Eckstine, Billy (actually, William Clarence Eckstein)

Eckstine, Billy (actually, William Clarence Eckstein), American singer and bandleader; b. Pittsburgh, July 8, 1914; d. there, March 8, 1993. With his rich bass-baritone voice and impeccable enunciation, Eckstine drew upon the influence of such crooners as Bing Crosby and Russ Columbo while taking a more jazz-oriented approach. In jazz circles he is remembered for having led a big band that contributed to the development of bebop, but he achieved his greatest popularity as a ballad singer from the mid-1940s to the early 1950s, when he recorded such hits as “My Foolish Heart/’ “I Wanna Be Loved/’ and “I Apologize/’

Eckstine grew up in Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C., and left college to work as a singer. By 1937 he was in Chicago, where he was invited to join the orchestra led by pianist Earl Hines. He stayed with Hines until 1943, recording such popular songs as “Jelly, Jelly” (music and lyrics by Earl Hines and Billy Eckstine) and “Stormy Monday Blues” (music and lyrics by Earl Hines, Billy Eckstine, and Robert Crowder); the latter hit #1 on the R&B charts in November 1942. He left Hines in 1943 and initially worked as a solo act, then in the spring of 1944 organized his own big band, which featured bebop progenitors Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker as well as singer Sarah Vaughan. He signed to DeLuxe Records and released “I Stay in the Mood for You,” which entered the R&B charts in September 1944 to become the first of his 12 R&B Top Ten hits through 1952.

In 1945, Eckstine switched to the National Records label, for which he mostly recorded pop ballads, in contrast to the bebop arrangements favored in his band. A revival of the 1930 song “A Cottage for Sale” (music by Willard Robison, lyrics by Larry Conley) became his first pop Top Ten hit in October 1945. He revived “Prisoner of Love” (music by Russ Columbo and Clarence Gaskill, lyrics by Leo Robin), which had been introduced by Russ Columbo in 1931, for a pop Top Ten hit in May 1946.

By 1947, Eckstine was forced to break up his big band, and he signed to newly formed MGM Records as a solo singer. He reached the pop charts with seven singles in 1949 but did not score another major hit until his album Songs by Billy Eckstine charted in February 1950, reaching the Top Ten. In June his recording of the movie title song “My Foolish Heart” (music by Victor Young, lyrics by Ned Washington) hit #1 and became a million-seller. It was the first of four straight Top Ten hits for him, the others being a revival of the 1933 song “I Wanna Be Loved” (music by John Green, lyrics by Edward Heyman and Billy Rose) in July 1950; a revival of the 1934 English song “If” (music by Tolchard Evans, lyrics by Robert Hargreaves and Stanley Damerell) in March 1951; and a revival of the 1931 Bing Crosby hit “I Apologize” (music and lyrics by Al Hoffman, Al Goodhart, and Ed Nelson) in May 1951, which became his second million-seller.

Eckstine appeared as himself in the movie musical Skirts Ahoy! in May 1952, but he made only one other screen appearance, a minor role in Let’s Do It Again in 1975. In 1953, after having divorced his first wife, June, and fathered an illegitimate child, he married model and actress Carol Drake, with whom he had four children. They divorced in 1978.

Eckstine’s record sales declined after the early 1950s, although he continued to record and to perform successfully in nightclubs and, increasingly, at hotels in Las Vegas. He reached the pop charts in March 1956 with “The Bitter with the Sweet” on RCA; with “Passing Strangers” (music and lyrics by Rita Mann and Mel Mitchell) a duet with Sarah Vaughan, in July 1957; and with “Gigi” (music by Frederick Loewe, lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner) in March 1958, the last two on Mercury Records.

Eckstine made three albums for Roulette Records in 1959, then returned to Mercury, for which he recorded the album Don’t Worry ’bout Me, which charted in November 1962. He recorded less frequently after the 1960s, though he maintained a busy touring schedule. His album Billy Eckstine Sings with Benny Carter was nominated for a 1987 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Male. He continued to perform until he suffered a stroke in 1992. He died of cardiac arrest at 78 in 1993.

Discography

“I Want to Talk About You” (1944); “Duke, the Blues and Me” (1945); “My Deep Blue Dream” (1945); “Prisoner of Love” (1945); “You Call It Madness” (1945); Billy Eckstine Sings (1950); “Tenderly” (1952); “Blues for Sale” (1954); “Mister B with a Beat” (1955); Basie and Eckstine, Inc. (1959); Billy and Sarah (1959); At Basin St. East (1961); Billy Eckstine and Quincy Jones (1961); Bitty Eckstine Sings with Benny Carter (1986).

Bibliography

L. G. Feather, The Pleasures of Jazz (N.Y, 1976); L. Course, Louis’ Children (1984); M. Jones, Talking Jazz (Basing-stoke, England, 1987); G. Simon, The Big Bands (N.Y, 1978); D. Travis, Autobiography of Black Jazz (Chicago, III, 1983).

—William Ruhlmann