30 Facts About Herb Jeffries

Herb Jeffries starred in several low-budget "race" Western feature films aimed at black audiences, Harlem on the Prairie, Two-Gun Man from Harlem, Rhythm Rodeo, The Bronze Buckaroo and Harlem Rides the Range.

Herb Jeffries acted in several other films and television shows.

Herb Jeffries's album Jamaica, recorded by RKO, is a concept album of self-composed calypso songs.

Herb Jeffries was born Umberto Alexander Valentino in Detroit to a white Irish mother who ran a rooming house.

Herb Jeffries claimed that his paternal great-grandmother was an Ethiopian with the surname of Carey.

Jeffries himself, late in life, said that Howard Jeffrey was his stepfather, and his biological father was Domenico Balentino, a Sicilian who died in World War I Jeffries once described himself in an interview as "three-eighths Negro", claiming pride in an African-American heritage during a period when many light-skinned black performers were attempting "to pass" as all-white in an effort to broaden their commercial appeal.

In marked contrast, Herb Jeffries used make-up to darken his skin in order to pursue a career in jazz and to be seen as employable by the leading all-black musical ensembles of the day.

Much later in his career, Herb Jeffries identified as white for economic or highly personal reasons.

Jet reported that Jeffries identified as White and stated his "real" name as "Herbert Jeffrey Ball" on an application in order to marry Tempest Storm in 1959.

Herb Jeffries showed great interest in singing during his formative teenage years and was often found hanging out with the Howard Buntz Orchestra at various Detroit ballrooms.

From Detroit, at the urging of Louis Armstrong, Herb Jeffries moved to Chicago where he performed in various clubs.

Herb Jeffries began his career working with Erskine Tate and his Vendome Orchestra.

Herb Jeffries's break came during the 1933 Chicago World's Fair A Century of Progress International Exposition singing with the Earl Hines Orchestra on Hines' national broadcasts live from the Grand Terrace Cafe.

Herb Jeffries's 1940 recording of "Flamingo" with Ellington, released in 1941, sold more than 14 million copies in its day.

Herb Jeffries's name had been Herbert Jeffrey, but the credits on the record mistakenly called him Jeffries, so he renamed himself to match the typo.

Herb Jeffries started out his singing career as a lyrical tenor, but, on the advice of Duke Ellington's longtime music arranger, Billy Strayhorn, he lowered his range to mimic the vocal stylings of crooner Bing Crosby.

Herb Jeffries became a "silken, lusty baritone," according to music critic Jonny Whiteside.

Herb Jeffries was back in America by the 1950s, recording jazz records again, including 1957 collection of ballads, Say It Isn't So.

Herb Jeffries's ambition was to produce sound cinema's "first all-Negro musical western".

Herb Jeffries, having obtained finances, wrote his own songs for the film and hired Spencer Williams to appear with him.

Herb Jeffries made his debut as a crooning cowboy with Harlem on the Prairie, which was considered the first black western following the inauguration of the talkies and the first sound Western with an all-black cast.

The movie was shot in 1937 over five days at the Walker Movie Ranch in Newhall, CA, and the Iverson Movie Ranch in Chatsworth, CA, although later films in the series would be filmed at Murray's Dude Ranch in Apple Valley, California, with Herb Jeffries performing all his own stunts.

Herb Jeffries went on to star in another three musical westerns over the next two years.

Herb Jeffries starred as a singing cowboy, in several all-black Western films, in which he sang his own western compositions.

In those films, Herb Jeffries starred as cowboy Bob Blake, sang and performed his own stunts.

Herb Jeffries went on to make other films, starring in the title role in Calypso Joe, which co-starred Angie Dickinson.

Herb Jeffries later directed and produced Mundo depravados, a cult film starring his wife, Tempest Storm.

In 2007, while assembling material for the producers of a documentary film about him, Herb Jeffries found his birth certificate; this reminded him that he actually was born in 1913 and that he had misrepresented his age after he left home to look for a job.

Herb Jeffries died of heart failure at West Hills Hospital and Medical Center on May 25,2014, at the age of 100.

Herb Jeffries was survived by his fifth wife, Savannah, three daughters, and two sons.