Tommy Tucker (band leader)

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Tommy Tucker (real name Gerald Duppler ; born May 18, 1908 in Souris , Bottineau County , North Dakota , † July 13, 1989 in Sarasota , Florida ) was an American singer and big band leader and university lecturer.

Tommy Tucker graduated from the University of North Dakota in 1929 with a degree in music; in the same year he founded his first band and played a few records under the band name Tommy Tucker and His Californians . Tucker himself was the band singer. In 1935 the orchestra was finally formed with which he would work for the next quarter of a century; it was a mix of slow dance music and was in great demand in the large hotels and ballrooms of the eastern and midwestern United States. Tucker's band also had some radio appearances, so on the Fibber McGee and Molly Show (1936/37) and the George Jessel Show (1938).

The radio show started with the slogan "It's Tommy Tucker Time" while the band played the sound of a ticking clock. Recordings were made for Vocalion , Okeh and Columbia . The biggest sales success of the Tucker band was the track I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire, which the orchestra recorded in 1941 with Amy Arnell as a band singer.

In addition to running the band, Tommy Tucker ran a furniture business and owned a songwriting agency; he also founded the Tommy Tucker School of Music . Tucker also wrote a number of songs for his band, as well as the theme song I Love You, also Cool, Calm and Collected and The Man Who Comes Around.

In 1944, Tucker changed the band's style; musicians like Gerry Mulligan joined the band, and Van Alexander , Fred Norman and Claude Hopkins were arrangers for Tucker's orchestra that year when Tucker's orchestra tried briefly to succeed in swing (and early rhythm and blues ) style; however, this experiment only lasted a year and was not very successful; so Tucker returned to his proven sweet and dance band style.

1950/51 Eydie Gorme sang in Tucker's band; In 1959, Tommy Tucker gave up the band in order to spend more time with his family. He then worked as an English teacher at the local high school; eventually he became Assistant Professor of Music at Monmouth College , New Jersey , where he stayed for 18 years until his retirement in 1978. He then moved to Florida.

George T. Simon described the Tucker Orchestra as the protagonist of the Mickey Mouse bands, to which he also counted the orchestras of Blue Barron , Jan Garber , Art Kassel and Orville Knapp , which had a number of excellent band singers, but their music suffered from the thin arrangements that made the orchestra appear smaller than it actually was. The notable exception was 1944, when Tucker's music suddenly blossomed into an impressive formation thanks to the extraordinary arrangements by Van Alexander, Claude Hopkins and Fred Norman. Unfortunately, Tucker was so closely associated with the Mickey Mouse style that his fans didn't go along with the switch.

Tommy Tucker is not to be confused with the blues singer Tommy Tucker (1933–1982).

Discographic notes

  • It's Tommy Tucker Time. Collector's Choice, 1944
  • The Light Turned Green. Circle, 1943-47
  • More 1941-1947. Circle, 1941-47

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personal data
SURNAME Tucker, Tommy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Duppler, Gerald (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American R&B singer and big band leader
DATE OF BIRTH May 18, 1908
PLACE OF BIRTH Souris , North Dakota
DATE OF DEATH July 13, 1989
Place of death Sarasota , Florida