Billy Daniels
Encyclopedia
Daniels was born in Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
, where his father was a postmaster and notary. His mother was a schoolteacher and organist. Daniels had a heritage of Portuguese sailor, Native American (Choctaw
Choctaw
The Choctaw are a Native American people originally from the Southeastern United States...
), African American and frontiersman Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone was an American pioneer, explorer, and frontiersman whose frontier exploits mad']'e him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. Boone is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now the Commonwealth of Kentucky, which was then beyond the western borders of...
.
In 1935, Daniels moved from Jacksonville to New York to attend Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. He planned to become a lawyer, but he was sidetracked during the Depression. Daniels' grandmother was a seamstress in Harlem for the Ziegfeld Follies
Ziegfeld Follies
The Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 through 1931. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air....
, and she encouraged her grandson to sing at Dickie Wells, the club where he first worked as a dishwasher and then became a singing waiter. There he was discovered by bandleader Erskine Hawkins
Erskine Hawkins
Erskine Ramsay Hawkins was an American trumpet player and big band leader from Birmingham, Alabama, dubbed "The 20th Century Gabriel". He is most remembered for composing the jazz standard "Tuxedo Junction" with saxophonist and arranger Bill Johnson...
, who hired him as a featured vocalist. He toured with the Erskine Hawkins Band in 1935-36 and then returned to Harlem. Throughout 1938, he sang daily on New York radio for 12 different sponsors. "It was me or the horse racing," Daniels remarked.
Daniels performed frequently at nightclubs on New York's famed 52nd Street
52nd Street (Manhattan)
52nd Street is a long one-way street traveling west to east across Midtown Manhattan.-Jazz center:The blocks of 52nd Street between Fifth Avenue and Seventh Avenue were renowned in the mid-20th century for the abundance of jazz clubs and lively street life...
, where he was one of the first singers to leave the big band scene and pursue a solo career. He sometimes made three 52nd Street club performances per night. Daniels played intermission with Charlie Parker
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
at the Spotlite Club on 52nd Street in 1945.
He had several accompanists, including Nat Cole
Nat King Cole
Nathaniel Adams Coles , known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. Although an accomplished pianist, he owes most of his popular musical fame to his soft baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres...
, while in New York. In 1948, he teamed with ex-big-band pianist Benny Payne, who had been Cab Calloway
Cab Calloway
Cabell "Cab" Calloway III was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was strongly associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, New York City where he was a regular performer....
's pianist in the Cotton Club. Payne remained as accompanist for the rest of Daniel's career.
"That Old Black Magic"
Daniels' first trademark song from his time on New York radio was the song "Diane", which he recorded on BluebirdBluebird Records
Bluebird Records is a sub-label of RCA Victor Records originally created in 1932 to counter the American Record Company in the "3 records for a dollar" market. Along with ARC's Perfect Records, Melotone Records and Romeo Records, and the independent US Decca label, Bluebird became one of the best...
in 1941. His later signature song was "That Old Black Magic", by Harold Arlen
Harold Arlen
Harold Arlen was an American composer of popular music, having written over 500 songs, a number of which have become known the world over. In addition to composing the songs for The Wizard of Oz, including the classic 1938 song, "Over the Rainbow,” Arlen is a highly regarded contributor to the...
and Johnny Mercer
Johnny Mercer
John Herndon "Johnny" Mercer was an American lyricist, songwriter and singer. He is best known as a lyricist, but he also composed music. He was also a popular singer who recorded his own songs as well as those written by others...
, which Daniels first recorded for Apollo Records
Apollo Records (1944)
The third and best known Apollo Records to exist was an independent record label in business from 1944 until 1962 in the United States. It was formed in New York City in 1944 by Bess Berman and her husband Isaac "Ike" Berman together with Hy Siegel and Sam Schneider...
in 1948. His 1950 recording on Mercury
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
became a hit, selling in the millions. His sensational performance in 1950 in Bill Miller's Riveria Club led to holdover appearances. Following Park Avenue residences, Daniels record holdover at 1952 New York Copacabana Club still stands.
He was popular in Europe after he headlined at the London Palladium in 1952, having broken the house records. He toured the UK's Moss Theatre circuit in the 1950s as "America's most exciting singer". His forte was as a nightclub entertainer, and he was the biggest cabaret draw in New York throughout the 1950s, appearing alongside the comedian Jimmy Durante
Jimmy Durante
James Francis "Jimmy" Durante was an American singer, pianist, comedian and actor. His distinctive clipped gravelly speech, comic language butchery, jazz-influenced songs, and large nose helped make him one of America's most familiar and popular personalities of the 1920s through the 1970s...
. His vocal stylings and trademark dance movements were widely imitated by the impressionists of the era. In 1958, Daniels was the first entertainer to sign a long term contract to appear in Las Vegas for three years at the Stardust.
Broadway
He had performed in musicals on Broadway early in his career with a minor role in a short-lived musical, Memphis Bound (1945). More notable was the long run (700+ performances) of Golden Boy with Sammy Davis Jr. in 1964, directed by Arthur Penn. Daniels toured the US in 1975 with Pearl BaileyPearl Bailey
Pearl Mae Bailey was an American actress and singer. After appearing in vaudeville, she made her Broadway debut in St. Louis Woman in 1946. She won a Tony Award for the title role in the all-black production of Hello, Dolly! in 1968...
in the all black Hello, Dolly!
Hello, Dolly! (musical)
Hello, Dolly! is a musical with lyrics and music by Jerry Herman and a book by Michael Stewart, based on Thornton Wilder's 1938 farce The Merchant of Yonkers, which Wilder revised and retitled The Matchmaker in 1955....
, and in London's West End, he headlined a 1978 presentation of Bubbling Brown Sugar
Bubbling Brown Sugar
Bubbling Brown Sugar is a musical revue written by Loften Mitchell based on a concept by Rosetta LeNoire and featuring the music of numerous African-American artists who were popular during the Harlem Renaissance, 1920–1940, including Duke Ellington, Eubie Blake, Count Basie, Cab Calloway and Fats...
. He was popular in Australia where he first toured with the Andrews Sisters
The Andrews Sisters
The Andrews Sisters were a highly successful close harmony singing group of the swing and boogie-woogie eras. The group consisted of three sisters: contralto LaVerne Sophia Andrews , soprano Maxene Angelyn Andrews , and mezzo-soprano Patricia Marie "Patty" Andrews...
in 1954.
Films and television
He appeared on television in the US and UK and Australia and Canada throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Guest performances on The Milton Berle Show and The Ed Sullivan Show led to his own television series on ABC in 1952. The Billy Daniels Show was sponsored by Rybutol, a popular vitamin tablet at the time. This 15-minute show, telecast on Sunday evenings, was short lived, but it was a historical milestone: the first sponsored network musical series starring a black performer.His films include When You're Smiling (Columbia, 1951) and Columbia's Sunny Side of the Street (Columbia, 1952).
Daniels' recordings cover the period of transition from 78-rpm to the dawn of microgroove recording. Remembered mostly for his charismatic live performances, he made an album at Abbey Road, The Magic of Billy Daniels (1978) that contained a disco version of "That Old Black Magic". He recorded one of the first soul records, "Woe Woe Woe", a now rare recording.
He had four daughters and two sons. Yvonne Daniels (Chicago's Radio Hall of Fame - deceased), Baroness Von Czenkow, William B. Daniels,II., Bruce Daniels (deceased), Andrea Grefelt and Dominique Daniels (Billy Daniels Foundation); six grandchildren, Adrien, Gregory, Kristen, Bo, Jonas and Desiree. He died aged 73 in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, surrounded by family and friends and his beloved wife Pierrette H. Daniels (aka Perri) of 33 years. He was often accompanied by negative publicity, as Billy Daniels was one of the first African-American entertainers to cross over into the mainstream.
Daniels' star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
lies alongside Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis is an American comedian, actor, singer, film producer, screenwriter and film director. He is best known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage and radio. He was originally paired up with Dean Martin in 1946, forming the famed comedy team of Martin and Lewis...
.
Discography
- 1952 You Go to My Head (Mercury)
- 1960 Touch of Your Lips (Pickwick)
- 1993 Billy Daniels at the Crescendo (GNP)
- 2001 Mr. Black Magic (GNP/Crescendo)
- 2003 Around Midnight (Sepia Records)
- 2004 The Legendary Billy Daniels (Sepia Records)
Filmography
- 1948 Sepia Cinderella
- 1951 When You're Smiling
- 1952 Sunny Side of the Street
- 2009 That Old Black Magic (Arkadia JazzArkadia JazzArkadia Jazz is an American jazz record label.Postcards Records is a division of Arkadia Jazz "focusing on electro-acoustic recordings by boundry-challengers".Brazilian jazz ensemble Nova Bossa Nova released their one album for the label....
DVD)
Trivia
- Daniels recorded a disco version of "That Old Black Magic" in 1975.
- Daniels' daughter, Yvonne, followed in her father's footsteps by entering the music field as a disc jockeyDisc jockeyA disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
, known as Chicago's "First Lady of Radio." She was notable for her 1973-82 stint at WLSWLS (AM)WLS is a Chicago clear-channel AM station on 890 kHz. It uses C-QUAM AM stereo and transmits with 50,000 watts from transmitter and towers on the south edge of Tinley Park, Illinois....
. Her urban midday radio show on Gannett-owned WGCI-FM Radio from 1982-1989 was ranked #1 in the Chicago market's Arbitron ratings. She finished her broadcast career co-hosting morning drive with Ramsey LewisRamsey LewisRamsey Emmanuel Lewis, Jr. is an American jazz composer, pianist and radio personality. Ramsey Lewis has recorded over 80 albums and has received seven gold records and three Grammy Awards so far in his career.-Biography:...
on Chicago's WNUA-FM Radio, a smooth jazz station. After she died of breast cancer in 1991, a street in downtown Chicago was named for her. Like her father, Yvonne was a barrier-breaker, but even more so because she broke the gender as well as the racial barrier, being the first woman to host a music show on a major Chicago radio station in the 1970s. - Daniels was married three times: Florence Clotworthy (died 1947); Martha Braun (divorced 1953); and Pierrette (from 1955 to his death in 1988).
- Pierrette H. Daniels, Billy's wife (deceased 2011), founded a non-profit organization, the Billy Daniels Foundation, raising money for Performing Arts in her late husbands name.
Further reading
- The Street That Never Slept by Arnold Shaw. Coward, McCann & Geoghan, 1971. Chapter 14 is about Daniels, plus other references appear throughout.