Betty Smith (musician)
Betty Smith (born July 6, 1929 in Sileby , Leicestershire , † January 21, 2011 in Kirby Muxloe , Leicestershire) was a British jazz musician (mainly tenor saxophone , vocals , then piano ) and band leader who also had success in the United States .
Live and act
Betty Smith came from a family of trombonists. At the age of nine she first played alto saxophone in the youth band Archie's Juveniles ; in her youth she turned to jazz. At the age of 15 she left school to work as a professional musician. In 1947 she toured the Middle East with pianist Billy Penrose ; after that she became a member of Ivy Bensons Girls' Band . Appearances in Nuremberg followed ; during the Berlin blockade in 1948 she came to town with Rudy Starita's All Girls Band to perform in front of the British troops. In 1950 she went to Freddy Randall's Dixieland band, with whom she also toured the United States in 1956.
After Randall broke up his band in 1957, Smith formed her own quintet, which included her husband, bassist Jack Peberdy, who previously played for Randall, and pianist Brian Lemon . In a joint program with Bill Haleys Comets , she toured the United States and had a chart success there with Bewitched . Smith recorded several singles and EPs for Tempo and London Records ; In 1959 the LP My Foolish Heart was released . In the 1960s she gave concerts with her quintet in Guernsey and on the ocean liner RMS Franconia , where she also appeared as a vocalist. She also sang in the Ted Heath Orchestra and had a short radio broadcast on Radio Luxembourg . In her later years she worked with Kenny Baker and the other former Ted Heath musicians Don Lusher and Jack Parnell , with whom she founded the all-star sextet Best of British Jazz in the early 1970s . With the formation she recorded two albums. She also played in Eggy Ley's Hotshots . In 1985 she had to interrupt her career due to illness; in her final years she occasionally appeared as a singer and pianist.
Discographic notes
- Betty Smith's Skiffle: Double Shuffle (Single, Tempo, 1957) with Brian Lemon, Terry Walsh, Jack Peberdy, Stan Bourke
- Betty Smith Quintet: Lulu's Back in Town , Sweet Georgia Brown , There'll Be Some Changes Made , Little White Lies. (EP, Tempo Records (UK) , ca.1957)
- Bewitched / Hand Jive (single, London, 1958)
- My Foolish Heart (LP, London, 1959)
Lexigraphic entry
- John Chilton : Who's Who of British Jazz , Continuum International Publishing Group 2004, ISBN 0826472346
Web links
- Obituary 2011 in The Independent
- Betty Smith at Discogs (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Information about the tour formerly at jazzprofessional.com ( Memento from July 28, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Information on the album, from karoubinka
- ↑ Best of British Jazz (archived from Don Lusher's website) ( Memento from June 21, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Smith, Betty |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British jazz musician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 6, 1929 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Sileby , Leicestershire , England , UK |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 21, 2011 |
| Place of death | Kirby Muxloe , Leicestershire , England , UK |