Ted Weems

Ted Weems (right) with William P. Gottlieb , WINX Studio, Washington, DC, ca.1940 (Photo: Delia Potofsky Gottlieb)

Ted Weems Orchestra 1937

Wilfred Theodore "Ted" Weems , actually Wemyes , (* 26. September 1901 in Pitcairn , Pennsylvania ; † 6. May 1963 in Tulsa ) was an American jazz - trombone player , violinist and bandleader.

Life

Weems studied trombone and violin and led a dance band with his brother Art (a trumpeter and singer) as a student at the University of Pennsylvania . In 1923 they went professional, touring and recording for Victor. In 1924 they had a number one hit with " Somebody Stole My Gal ". They moved to Chicago around 1925 . In 1929 they had hits with "Piccolo Pete" and " The Man from the South ", which they recorded for the newly founded Music Corporation of America . During this time, Weems' orchestra was considered one of the most popular territory bands in the Midwest .

Ted Weems & His Orchestra play "My Baby Just Cares For Me" by Walter Donaldson and Gus Kahn (1930).

In the 1930s, they became popular with several sponsored nationwide radio shows, including " Jack Benny's Canada Dry" show, and later the "Fibber McGee and Molly Show" and "Beat the Band". In 1936 the singer Perry Como began his career with the band, as well as recordings for Decca . Other singers were the whistling Elmo Tanner, Marilyn Maxwell , who also appeared in many Bob Hope films, and Red Ingle. During the Second World War he led the band of the US Merchant Navy (from 1942). In 1947 his single "Heartache" made a comeback in the southern United States; Victor landed a number one hit with the old version from 1933. During this time he re- founded his big band and recorded hits like Peg o 'My Heart or "Mickey" for Mercury . Weems gave up his band in 1953 and at the end of the decade became a disc jockey in Memphis, Tennessee and later a manager in the Holiday Inn hotel chain. He only performed occasionally with his band in the Midwest in the early 1960s. During one of these tours, Weems was admitted to hospital in Tulsa with emphysema in March 1963 , where he died seven weeks later.

Web links

• Ted Weems at Redhotjazz
• Literature by and about Ted Weems and His Orchestra in the catalog of the German National Library

literature

• Simon, George T .: The Big Bands. With a foreword by Frank Sinatra. 3rd revised edition. Macmillan Publishing Co and London, Collier Macmillan Publishers, New York City, New York 1974, pp. 445-448
• Leo Walker: The Big Band Almanac. Ward Ritchie Press, Pasadena 1978.