Orrin Tucker

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Robert Orrin Tucker (born February 17, 1911 in St. Louis , Missouri , † April 9, 2011 in San Gabriel Valley, South Pasadena , California ) was an American saxophonist and big band leader in the field of popular music .

Life

Orrin Tucker grew up in Wheaton, Illinois and began working with his own formations while still in college. He studied at Northwestern University and North Central College in Illinois. In the early 1930s, he formed his first professional dance band in St. Louis. She became known for her appearances at the Chicago World's Fair in 1933. Her signature tune was Drifting and Dreaming; In 1939 Tucker's band had an engagement in the "Coconut Grove" in Los Angeles ; the first recordings were made for Columbia , including her greatest success Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh !, which the band vocalist "Wee" Bonnie Baker sang and made the Tucker band known nationwide. This was followed by other hits such as Billy, which were broadcast on the Lucky Strike- sponsored hit parade on the radio station CBS .

In 1942, Tucker volunteered for the US Navy as an instructor; After the end of the war he continued to work with the big band and appeared in large hotels and clubs across the country in the following years. In 1955 he had a weekly program for a few months that was broadcast from the "Hollywood Palladium". From 1959 he reduced his ensemble to seven members and performed mostly in Hollywood, Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe . In 1975 he took over a ballroom on Sunset Boulevard and named it the Stardust Ballroom , after a TV special in which he had recently played. In 1982 he closed the ballroom for economic reasons. Orrin Tucker was an active musician and band leader until the 1990s.

Web links

swell

  • Leo Walker: The Big Band Almanac . Ward Ritchie Press, Pasadena. 1978

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Obituary at Legacy.com
  2. ↑ The singer Bonnie Baker became so popular during this time that it was no longer "Orrin Tucker and His Orchestra, featuring Wee Bonnie Baker", but "Orrin Tucker, the bandleader with Bonnie Baker".
  3. ^ Obituary in the Los Angeles Times
personal data
SURNAME Tucker, Orrin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Tucker, Robert Orrin (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz saxophonist and big band leader
DATE OF BIRTH February 17, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH St. Louis , Missouri
DATE OF DEATH April 9, 2011
Place of death South Pasadena , California