The New York Times described him as an "influential band leader" whose "suave bass-baritone" and "full-throated, sugary approach to popular songs inspired singers like Earl Coleman, Johnny Hartman, Joe Williams, Arthur Prysock, and Lou Rawls. Before that, he had a tremendous followingand it just . That same year, he made his last recording, titled Billy Eckstine Sings With Benny Carter.. You may not upload any more photos to this memorial, This photo was not uploaded because this memorial already has 20 photos, This photo was not uploaded because you have already uploaded 5 photos to this memorial, This photo was not uploaded because this memorial already has 30 photos, This photo was not uploaded because you have already uploaded 15 photos to this memorial. Billy Eckstine was around 30 years old when his first singled charted. . He influences fashion; long "Mr. B" collars are all the rage. With powerful tools and services, along with expert support and education, we help creative entrepreneurs start, manage, and scale their businesses. Please contact Find a Grave at [emailprotected] if you need help resetting your password. Billy Eckstine, the great 'Mr. B.'. By 1943, he gained a trio of stellar bandmates -- Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Sarah Vaughan. He also introduced new songs on radio - 'Skylark' was one - becoming the first black person to do so, made an exception because of his particularly clear diction.Apart from working with the Ellington band on that occasion in 1966, Eckstine also recorded a successful album with Count Basie in which he recreated his blues hits, and others with Quincy Jones. A Pittsburgh native born on July 8, 1914, he grew up on Bryant Street in Highland Park, attended Peabody High School and . You can customize the cemeteries you volunteer for by selecting or deselecting below. cemeteries found within kilometers of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. Photos larger than 8Mb will be reduced. Eckstine suffered a stroke while performing in Salina, Kansas, in April 1992, and never performed again. It allows our most engaged readers to debate the big issues, share their own experiences, discuss real-world solutions, and more. Topics related to this:Highland Park music and musicians Pittsburgh Pirates. This browser does not support getting your location. ---, "Eckstine, Billy," The Encyclopedia of Jazz in the 60s (New York City: Horizon Press, Inc., 1966), p.111. Eckstine made numerous appearances on television variety shows, including 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. If She Walked Into My Life Billy Eckstine 2019 From $8.99. 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. There was a problem getting your location. Eckstine left Howard University after winning an amateur contest in 1933 and began singing in nightclubs and with dance . Fools Rush In (Where Angels Fear To Tread) Billy Eckstine. The New York Times described him as an . As it was, he didnt have his own radio or TV show, much less a movie career. He was barely out of his teens when he began to break into the professional world of music in the 1930s, and by the end of the decade he'd been recruited as a vocalist for one of the era's high-profile orchestras, led by pianist Earl Hines. Billy Eckstine, original name William Clarence Eckstein, (born July 8, 1914, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.died March 8, 1993, Pittsburgh), American singer and bandleader who achieved great personal success while fostering the careers of a number of younger jazz musicians. Sources. Like Dinah Shore and Frank Sinatra, Eckstine arrived in the big time by appearing at New Yorks famous Paramount Theatre. . Billy Eckstine, an influential band leader and a suave bass-baritone whose full-throated, sugary approach to popular songs inspired singers like Joe Williams, Arthur Prysock and Lou Rawls, died . He had also planned on a football career, though after breaking his collar bone, he made music his focus. He was famous for his "Mr. B. Collar" a high roll collar that formed a "B" over a Windsor-knotted tie (or without a tie at all). After working his way west to Chicago during the late '30s, Eckstine was hired by Earl Hines to join his Grand Terrace Orchestra in 1939. . He was one of the very first African American matinee idols, singing first with Earl Fatha Hines orchestra, then veering off with his own band. Billy Eckstine's career was innovative in at least two respects: Originally a key figure in the bop movement, he spent most of his career blurring the lines between jazz and pop. Pirates manager Danny Murtaugh and Bill Eckstine in 1971. The working description is Clerical/White Collar. Dont see this option? There was only one door out of the hall and the audience, thinking that bombs were exploding, panicked and it was amazing that there were no serious injuries. Sorry! Continuing with this request will add an alert to the cemetery page and any new volunteers will have the opportunity to fulfill your request. But the MGM years were good overall for Eckstine and produced a wealth of stellar recordings, both in ballads-with-strings setings and jazzier contexts. Always stylishly dressed, he wore narrow ties, loose-fitting suits and a signature curved shirt collar favored by hipsters and gangsters. From 1947 on, Eckstine was a successful popular singer; among his recordings were Caravan, Prisoner of Love, You Go to My Head, and That Old Black Magic. Eckstine posthumously received a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement in 2019. In his early days he used his vocal success to subsidise his big band and it was always a pleasure to see one of his records in the Top Ten, even when the songs were, to the jazz listener, turkeys like 'I Apologise' and 'I Wanna Be Loved'. Set Fashion Trends. One photograph taken by Martha Holmes and published in LIFE showed Eckstine with a group of white female admirers, one of whom had her hand on his shoulder and her head on his chest while she laughed. To enable personalized advertising (like interest-based ads), we may share your data with our marketing and advertising partners using cookies and other technologies. Hip young men copied his style of dress, shirts with rolled collars and jackets draped off the body. Share this memorial using social media sites or email. Those partners may have their own information theyve collected about you. A legendary singer of jazz ballads and a bandleader of the swing era, Eckstine's smooth baritone and distinctive vibrato broke down barriers throughout the 1940s, first as leader of the original bop big-band, then as the . Cremated, Ashes given to family or friend, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8396/billy-eckstine. During that time, Eckstine made a successful recording of the jazz standard Skylark. His first big hit was Jelly, Jelly, which he sang while touring with the band. Learn More , Mark Chilla writes and hosts Afterglow and WFIU's weekly music trivia show, Ether Game. Billy Eckstine, the handsome, dapper, bandleader and vocalist who turned out popular hits in the 1940s and '50s while playing a pivotal role in the formative years of be-bop, died Monday in . [12] One photograph taken by Holmes and published in Life showed Eckstine with a group of white female admirers, one of whom had her hand on his shoulder and her head on his chest while she was laughing. Eckstine was a style leader and noted sharp dresser. He was one of the very first African American matinee idols, singing first with Earl "Fatha" Hines orchestra, then veering off with his own band. This will differ depending on what options are available for the item. Eckstine would go on to record over a dozen hits during the late 1940s. Remove advertising from a memorial by sponsoring it for just $5. $12.75, $15.00 This relationship is not possible based on lifespan dates. Reputed for his well-tailored wardrobe-he once had a battle of the suits with bandleader Duke Ellington while they were sharing a concert stand--he even marketed a shirt-collar called "the Mr. B collar." Learn more about merges. Billy Eckstine, original name William Clarence Eckstein, (born July 8, 1914, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.died March 8, 1993, Pittsburgh), American singer and bandleader who achieved great personal success while fostering the careers of a number of younger jazz musicians. Etsy uses cookies and similar technologies to give you a better experience, enabling things like: Detailed information can be found in Etsys Cookies & Similar Technologies Policy and our Privacy Policy. After forming his own big band that year, he hired all three and gradually recruited still more modernist figures and future stars: Wardell Gray, Dexter Gordon, Miles Davis, Kenny Dorham, Fats Navarro, and Art Blakey, as well as arrangers Tadd Dameron and Gil Fuller. In 1986, Billy recorded his final album Billy Eckstine Sings with Benny Carter. Learn More, 2023, The Trustees of Indiana University Copyright Complaints, 1229 East Seventh Street, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, Support For Indiana Public Media Comes From, Mr. B: The Life And Music Of Billy Eckstine, A Biographical Guide To The Great Jazz And Pop Singers. Turning off personalized advertising opts you out of these sales. Learn more in our Privacy Policy., Help Center, and Cookies & Similar Technologies Policy. I wanted to dress like him, talk like him, pattern my whole life as a musician and as a complete person in the image of dignity that he projected. As a black man, Eckstine was not immune to the prejudice that characterized the 1950s.[22]. : William Clarence Eckstein. Captcha failed to load. cemeteries found within miles of your location will be saved to your photo volunteer list. 16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo. Both were awarded a gold disc by the RIAA. Billy Eckstine (8 July 1914 - 8 March 1993), born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as William Clarence Eckstine. Timeless: Billy Eckstine. (his high-rolled collar and tie . [5] Billy's sister, Maxine, was a high school teacher.[6]. Doris Day - Enjoy Eckstine left the Hines orchestra in 1943 and formed his own big band, one that would become critically renowned as an incubator for the new jazz that was evolving in the mid-1940s called bebop. After an ill-advised stint at RCA in the mid-1950s, where Eckstine, like many other vocalists of the big-band era, was forced to deal with the advent of rock n roll, resulting in a truly unfortunate single titled "Condemned For Life With a Rock n Roll Wife," the singer returned to more jazz-friendly settings with his 1958 album Imagination, and the recordings he made for the Roulette label, which can be heard extensively on the Afterglow program Billy Eckstine: The Roulette Years. In 1960, during the World Series between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the New York Yankees, he sang the national anthem. [9], Dizzy Gillespie, in reflecting on the band in his 1979 autobiography To Be or Not to Bop, gives this perspective: "There was no band that sounded like Billy Eckstine's. or don't show this againI am good at figuring things out. Our global marketplace is a vibrant community of real people connecting over special goods. cemeteries found in will be saved to your photo volunteer list. In 1944, Eckstine formed his own big band,[4] 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, Ceceil Payne, Fats Navarro, Lucky Thompson, John Malachi, Sarah Vaughan, Pearl Bailey, and Lena Horne. Get recommendations for other artists you'll love. $13.50, $15.00 Born in Pittsburgh on July 8, 1914, William Clarence Eckstein grew up in Washington, D.C. Eckstein attended Armstrong High School, St. Paul Normal and Industrial School, and Howard University. He changed the spelling to Eckstine after a club owner said the original spelling was 'too Jewish'.Eckstine was an American jazz singer and bandleader who also played trumpet, valve trombone, Oops, some error occurred while uploading your photo(s). 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