainment shows organised by the Entertainments National Service Association.
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The band featured on television and radio, including their own radio series Ladies Night, and on Christmas Day 1945 Gracie Cole was the featured soloist on a live broadcast from Hamburg immediately after the King's speech.
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However Gracie Cole found the male prejudice she experienced there made life uncomfortable, and she left to form her own all-female band, which she fronted between 1952 and 1956.
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Gracie Cole was active in encouraging local brass bands, and was made a freeman of the City of London in 1990.
10.
Gracie Cole developed Alzheimer's disease towards the end of the 1990s.
11.
Gracie Cole died on 28 December 2006 in Westcott, Surrey aged 82.