William Clarence Eckstine was born on July 8, 1914, and passed away on March 8, 1993. He was an American singer and bandleader during the swing and bebop music periods. He was known for his deep, rich voice, which was often compared to an operatic style. In 2019, Eckstine was honored with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for making important artistic contributions to music recordings. His 1951 recording of "I Apologize" (MGM) received the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1999. The New York Times called him an influential band leader whose smooth, deep voice and powerful, sweet singing style inspired other musicians, including Earl Coleman, Johnny Hartman, Joe Williams, Arthur Prysock, and Lou Rawls.

Early life and education

Eckstine was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. His father, William Eckstein, worked as a chauffeur, and his mother, Charlotte Eckstein, was a seamstress. Eckstine’s paternal grandparents were William F. Eckstein and Nannie Eckstein, a married couple from different racial backgrounds who lived in Washington, D.C. Both were born in 1863. William was born in Prussia (now Germany), and Nannie was born in Virginia. Eckstine’s sister, Maxine, worked as a high school teacher.

Eckstine attended Peabody High School in Pittsburgh. Other well-known people who studied there include the artist Romare Bearden, Gene Kelly, pianist Dodo Marmarosa, and Lorin Maazel. Later, Eckstine moved to Washington, D.C., and attended Armstrong High School (where his sister taught), St. Paul Normal and Industrial School, and Howard University. In 1933, at the age of 19, he left Howard University to begin a music career after winning first place and $10 in an amateur talent contest at Washington’s Howard Theatre. During the contest, he imitated Cab Calloway singing a nursery rhyme and added scatting.

Career

In 1939, Billy Eckstine moved to Chicago, Illinois, and joined Earl Hines' Grand Terrace Orchestra. He stayed with the band as a singer and trumpet player until 1943. During this time, Eckstine became well-known for the band's popular songs, such as "Stormy Monday Blues," and his own song, "Jelly, Jelly."

In 1944, Eckstine started his own big band. This band helped train young musicians who later became famous in jazz, including Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Dexter Gordon, Miles Davis, and Sarah Vaughan. Arrangers for the band included Tadd Dameron, Gil Fuller, and Jerry Valentine. The Billy Eckstine Orchestra is known as the first bebop big band. It had songs like "A Cottage for Sale" and "Prisoner of Love," which reached the Top Ten charts and received gold discs from the RIAA.

Dizzy Gillespie, in his 1979 book To Be or Not to Bop, said, "There was no band that sounded like Billy Eckstine's. Our music was strong, and we played bebop, the modern style. No other band like this existed in the world." In 1946, Eckstine starred in the musical film Rhythm in a Riff, which also featured Ann Baker and Lucky Millinder.

In 1947, Eckstine became a solo performer. His recordings had detailed, elegant arrangements. Before ending his band, Eckstine recorded solo songs to support it. In 1945, he released "Cottage for Sale" and a version of "Prisoner of Love," both of which sold over two million copies. These songs were more successful than his band recordings and showed the direction of his future career. During the late 1940s, Eckstine recorded more than a dozen hits. He signed with MGM Records and had immediate success with songs like "Everything I Have Is Yours" (1947), "Blue Moon" (1948), and "Caravan" (1949).

In 1950, Eckstine had success with Victor Young's song "My Foolish Heart" and a version of the 1931 Bing Crosby hit "I Apologize." According to The New York Times, his 1950 performance at the Paramount Theatre in New York City drew a larger audience than Frank Sinatra's performance there. He was sometimes called "the sepia Sinatra" because of his rivalry with Sinatra.

In April 1950, Life magazine published a three-page story about Eckstine. A photograph of Eckstine with white female fans, including one who leaned on his shoulder, caused controversy. The image was described as showing "shared exuberance, joy, and affection" without racial tension. The magazine's publisher approved its publication, but the photo led to protests and hurt Eckstine's career. Tony Bennett and Billy Taylor said the photo damaged Eckstine's popularity with white audiences.

In 1951, Eckstine performed at the seventh Cavalcade of Jazz concert in Los Angeles. Other performers included Lionel Hampton, Percy Mayfield, and Roy Brown. In the 1950s, Eckstine recorded a 1957 duet with Sarah Vaughan called "Passing Strangers," which was a minor hit in the UK.

In 1960, Eckstine released the live album No Cover, No Minimum, which included trumpet solos and his nightclub performances. He recorded for Mercury and Roulette in the early 1960s and appeared on Motown albums in the mid-1960s. In the 1970s, he recorded for Stax / Enterprise and made his final recordings in 1986 with Benny Carter on the Grammy-nominated album Billy Eckstine Sings with Benny Carter.

Eckstine appeared on many television shows, including The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show with Steve Allen, and Playboy After Dark. He also acted in the sitcom Sanford and Son and appeared in films like Skirts Ahoy and Jo Jo Dancer. In 1979, he sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" before Game 4 of the World Series in Pittsburgh.

Eckstine was known for his fashion, especially his "Mr. B. Collar," a high roll collar that formed a "B" over a tie. Many young people in the 1940s and 1950s wore similar styles. In 1984, Eckstine recorded his final album, I Am a Singer, with Toots Thielemans on harmonica. In 1987, he recorded with Benny Carter for Billy Eckstine Sings with Benny Carter for Motorcity Records.

Personal life

He married his first wife, June, in 1942. After they divorced in 1952, he married actress and model Carolle Drake in 1953. They stayed married until his death. He had four children with his second wife, including Ed Eckstine, who became president of Mercury Records; Guy Eckstine, who worked as an A&R executive and record producer for Columbia and Verve Records; Charlotte Eckstein, a singer and entrepreneur; and Gina Eckstine, a singer.

Illness and death

Eckstine had a stroke while performing in Salina, Kansas, in April 1992, and did not perform again. Even though his speech improved in the hospital, Eckstine had a heart attack and died nearly a year later on March 8, 1993, in Pittsburgh, at 78 years old. In the weeks before his death, his family members played music for him in his room. His final word was "Basie."

A historical marker was placed at 5913 Bryant Street in Pittsburgh's Highland Park neighborhood to remember the house where Eckstine grew up.

Tributes

In his 1973 autobiography Music is My Mistress, Duke Ellington remembered Eckstine's talent. Sammy Davis Jr. appeared in person multiple times and pretended to be Eckstine. Eckstine was one of the people who carried Davis's coffin during his funeral in 1990. In Billboard magazine, Quincy Jones said: Jones is also quoted in Leonard Feather's book The Pleasures of Jazz as saying about Eckstine:

Discography

• 1940: Earl Hines and Billy Eckstine [Record 1: "Stormy Monday Blues" and "Water Boy"; Record 2: "I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)" and "Somehow"; Record 3: "Jelly, Jelly" and "Skylark"] (RCA Victor) – three 78rpm records.
• 1949: Billy Eckstine Sings (National) – recorded between 1945 and 1947.
• 1950: Songs By Billy Eckstine (MGM) – reached number 4 in the United States.
• 1951: Billy Eckstine Favorites (MGM)
• 1952: Love Songs By Rodgers and Hammerstein (MGM)
• 1953: Billy Eckstine Sings Tenderly (MGM)
• 1953: Earl Hines – Billy Eckstine: A Treasury Of Immortal Performances (RCA Victor) – recorded between 1940 and 1942.
• 1953: The Great Mr. B: Billy Eckstine and His All-Star Band (DeLuxe/King) – recorded in 1944.
• 1954: I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart: Billy Eckstine Sings 8 Great Duke Ellington Songs (MGM)
• 1954: Blues For Sale (EmArcy)
• 1954: The Love Songs of Mr. B (EmArcy)
• 1955: I Surrender, Dear (EmArcy)
• 1955: Mr. B With a Beat (MGM) – with George Shearing Quintet, Woody Herman Orchestra, and The Metronome All Stars.
• 1955: Rendezvous (MGM)
• 1955: That Old Feeling (MGM)
• 1957: Prisoner of Love (Regent)
• 1957: The Duke, The Blues and Me! (Regent)
• 1957: My Deep Blue Dream (Regent)
• 1958: You Call It Madness (Regent)
• 1958: Billy Eckstine's Imagination (EmArcy)
• 1958: Billy Eckstine & Sarah Vaughan Sing Irving Berlin (Mercury)
• 1958: Billy's Best! (Mercury)
• 1959: Basie and Eckstine, Inc. with Count Basie Orchestra (Roulette)
• 1960: No Cover, No Minimum (Roulette)
• 1960: Once More With Feeling (Roulette)
• 1961: Mr. B In Paris (Felsted/Decca [UK]; Barclay [France]) – recorded between 1957 and 1958; all 12 songs sung in French.
• 1961: Broadway, Bongos and Mr. B (Mercury)
• 1962: At Basin St. East with Quincy Jones (Mercury)
• 1962: Don't Worry 'Bout Me (Mercury)
• 1963: The Golden Hits of Billy Eckstine (Mercury) – collection of songs.
• 1963: Now Singing In 12 Great Movies (Mercury)
• 1964: The Modern Sound of Mr. B (Mercury)
• 1965: The Prime of My Life (Motown)
• 1966: My Way (Motown)
• 1969: For Love of Ivy [also released as Gentle On My Mind] (Motown)
• 1971: Stormy (Enterprise/Stax)
• 1971: Feel the Warm (Enterprise/Stax)
• 1971: Moment (Capitol)
• 1972: Senior Soul (Enterprise/Stax)
• 1974: If She Walked Into My Life (Enterprise/Stax)
• 1979: Momento Brasiliero (Portuguese import release on Som Livre label)
• 1984: I Am a Singer (Kimbo)
• 1986: Billy Eckstine Sings with Benny Carter with special guest: Helen Merrill (Verve)
• 1960: Mr. B: The Great Billy Eckstine and His Orchestra (Audio Lab) – 12" LP reissue of The Great Mr. B from DeLuxe/King.
• 1963: Billy & Sarah – with Sarah Vaughan (Lion) – collection of songs.
• 1971: Billy Eckstine Together (Spotlite) – 1945 live "radio broadcast" recordings.
• 1979: Billy Eckstine Sings (Savoy Jazz) – collection of songs.
• 1986: Mister B. and the Band: The Savoy Sessions (Savoy Jazz) – collection of songs.
• 1986: I Want To Talk About You (Xanad