Ina Ray Hutton
Ina Ray Hutton (born March 13, 1916 in Chicago , † February 19, 1984 in Ventura , California ; born Odessa Cowan ) was an American swing and dance big band leader, dancer and singer .
She was the daughter of pianist Marvel Ray, sang and danced as a child at the age of eight, and was a member of the Ziegfeld Follies (1934) and George White's Scandals in the early 1930s . In 1934 she was offered by producer Irving Mills to be the front woman of an all-girl big band, "Melodears," with whom she briefly appeared in several Paramount films and was quite popular in the 1930s. In December 1934 she hit the charts with the song "Georgia's Gorgeous Gal" recorded for Vocalion . Eddie Durham was the arranger from 1936 . In 1939 she disbanded the band and led a band that otherwise only consisted of male musicians, which existed until 1944 (musical director was the saxophonist and arranger George Paxton ). Her appearances as a big band leader, accompanied by dance interludes, earned her the nickname "Blond Bombshell of Rhythm" and a leading role in the film "Ever Since Venus" (1944). The band also included the guitarist Jack Purcell, the singer Stuart Foster (from 1943 also the vocal trio Kim Loo Singers ), the pianist Hal Schaefer and trumpeter Randy Brooks , with whom she was married from 1949 to 1957 (before that in 1944 with a saxophonist of hers Band, Lou Parris). From 1944 and from 1951 to 1956, she again led an all-girl band that appeared regularly on local TV channels, even in 1956 on her own short-lived show. In 1968 she withdrew from music.
She was the half-sister of June Hutton (1921-1973), who sang in the band of Ina Ray Hutton in the 1930s as Elaine Merritt and later with Charlie Spivak and in the 1940s with the "Pied Pipers" with Tommy Dorsey .
Ina Ray Hutton was married four times, most recently by 1981 (divorce) to businessman Jack Curtis. She died of complications from diabetes .
Cast list of Melodears:
- Piano: Ruth Lowe, Gladys Moser, Betty Roudebush
- Saxophone: Betty Sattley, Nadine Friedman, Marjorie Tisdale
- Trumpet: Mardell Owen Winstead, Kay Welsh, Estelle Slavin, a. a.
- Trumpet: Fy Hesser, Jesse Bailey, Alyse Wells
- Bass: Marge Rivers
- Guitar: Marion Grange
- Drums: Lillian Singer, Virginia Myers
Remarks
- ↑ A reputation that she systematically fostered, but, as she said in an interview, "I kept the sex in the saxophones", Linda Dahl "Stormy Weather"
Web links
- biography
- Bigband Database ( Memento from September 22, 2003 in the Internet Archive )
- Biography in the Bigband Library
- Ina Ray Hutton in the Internet Movie Database (English)
personal data | |
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SURNAME | Hutton, Ina Ray |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American big band leader |
DATE OF BIRTH | March 13, 1916 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Chicago |
DATE OF DEATH | 19th February 1984 |
Place of death | Ventura , California |