Pha Terrell

Elmer " Pha " Terrell ( born May 25, 1910 in Kansas City, Missouri, † October 14, 1945 in Los Angeles, California ) was an American jazz singer.

Life and work

Pha Terrell began his career in the nightclubs of his native town in the early 1930s as a singer, dancer and MC until he was discovered by Andy Kirk, who hired him as Bandvokalisten for its formation Twelve Clouds of Joy. Terrell sang eight years with Kirk, 1933-1941, and participated in the recordings for Decca Records with; so he can be heard on its number - one hit of July 1936 " Until The Real Thing Comes Along ( It Will Have to Do) ".

Terrell had with " What Will I Tell My Heart? ", "Dedicated to You" (1937) and " I Will not Tell a Soul (I Love You) " (1938 ), further hits with the Kirk band; after 1941 he moved Indianapolis, there to sing in Clarence Loves Territory band. He then moved to Los Angeles, where he performed as a soloist. Terrell died in 1945 of kidney failure.

Appreciation

In addition to his first number 1 hit from 1936 Eugene Chadbourne raised in Allmusic out in particular the song "All the Jive Is Gone " from 1937 as well Terrell's best performance. Will Friedwald was critical of the high tenors of the swing era as Dan Grissom and just Pha Terrell, " the [ replace ] the influences of blues and jazz by something that sounded like a hissing with open mouth and unpleasant on the indeed true, but nonetheless tradition of black falsetto singing was based. " A supporter of Terrell's singing style was the young Earl Coleman, who said; " Pha was not schmaltzy singer like Bill chin (from the Ink Spots ) ".

Disco Graphical Notes

• Andy Kirk 1936-1937 ( Classics )