Ina Ray Hutton
Ina Ray Hutton ( born March 13, 1916 in Chicago, † 19 February 1984 in Ventura, California; born as Odessa Cowan ) was an American swing and dance - big-band leader, singer and dancer.
She was the daughter of pianist Marvel Ray sang and danced as a child of eight years and was at the beginning of the 1930s Ziegfeld Follies of the Member (1934 ) and the George White's Scandals. In 1934 she was offered from producer Irving Mills to be front woman of a all-girl big band, the " Melodears " with which she briefly appeared in a number of Paramount films and was fairly popular in the 1930s. In December 1934, she came with the rehearsed for Vocalion song "Georgia 's Gorgeous Gal " in the charts. Arranger Eddie Durham was from 1936. In 1939, she broke up the band and directed an otherwise consisting only of male musicians band, which existed until 1944 ( musical director was the saxophonist and arranger George Paxton ). Your accompanied by dancing performances as a big band leader earned her the nickname " Blonde Bombshell of Rhythm " and a starring role in the movie " Ever Since Venus" (1944). For the band (from 1943, the vocal trio Kim Loo Singers) also included the guitarist Jack Purcell, the singer Stuart Foster, pianist Hal Schaefer and trumpeter Randy Brooks, with whom she was married from 1949 to 1957 (before 1944 with a saxophonist their band, Lou Parris ). From 1944 and 1951 to 1956 she headed once again an all -girl band to perform regularly in local TV channels, 1956 even in its own short-lived show. In 1968 she retired from the 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 Piper " with Tommy Dorsey.
Ina Ray Hutton was married four times, most recently to 1981 (divorce ) with the businessman Jack Curtis. She died from the effects of diabetes.
Cast of Melodears:
- Saxophone: Betty Sattley, Nadine Friedman, Marjorie Tisdale
- Trumpet: Mardell Owen Winstead, Kay Welsh, Estelle Slavin, among others.
- Trombone: Fy Hesser, Jesse Bailey, Alyse Wells
- Bass: Marge Rivers
- Guitar: Marion Grange
- Drums: Lillian Singer, Virginia Myers