Billy 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 first romantic black male in popular music. An influence looming large in the cultural development of
soul and
R&B singers from
Sam Cooke to
Prince,
Eckstine was able to play it straight on his pop hits "Prisoner of Love," "My Foolish Heart" and "I Apologize." Born in Pittsburgh but raised in Washington, D.C.,
Eckstine began singing at the age of seven and entered many amateur talent shows. He had also planned on a football career, though after breaking his collar bone he made music his focus. 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.
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Billy 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 first romantic black male in popular music. An influence looming large in the cultural development of
soul and
R&B singers from
Sam Cooke to
Prince,
Eckstine was able to play it straight on his pop hits "Prisoner of Love," "My Foolish Heart" and "I Apologize." Born in Pittsburgh but raised in Washington, D.C.,
Eckstine began singing at the age of seven and entered many amateur talent shows.
He had also planned on a football career, though after breaking his collar bone he made music his focus. 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. Though white bands of the era featured males singing straightahead romantic
ballads, black bands were forced to stick to
novelty or
blues vocal numbers until the advent of
Eckstine and Herb Jeffries (from Duke Ellington's Orchestra).
Though several of
Eckstine's first hits with
Hines were novelties like "Jelly, Jelly" and "The Jitney Man," he also recorded several straightahead songs, including the hit "Stormy Monday." By 1943, he gained a trio of stellar bandmates --
Dizzy Gillespie,
Charlie Parker, and
Sarah Vaughan. 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. The Billy Eckstine Orchestra was the first
bop big-band, and its leader reflected
bop innovations by stretching his vocal harmonics into his normal
ballads. Despite the group's modernist slant,
Eckstine hit the charts often during the mid-'40s, with Top Ten entries including "A Cottage for Sale" and "Prisoner of Love." On the group's frequent European and American tours,
Eckstine also played trumpet, valve trombone and guitar.
Though he was forced to give up the band in 1947 (
Gillespie formed his own
bop big-band that same year),
Eckstine made the transition to string-filled balladry with ease. He recorded more than a dozen hits during the late '40s, including "My Foolish Heart" and "I Apologize." He was also quite popular in Britain, hitting the Top Ten there twice during the '50s -- "No One But You" and "Gigi" -- as well as several duet entries with
Sarah Vaughan.
Eckstine returned to his
jazz roots occasionally as well, recording with
Vaughan,
Count Basie, and
Quincy Jones for separate LPs, and the 1960 live LP No Cover, No Minimum featured him taking a few trumpet solos as well. He recorded several albums for Mercury and Roulette during the early '60s (his son Ed was the president of Mercury), and he appeared on Motown for a few standards albums during the mid-'60s. After recording very sparingly during the '70s,
Eckstine made his last recording (Billy Eckstine Sings with Benny Carter) in 1986. He died of a heart attack in 1993. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
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