Nellie Lutcher was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, the eldest daughter of the 15 children of Isaac and Suzie Nellie Lutcher.
13 Facts About Nellie Lutcher
2.
Nellie Lutcher's father was a bass player and her mother a church organist.
3.
Nellie Lutcher received piano lessons, and her father formed a family band with her playing piano.
4.
Aged 15, Nellie Lutcher joined her father in Clarence Hart's Imperial Jazz Band, and in her mid-teens briefly married the band's trumpet player.
5.
Nellie Lutcher began to play swing piano, and to sing, in small combos throughout the area, and began developing her own style, influenced by Earl Hines, Duke Ellington and her friend Nat "King" Cole.
6.
Nellie Lutcher was not widely known until 1947 when she learned of the March of Dimes talent show at Hollywood High School, and performed.
7.
Nellie Lutcher was signed by Capitol and made several records, including "The One I Love " and her first hit single, the risque "Hurry On Down", which went to No 2 on the Billboard rhythm and blues chart.
8.
Nellie Lutcher wrote many of her own songs and, unlike many other African-American artists of the period, retained the valuable publishing rights to them.
9.
Nellie Lutcher headlined a UK variety tour, compered by Jackson, with great success, later returning there to tour on her own.
10.
Nellie Lutcher went on to record, much less successfully, for other labels including Okeh, Decca and Liberty, and gradually wound down her performance schedule.
11.
In 1952, Nellie Lutcher was contacted to perform on first a "happy new years" television special, however after she finished her song, it was revealed that she was on the set of, and the honoree of, a This Is Your Life episode.
12.
Nellie Lutcher died in Los Angeles in 2007, aged 94.
13.
Nellie Lutcher was the aunt of Latin jazz percussionist Darryl "Munyungo" Jackson and singer Jacquelyn Levy.