Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Mildred Bailey was born Mildred Rinker on February 27, 1907 in Tekoa, Washington. She began performing at an early age, playing piano and singing in movie theatres by 1920. Moving to Seattle to bolster her career, she retained the name of her first husband Ted Bailey, but it was her second husband Benny Stafford that helped establish her on the West Coast.

By 1925 she was headlining a Hollywood club performing pop, early jazz and vaudeville standards. Due to her success Mildred was able to secure work for her brother Al Riker and his partner Bing Crosby, who in turn, introduced Mildred to Paul Whiteman via singing at a party so he could “discover” her. Whiteman had a very successful radio show and big band and Mildred became the first woman to join a band as a full time singer.

An early jazz singer with a sweet voice that belied her plump figure, Mildred Bailey influences were Ethel Waters, Bessie Smith and Connie Boswell. She balanced popular success with a hot jazz slanted career as the better half of her third husband Red Norvo, who together were known and Mr. and Mrs. Swing.

Bailey’s debut recording was with Eddie Lang in 1929 and by ’32 her fame exploded with her signature hit “Rockin’ Chair” written especially for her by Hoagy Carmichael. Throughout the 30’s and into the 40’s she continued to record with the Whiteman orchestra, her husband Red, and recording arrangements written by Eddie Sauter that proved perfect for her voice.

She appeared on Benny Goodman’s Camel Caravan radio program, and gained her own series again during the mid-’40s. Hampered by health problems by the end of the decade suffering from diabetes and Mildred Bailey died of a heart attack on December 12, 1951 in Poughkeepsie, New York.

Jazz and blues vocalist Mildred Bailey, a major jazz vocalist and innovator who influenced Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Rosemary Clooney was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1989.

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