Louie Bellson - Biography - IMDb Louie Bellson Jump to: Overview (3) | Mini Bio (1) | Spouse (2) | Trivia (6) Overview (3) Luigi Paulino Alfredo Francesco Antonio Balassoni Mini Bio (1) Drummer, composer, author and conductor. He performed with the orchestras of Ted Fiorito, Benny Goodman, the Dorsey brothers, Harry James, Duke Ellington, and Count Basie. He toured with Jazz At the Philharmonic, and later organized his own band and did a concert tour with his wife Pearl Bailey. In 1965 he rejoined the Ellington orchestra. He has made many records. Joining ASCAP in 1956, he composed "Hawk Talks", Skin Deep", "You Gotta Dance", and "Ting-a-Ling". - IMDb Mini Biography By: Hup234! Spouse (2) ( 19 November 1952 - 17 August 1990) (her death) (2 children) Trivia (6) Inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1993. Father of Dee Dee Belson .

He passed away less than five months before her passing. Received a Jazz Masters Award from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1994; a Living Jazz Legends Award from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 2007; a Jazz Living Legend Award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers; and a American Drummers Achievement Award from the Avedis Zildjian Co. He pioneered the use of two bass drums instead of one. Inducted into the Percussive Arts Society Hall of Fame in 1978. See also Drummerworld: Louie Bellson Louie Bellson July 6, 1924 - February 14, 2009 Page I Duke Ellington called him "the world's greatest drummer," and that he was...member of the "BIG THREE": Louie Bellson - Gene Krupa - Buddy Rich. He was a composer, arranger, bandleader, tireless jazz educator, pioneered the use of two bass drums, and in terms of the speed of his hands and feet and the wonderful, percussive "ideas" he conveys on the drums, stands next to only Buddy Rich as the total technician.

Referred to by Leonard Feather as "one of the most phenomenal drummers in history," Louie Bellson has expressed himself on the drums since he was three years old. At 15, he pioneered the double-bass-drum set-up. His detailed sketch earned him an 'A' in his high school art class. At 17, he triumphed over 40,000 drummers to win the Slingerland National Gene Krupa contest. As an internationally-acclaimed artist, he has performed in most of the major capitals around the world. With the exception of Bob Hope, who has made the most White House appearances, Bellson holds, along with his late wife Pearl Bailey, the second highest number of White House appearances.

He has performed and/or recorded scores of albums (approximately 200) as a leader, co-leader or sideman with such greats as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, Woody Herman, Norman Granz' J.A.T.P., Benny Carter, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, Art Tatum, Dizzy Gillespie, Gerry Mulligan, Stan Getz, Hank Jones, Zoot Sims, Sonny Stitt, Milt Jackson, Clark Terry, Louie Armstrong, Lionel Hampton, Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, Shelly Manne, Billy Cobham, James Brown, Sammy Davis, Jr., Tony Bennett, Pearl Bailey, Mel Torme, Joe Williams and Wayne Newton. Over the years, Louie has taken several bandleader's holidays to play under the direction of other leaders or to lead someone else's band. During the '60s, he rejoined Ellington for his Emancipation Proclamation Centennial stage production, "My People", the motion picture soundtrack of "Assault on a Queen," and for what Ellington called "the most important thing I have ever done"—his Concerts of Sacred Music.

In 1966, Louie toured briefly with both Basie and ex-boss Harry James. A few years later, Buddy Rich paid Louie the supreme drummer-to-drummer/bandleader compliment. Rich asked Bellson to lead his (Buddy's) band on tour while he was temporarily disabled by a back injury. Louie proudly accepted. In 1942, he performed with the Benny Goodman band and Peggy Lee in "The Power Girl", the first of his many film appearances. Louie was 24 and a veteran of a U. S. Army band when he joined Danny Kaye, Louis Armstrong, Tommy Dorsey, Lionel Hampton, Charlie Barnett, Benny Carter, Mel Powell, Kenny Dorharn, Harry Babasin, Al Hendrickson, Buck Washington, and Goodman for Howard Hawks' "A Song Is Born," still a recurring treat on TV's late, late shows. As a prolific creator of music, both written and improvised, his compositions and arrangements (in the hundreds) embrace jazz, jazz/rock/fusion, romantic orchestral suites, symphonic works and a ballet. Little known to many of his listeners, the versatile Mr. Bellson is also a poet and a lyricist.

As an author, he has published more than a dozen books on drums and percussion. He is currently at work with his biographer on a book chronicling his remarkable career and bearing the same name as one of his compositions—"Skin Deep". Bellson's numerous accolades are legion. He has been voted into the Halls of Fame for both Modern Drummer magazine and the Percussive Arts Society. Yale University named him a Duke Ellington Fellow in 1977. He received an honorary Doctorate from Northern Illinois University in 1985. He performed his original concert, Tomus I, II, III with the Washington Civic Symphony in historic Constitution Hall in 1993. He received the prestigious American Jazz Masters Award from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1994. Additionally, Louie Bellson is a four-time Grammy Award nominee. In addition, The London Suite (recorded in his album, Louie in London) was performed at the Hollywood Pilgrimage Bowl before a record-breaking audience. The three-part work includes a choral section in which a 12-voice choir sings exquisitely sensitive lyrics by Bellson.

Part One is the band's rousing Carnaby Street, a collaboration with Jack Hayes. Bellson has led his own orchestra almost steadily for more than forty years. In his present Big Band Explosion, there is zest, humor, fervor and exultation. Everybody is having a good time, as well they should, inspired by their drummer-leader. One of his former employers understands. The distinguished Duke Ellington said, "Louie Bellson has all the requirements for perfection in his craft. He is the world's greatest drummer." Bellson received his Doctor of Humane Letters in 1985 at Northern Illinois University. In 1987, at the Percussive Arts Society convention in Washington, D. C., Bellson and Harold Farberman performed a major orchestral work titled, Concerto for Jazz Drummer and Full Orchestra, the first piece ever written specifically for jazz drummer and full symphony orchestra. This work was recorded by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in England, and was released by the Swedish label, B. I. S. Bellson has been voted into the Halls of Fame for both Modern Drummer magazine and the Percussive Arts Society.

In June1993, he performed Tomus I, II, III with the Washington CivicSymphony in historic Constitution Hall. A combination of fullsymphony orchestra, big-band ensemble and 80-voice choir,Tomus had been a collaboration of music by Bellson and lyricsby his late wife, Pearl Bailey. In January 1994, Bellson received the prestigious American Jazz Masters Award from the national Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. As one of three recipients, Bellson was lauded by NEA chair Jane Alexander who said, "These colossal talents have helped write the history of jazz in America." Louie passed away in peace on Feb 14, 2009. LOUIE BELLSON: Much of the superb small group and big band work Bellson did as a leader and as a sideman in the 1950s for Verve records is out-of-print (though some have come out on Japanese limited editions from time to time), with the exception of the legendary get-together with Benny Carter and Art Tatum from 1955, available on "Art Tatum Group Masterpieces Volume One" (Pablo label).

The sensitive side of Bellson is also in evidence on one volume of another legendary pairing, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald (Verve label). His significant work with Duke Ellington, including Bellson's own composition "Skin Deep," can be obtained on "Duke Ellington Uptown" from 1952 (Columbia label). "Duke's Big Four" (1972: Pablo label) features the drummer in a rare small group setting with Duke. For the last three decades, Bellson has been recording with his own big band, frequently and consistently for labels like Concord, Telarc and MusicMasters. Among the best are Bellson's 1992 re-creation of Ellington's "Black, Brown and Beige" suite (MusicMasters label), a tribute to the legendary jazz drummers on "Their Time Was The Greatest" (1992: Concord label), "Air Bellson" (1997: Concord label) and his latest to date on Concord, "The Art of the Chart." Among the most sought-after Bellson collector's items, available on vinyl only, is "Are You Ready For This? (1965: Roost label).

This rarity received little notice and distribution when it was released, but this 30-plus-minute drum battle between Bellson and Buddy Rich, recorded in Japan with studio time actually paid for by the two drummers, is well worth having. © Classic Drummer Louie Bellson, legendary drummer and band leader, dies at 84. – The Mercury News By Gary Richards | grichards@bayareanewsgroup.com | February 16, 2009 at 3:27 pm Louie Bellson, the legendary San Jose drummer and band leader who played with jazz greats for more than six decades, died Saturday in Los Angeles from complications of Parkinson’s disease. His wife, Francine, told the Los Angeles Times that Mr. Bellson died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Mr. Bellson, 84, had broken a hip three months ago. In a profile in the Mercury News two years ago, Mr. Bellson was described as someone “who didn’t just change how people play the drum set; he transformed the way people think about drummers.” Among his biggest fans was Duke Ellington, jazz’s greatest composer.

“Supporting or solo, he is the epitome of perfection,” Ellington wrote in “Music is My Mistress,” a collection of profiles and scenes from a jazz life. Mr. Bellson had lived part time in San Jose since the early 1990s near the Silver Creek Valley Country Club. In his later years, he could often be found practicing with the Musician’s Warehouse Big Band at Loose’s store on Quimby Road. The rehearsing enthused the famous drummer who suffered from Parkinson’s for the last eight years. “I’ve been doing great,” he told the Mercury News. “I finally got the right medicine. Parkinson’s is a disease where you have to be active. When I sit down to play the drums, it disappears. If I sit around for hours and don’t do anything, that’s when this disease takes hold.” Mr. Bellson was born in Illinois and will be buried in Moline, Ill. He won his first drummer contest at 17 and played with the Benny Goodman and Harry James bands until joining the Army in World War II. After the war, he played with Tommy Dorsey and later Ellington.

While performing with Ellington from 1951 to 1953, Mr. Bellson met and married singer Pearl Bailey. Their interracial marriage, rare for the early ’50s, coincided with Mr. Bellson’s presence as the only white member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra. After Bailey’s death in 1990, Mr. Bellson continued his growing activities as a jazz educator, while leading various-size ensembles, including a pair of on-call big bands available for performances on both coasts. His most recent recordings include “The Sacred Music of Louie Bellson and the Jazz Ballet” and “The Louie and Clark Expedition 2” with trumpeter Clark Terry. Bobby Colomby, former drummer for Blood, Sweat & Tears, pointed to Mr. Bellson’s pioneering work with the difficult technique of employing two bass drums, telling the Los Angeles Times, “Louie had awesome, jaw-dropping technique. And I really don’t think he was ever fully appreciated for what an amazing drummer he really was.” Mr. Bellson was born Luigi Paulino Alfredo Francesco Antonio Balassoni, on July 6, 1924, in Rock Falls, Ill.

He is survived by his wife of 16 years, Francine, and daughters, Dee Dee Bellson and Debra Hughes. He is also survived by two brothers and two grandchildren. Mercury News wire services contributed to this report. Contact Gary Richards at grichards@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5335. Drummer Bellson Brings Big Band to Disneyland : Jazz: The musician-composer is trying to look forward after the funeral of his wife, Pearl Bailey. His daughter, Dee Dee, will join him. - latimes Drummer Bellson Brings Big Band to Disneyland : Jazz: The musician-composer is trying to look forward after the funeral of his wife, Pearl Bailey. His daughter, Dee Dee, will join him. September 01, 1990 |LEONARD FEATHER The show must and does go on. For Louie Bellson, back in Los Angeles to prepare for his week at Disneyland that begins Sunday, it has been a traumatic time.

After the funeral of his wife, Pearl Bailey, he flew west from Philadelphia, spent a day at their home at Lake Havasu, Ariz., then moved in temporarily with his brother, Hank, in the San Fernando Valley. It has also been a time for much decision-making. Friends and family agreed that his career had to continue. Bellson himself, trying to look forward, made one resolution: "I have to think of selling the house up there (in Arizona), and moving back to Los Angeles. It was so tough for me to open the door there yesterday; I can't ever go back again without Pearl. We were there once every three months for a week or two, just to get our heads together. It's beautiful for two people to share, but otherwise Lake Havasu is just a place for people who have retired, and you know I'll never retire. For me to just go and sit there would be the worst thing in the world." Closely though their careers were intertwined over the decades, the drummer-composer always had a distinct life and direction.

In the early years he was a side man with Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, Count Basie and, most notably, Duke Ellington, whom he left shortly after his marriage. When his wife was working at the United Nations or otherwise engaged, Bellson led various big bands, recorded with countless all-star groups, composed many instrumental works and reinforced his reputation as arguably the greatest of all big band drummers. He has been active in jazz workshops at many universities. "I'm doing something different at Disneyland," he said. "Jimmy Zito, who was a fine trumpeter in the 'Tonight Show' band, had to stop playing after something went wrong with an operation for a callus on his lip. Well, he decided to start back, by playing bass trumpet. Doc Severinsen told me, 'Lou, that's one of the greatest sounds you'll ever hear.' So I asked Jimmy to play for me this week, and I've had Tommy Newsom work on a special arrangement featuring him." Along with the customary eight brass, five saxes and rhythm section, there will be a returnee, Dee Dee Bellson, who worked before with her father's band at Disneyland.

"Dee Dee went to Japan and then to Australia with this (rap) group called Soul II Soul. When they came back East we were expecting to hear from her, but it turned out she left the group. Her timing was good--shortly after that, they had a nasty bus accident, and several members were injured or shaken up--they had to cancel part of a tour. "I thought it would be nice to keep the family together, and they liked her so much the last time she was out here, so I said, 'Well, Dee Dee, you've got your old job back.' " Post-Disneyland plans include a clinic Sept. 11 at Cerritos College, then a big day at USC organized by the Zildjian Cymbal Co. "They're gonna put me with all the rock 'n' roll drummers," Bellson said. A two-day gig at La Mirada Theater may present him in an unfamiliar role. "I'm doing a show with my big band, but they're also going to have a whole bunch of tap dancers, and they've invited me to come out and do a big number with them.

I haven't done that in so long, but I said if my feet are in shape, well, I've got my tap shoes ready." It seems improbable that Bellson's feet would ever be out of shape for any demand placed on them. It was he who popularized the technique of working with two bass drums, for which his pedal velocity seems to match the speed of light. Later dates will include a week, opening Oct. 16, at Catalina's in Hollywood, where he was due to play earlier but had to cancel because of major kidney surgery, from which he is now fully recovered. The most significant item on his schedule is one that he just learned about on the morning of this interview: "I received a Federal Express from Tom Pickering, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations--a wonderful man; Pearl and I knew him when he was ambassador to Jordan and Israel. He said, 'Lou, we are devastated by the passing of Pearl, and if possible we would like to have a memorial for her Sept.

18 right here at the U.N.' "All the delegates knew and loved Pearl, so of course I said, 'My goodness, yes, go ahead, and I'll fly in for it.' "I feel good that so many people are paying tribute to her. You know, she went very fast, and it was almost as if the good Lord said, 'I need you up here, you've done everything you can do down there.' So I have to look back in gratitude for 39 years with that wonderful lady." MORE: Articles about Pearl Bailey - latimes Las Vegas: Remembering the Moulin Rouge, champion of integration May 1, 2013 | By Jay Jones The unique history of the Moulin Rouge, a long-ago Las Vegas resort, will be remembered May 23 during a special event at the city's Neon Museum . The museum's display of neon signage is the final resting place for the giant sign that adorned the front of the Moulin Rouge, which suffered a devastating fire in 2003. The hotel-casino, opened in May 1955, the hotel-casino was a refuge for African Americans in a then-segregated Las Vegas.

The presentation begins at 6 p.m. and will include a screening of parts of the documentary, “The Misunderstood Legend of the Las Vegas Moulin Rouge,” by local filmmaker Stan Armstrong. Advertisement NAMES IN THE NEWS : Pearl Bailey to Have Surgery July 9, 1990 | From Times Wire Services Pearl Bailey will undergo surgery Wednesday to replace her left knee. The 72-year-old entertainer was scheduled to enter Pennsylvania Hospital today for a two-week stay, said hospital spokeswoman Laura Feragen. Bailey suffers degenerative arthritis, in which the cartilage covering the ends of bones and joints wears away, causing the bones to rub together, Feragen said. CALIFORNIA | LOCAL PASSINGS: Byron Palmer, Dr. John Miller Hyson Jr. October 4, 2009 | Times Staff and Wire Reports Byron Palmer Broadway, TV actor Byron Palmer, 89, an actor and singer who broke through in the late 1940s in the hit Broadway musical "Where's Charley?" and later co-starred on the TV show "This Is Your Music," died of natural causes Wednesday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his family announced.

Born June 21, 1920, in Los Angeles, he was the second of four children of Harlan G. Palmer, publisher of the old Hollywood Citizen News, and his wife, Ethelyn. ENTERTAINMENT SHORT TAKES : Pearl Bailey Well After Surgery July 12, 1990 | From Times wire services Pearl Bailey is feeling well after surgery for replacement of an arthritic left knee, her surgeon said. The 72-year-old singer and actress received a metal-and-plastic joint Wednesday at Pennsylvania Hospital in her native Philadelphia. Bailey will remain in the hospital for about two weeks and undergo therapy and exercises for up to two months at home in Arizona, said Dr. Richard Rothman. Rothman said Bailey was awake for most of the 55-minute operation, which he said was "a great success. ENTERTAINMENT Pearl Bailey Burial Set in Philadelphia August 20, 1990 | From United Press International Jazz and blues singer Pearl Bailey will be buried in Philadelphia, where she spent much of her early career, her road manager said. "Her husband felt it was best since her family is here and she was raised up in Philadelphia.

That's why we're having it here," said E. B. Smith, Bailey's manager for 23 years. The funeral service will be held at 1 p.m. ENTERTAINMENT AN APPRECIATION : Pearl Bailey: A Loss for Music and World August 20, 1990 | LEONARD FEATHER The death of Pearl Bailey, who died Friday at 72, marks a loss not only to show business, but to music, to the world of diplomacy (in recent years she had spent much of her time as a delegate to the United Nations) and to all of us who knew and loved her. NEWS Pearl Bailey Chosen for U.S. Delegation to U.N. September 21, 1989 | From United Press International President Bush on Wednesday selected Broadway star Pearl Bailey and eight other diplomats, members of Congress and business executives to serve on the U.S. delegation to the 44th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

NEWS 52 Hurt in Amtrak Crash; Pearl Bailey Escapes Injury August 26, 1985 | From Times Wire Services A New York-bound Amtrak train carrying singer Pearl Bailey slammed into a stalled steel-laden truck early today, injuring 52 people and derailing 15 cars, authorities said. Bailey and her husband, drummer Louis Bellson, were not injured in the accident, said Ken Seymour, executive director of the Richland County American Red Cross. The singer--clad in a nightgown, robe and sneakers--addressed fellow passengers through a bullhorn, urging them not to panic. NEWS Pearl Bailey Dies; Actress-Singer Known as 'Ambassador of Love' August 19, 1990 | From Times Wire Services Pearl Bailey, the actress and singer with the sexy, throaty drawl and droll sense of humor who once was called America's "ambassador of love," died Friday at age 72. An official at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where she died, refused to provide further details. The entertainer had a history of heart problems. "Pearl Bailey was the mother of the world," said Stan Irwin, her manager for 25 years.

"She was a very spiritual woman and she never recognized color. CALIFORNIA | LOCAL PASSINGS / Dee Dee Bellson July 20, 2009 | Times Staff And Wire Reports Dee Dee Bellson, 49, the daughter of Broadway entertainer and singer Pearl Bailey and jazz drummer Louie Bellson who went on to craft her own singing career, died July 4 at her home in Charlottesville, Va., after a heart attack, according to her friend and producer Rod Nave. Bailey and Louis Bellson married in London in 1952 and later adopted two children, Dee Dee and Tony. The family settled in Northridge. Dee Dee, who was born April 20, 1960, often traveled with her mother on tour. OPINION Bellson's warmth February 21, 2009 Re "Louie Bellson, 1924-2009," Obituary, Feb. 17 In the mid-'70s, my band was on the road at the Holiday Inn in Modesto. The drummer and I sat at the pool one afternoon. The only others there were Pearl Bailey and Louie Bellson.

We introduced ourselves as members of the band performing in the lounge. Bellson invited us to sit down, and we spent the next half an hour or so talking music. That night Bailey and Bellson listened to our first set. They were gracious and full of enthusiasm, and they encouraged us to follow our dreams. CALIFORNIA | LOCAL Pearl's Love March 10, 1991 Concerning Leonard Feather's "24 Years of High Notes," Feb. 17: The caption for Pearl Bailey's photo says she is flashing "I love you" in sign language. Actually she must be gesturing either "Hook 'em Horns" or "Hang loose," because "I love you" required an extended thumb, not a closed one, to signify the letter L. CHRIS LEVERICH Marina del Rey ENTERTAINMENT Drummer Bellson Brings Big Band to Disneyland : Jazz: The musician-composer is trying to look forward after the funeral of his wife, Pearl Bailey. His daughter, Dee Dee, will join him. September 1, 1990 | LEONARD FEATHER The show must and does go on.

For Louie Bellson, back in Los Angeles to prepare for his week at Disneyland that begins Sunday, it has been a traumatic time. After the funeral of his wife, Pearl Bailey, he flew west from Philadelphia, spent a day at their home at Lake Havasu, Ariz., then moved in temporarily with his brother, Hank, in the San Fernando Valley. It has also been a time for much decision-making. Friends and family agreed that his career had to continue. ENTERTAINMENT Pearl Bailey's Mourners Jam Into Church August 23, 1990 | From Associated Press Mourners wound around the block today to say farewell to singer Pearl Bailey. Deliverance Evangelical Evangelistic Church opened its doors at 10 a.m. for the viewing. The service and burial was set for later today. "I think they should have opened the doors last night," said the Rev. Steven Parks, the West Oak Lane Church of God associate pastor who was among the first inside. Miss Bailey was 72 when she died Friday at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital after collapsing in her hotel room.

ENTERTAINMENT AN APPRECIATION : Pearl Bailey: A Loss for Music and World August 20, 1990 | LEONARD FEATHER The death of Pearl Bailey, who died Friday at 72, marks a loss not only to show business, but to music, to the world of diplomacy (in recent years she had spent much of her time as a delegate to the United Nations) and to all of us who knew and loved her. NEWS Pearl Bailey, Entertainer for 57 Years, Dies at 72 August 18, 1990 | From the Associated Press Pearl Bailey, a Southern preacher's daughter who became a top performer best known for her throaty rendition of "Hello Dolly," died Friday at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. She was 72. A hospital official refused to provide further details. The singer, dancer, humorist and homespun philosopher--Pearlie Mae to friends--had suffered from a recurring heart condition since the early 1960s. "Singing does bring out the soreness," she once said.

NEWS Entertainer Pearl Bailey, Enduring Star, Dies at 72 August 18, 1990 | MYRNA OLIVER, TIMES STAFF WRITER Pearl Bailey, the preacher's daughter who sang and danced her way from Depression coal mining towns to Broadway and the hearts of America as the star of the black "Hello, Dolly!" more than 20 years ago, died Friday in Philadelphia. She was 72. "Pearlie Mae," as she was known to her friends, died at 6:12 p.m. at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, according to the Philadelphia medical examiner's office. The cause of death was not immediately known. Officials said an autopsy will be performed. Pearl Bailey Burial Set in Philadelphia August 20, 1990 | From United Press International Jazz and blues singer Pearl Bailey will be buried in Philadelphia, where she spent much of her early career, her road manager said. "Her husband felt it was best since her family is here and she was raised up in Philadelphia. That's why we're having it here," said E. B. Smith, Bailey's manager for 23 years. The funeral service will be held at 1 p.m.

NEWS Pearl Bailey Dies; Actress-Singer Known as 'Ambassador of Love' August 19, 1990 | From Times Wire Services Pearl Bailey, the actress and singer with the sexy, throaty drawl and droll sense of humor who once was called America's "ambassador of love," died Friday at age 72. An official at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where she died, refused to provide further details. The entertainer had a history of heart problems. "Pearl Bailey was the mother of the world," said Stan Irwin, her manager for 25 years. "She was a very spiritual woman and she never recognized color. Pearl Bailey Biography at Black History Now - Black Heritage Commemorative Society Aug 30th, 2011 | By BHS | Category: Arts & Entertainment 1918-1990 Pearl Mae Bailey was a Big Band Era singer and actress whose career encompassed appearances on Broadway and in film. Over a nearly 40-year span, Bailey produced hit singles, caused a sensation on stage and screen, and earned a Tony award and multiple appointments as the U.S. Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations under Presidents Ford, Reagan, and George H.

W. Bush. From the Choir to Broadway Born in 1918 in Newport News, Virginia, to Pentecostal preacher Joseph Bailey and his wife Ella Mae, Bailey was performing from age three as a singer in her father’s church choir. Her entry into show business came at age 15 when she won an amateur talent contest at the Pearl Theater in Philadelphia where her mother had moved the family after splitting with Bailey’s father. Bailey captured top honors at two more talent contests, in Washington DC and at Harlem’s Apollo Theater, and dropped out of high school to join the vaudeville circuit, performing in east coast nightclubs. She appeared onstage with Count Basie , Noble Sissle, and many others. Her first major appearance in New York was at the Village Vanguard in 1941. She then toured the USO circuit and launched a solo act in New York. Invited for a brief tour with the Cab Calloway Orchestra, she parlayed her visibility on that tour into an opportunity to become an actress in the musical theater. She made her Broadway debut in 1946, in the musical St. Louis Woman, for which she won an award for Best Broadway Newcomer.

The following year, she appeared in her first film, Variety Girl, in which she sang the song “Tired.” This became a standard number for Bailey throughout her career. Bailey subsequently embarked on a recording career. She worked with several different labels, including Columbia Records, before finally finding a hit in 1952 on Coral Records with “Takes Two to Tango.” Backed by Don Redman’s Orchestra, the song reached the Top Ten singles chart in the United States, cementing a relationship with Coral that was to last for most of the 1950s. That same year, Bailey married drummer Louis Bellson, who left his position with Duke Ellington ’s band to become her musical director. Later, she and Bellson would adopt and raise two children together, Tony and Dee Dee Bellson. A TV Career and a Tony In 1953, Bailey cut a second single with Coral, “Toot Toot Tootsie,” which became one of her best known songs. The following year, she was cast in the role of a fortune-teller in the 1954 film Carmen Jones. Her first starring role on Broadway came the same year in House of Flowers.

Bailey also began appearing regularly on television in the 1950s, performing on such shows as Sid Caesar’s Your Show of Shows, The Colgate Comedy Hour, The Nat King Cole Show, Steve Allen, and the Perry Como Show. In 1955, she was the “mystery guest” on What’s My Line? In 1959, Bailey was cast as Maria in the premiere film version of George Gershwin’s classic American folk opera Porgy & Bess, a year that also saw a move to Roulette Records and the release of her double LP For Adults Only. Throughout the 1960s, Bailey returned to nightclub performing, and continued to work in television and on the stage. One of the most popular Broadway musicals of the time was Hello, Dolly, and in 1967, Bailey was cast in the title role of an all-black version of the production. Backed by the Cab Calloway Orchestra, Bailey’s performance made her a major star, earning her a special Tony Award in 1968. The next year, she won an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Performance for the same role.

In 1968, Bailey released the first of three autobiographical memoirs, The Raw Pearl. She hosted a variety show of her own on ABC in 1971. Simply called The Pearl Bailey Show, it remained on the air for only one season, but her guest list included such notables as Bing Crosby, Moms Mabley, Peggy Lee, and Louis Armstrong. Bailey released her second memoir, Talking to Myself, that same year, and in 1973, she released a book of recipes, Pearl’s Kitchen: An Extraordinary Cookbook. Bailey remained a popular television guest during the 1970s, logging appearances with such hosts as Dick Cavett, Flip Wilson, Johnny Carson, Dean Martin, and Merv Griffin, and on early episodes of The Muppets and The Love Boat. Beginning in 1970, she also assumed an ambassadorship role initiated by President Richard Nixon. He named Bailey the U.S. “Ambassador of Love,” a position formalized by President Gerald Ford when Bailey was appointed Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations in 1974, a position she also held under Presidents Reagan and George H. W. Bush.

The position was ceremonial but she cherished it, always espousing the importance of love and understanding. Bailey seized opportunities to address the UN and the World Health Organization about the need for global cooperation, and later, the AIDS epidemic. She also worked diligently with first lady Barbara Bush on a U.S. literacy campaign. The Screen Actor’s Guild honored Bailey with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1978 for “outstanding achievement in fostering the finest ideals of the acting profession.” By then 60 years old, Bailey opted to settle some unfinished business: she enrolled as a freshman at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, and set about earning a BA in theology from a university that had already granted her an honorary doctorate. She chronicled her experiences with higher education in her final memoir, Between You and Me: A Heartfelt Memoir on Learning, Loving, and Living, published in 1989. Bailey died on August 17, 1990, after suffering a heart attack at a hotel in Philadelphia. In addition to her many honors as an actress and performer, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Reagan for her work with the United Nations on behalf of the United States.

Louie Bellson Obituary | Louie Bellson Funeral | Legacy.com Louie Bellson Obituary Visit Guest Book LOS ANGELES (AP) — Big band and jazz drummer Louie Bellson, a master musician who performed with such greats as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Benny Goodman and his late wife, Pearl Bailey, has died. He was 84. Bellson died Saturday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles of complications of Parkinson's disease following a broken hip in November, according to his wife, Francine. Bellson's career spanned more than six decades, performing on more than 200 albums with jazz greats including Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, Oscar Peterson, Woody Herman, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie and Louis Armstrong. It was through Ellington that he met Bailey, the great singer and Broadway performer.

They married in 1952, and when she died in 1990 at age 72, he told the Philadelphia Daily News that "I just lost my best friend." He was designated as a "master of jazz" in 1994 by the National Endowment for the Arts, which said he "ranks among the foremost big-band drummers of the swing and post-swing eras and is best known for his precise technique and the invention of two pedal-operated bass drums." Bellson wrote more than 1,000 compositions and arrangements in several genres, including jazz, swing, orchestral suites, symphonic works and ballets. As an author, he published more than a dozen books on drums and percussion. His final recording, "Louie & Clark Expedition 2" with trumpeter Clark Terry, was released last year. Bellson was born in 1924 in Rock Falls, Ill., son of Italian immigrants whose family name was originally Balassoni. He told Jazz Connection, an Internet magazine, that he was entranced by the sound of drums when his father took him to a parade when he was 3.

His father, who eventually opened a music store, taught his son to play drums and other instruments. Bellson was still in his teens when he pioneered the double bass drum set-up, and two years later he went on to win the Slingerland National Gene Krupa drumming contest. "I've been of the opinion that all a drummer really needs is one bass drum, a snare drum, some tom-toms, a ride cymbal, a crash cymbal, sticks and brushes," Bellson told Jazz Connection. "If you can't do it with that, you better go back to the drawing board. The extra bass drum is frosting on the cake. It doesn't mean that every drummer needs to play two bass drums. For me, it works." There are tentative plans for a Los Angeles-area memorial service, followed by a funeral and burial in his boyhood home of Moline, Ill., according to his Web site. Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Big band and jazz drummer Louie Bellson, a master musician who performed with such greats as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Benny Goodman and his late wife, Pearl Bailey, has died. He was 84.

Bellson died Saturday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles of complications of Parkinson's disease following a broken hip in November, according to his wife, Francine. Bellson's career spanned more than six decades, performing on more than 200 albums with jazz greats including Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, Oscar Peterson, Woody Herman, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie and Louis Armstrong. It was through Ellington that he met Bailey, the great singer and Broadway performer. They married in 1952, and when she died in 1990 at age 72, he told the Philadelphia Daily News that "I just lost my best friend." He was designated as a "master of jazz" in 1994 by the National Endowment for the Arts, which said he "ranks among the foremost big-band drummers of the swing and post-swing eras and is best known for his precise technique and the invention of two pedal-operated bass drums." Bellson wrote more than 1,000 compositions and arrangements in several genres, including jazz, swing, orchestral suites, symphonic works and ballets.

As an author, he published more than a dozen books on drums and percussion. His final recording, "Louie & Clark Expedition 2" with trumpeter Clark Terry, was released last year. Bellson was born in 1924 in Rock Falls, Ill., son of Italian immigrants whose family name was originally Balassoni. He told Jazz Connection, an Internet magazine, that he was entranced by the sound of drums when his father took him to a parade when he was 3. His father, who eventually opened a music store, taught his son to play drums and other instruments. Bellson was still in his teens when he pioneered the double bass drum set-up, and two years later he went on to win the Slingerland National Gene Krupa drumming contest. "I've been of the opinion that all a drummer really needs is one bass drum, a snare drum, some tom-toms, a ride cymbal, a crash cymbal, sticks and brushes," Bellson told Jazz Connection. "If you can't do it with that, you better go back to the drawing board. The extra bass drum is frosting on the cake. It doesn't mean that every drummer needs to play two bass drums.

For me, it works." There are tentative plans for a Los Angeles-area memorial service, followed by a funeral and burial in his boyhood home of Moline, Ill., according to his Web site. Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press "RIP....TO A HANDSOME ANGEL.....MANY PRAYERS AND BLESSINGS" - Valenda Newell (Indianapolis, IN) "The BEST of all time!!!!!!" - george baker (North Wales, PA) "Please accept my sincere condolences and sincere prayers that go out to the surviving family and friends. May the God of comfort continue to bless you and yours especially after such an untimely loss of a very precious life please accept my deepest..." (GA) "always my inspiration David Casmaer" "johnxxx"

Question: Which drummer was the band leader for his wife, Pearl Bailey?
Answer: Louie Bellson