- Lucky Millinder
Lucius Venable "Lucky" Millinder (
August 8 ,1910 [Many sources give 1900 as his year of birth, but SSDI and Census information suggest 1910 is correct.] –September 28 ,1966 ) was an Americanrhythm and blues and swingbandleader . Although he could not read or write music, did not play an instrument and rarely sang, his showmanship and musical taste made his bands successful. His group was said to have been "the greatest big band to play rhythm and blues" [http://www.bigbandlibrary.com/luckymillinder.html] , and gave a break to a number of influential musicians at the dawn of the rock and roll era. He is a 1986 inductee of theAlabama Jazz Hall of Fame .Early career
Millinder was born in
Anniston, Alabama and was raised inChicago, Illinois . In the 1920s he worked in clubs, ballrooms, and theatres in Chicago as a master of ceremonies and dancer. He first fronted a band in 1931 for anRKO theater tour, and in 1932 took over leadership ofDoc Crawford 's orchestra inHarlem , New York City, as well as freelancing elsewhere.In 1933, he took a band to Europe, playing residencies in Monte Carlo and Paris. He returned to New York to take over leadership of the
Mills Blue Rhythm Band , which includedHenry "Red" Allen ,Charlie Shavers ,Harry "Sweets" Edison andJ.C. Higginbotham , and which had a regular slot atThe Cotton Club . Around this time he also discovered singer and guitaristRosetta Tharpe , with whom he performed for many years and first recorded with on "Trouble In Mind" in 1941.With his own orchestra
In 1938 he teamed up with pianist
Bill Doggett 's group, and by 1940 had formed a completely new orchestra, which included Doggett and drummer "Panama" Francis. He established a residency at New York's Savoy Ballroom, and won a contract withDecca Records .Dizzy Gillespie was the band’s trumpeter for a while, and featured on Millinder's first charted hit, "When The Lights Go On Again (All Over The World)", which reached # 1 on the R&B chart and # 14 on the pop chart in 1942. The follow-up records "Apollo Jump" and "Sweet Slumber" were also big hits, with vocals byTrevor Bacon .By the mid-1940s the band was drifting towards what would be known as "
Rhythm and Blues ". Other band members around this time included saxophonistsBull Moose Jackson ,Tab Smith andEddie “Lockjaw” Davis , and pianist “Sir” Charles Thompson. In 1944 Millinder recruited singerWynonie Harris , and their recording together of "Who Threw the Whiskey in the Well" became the group’s biggest hit in 1945, staying at # 1 on the R&B chart for eight weeks and also crossing over to reach # 7 on the US pop chart. After Harris left for a solo career, Millinder followed up with another hit, “Shorty’s Got To Go” on which he took lead vocals. Soon afterwards,Ruth Brown became the band’s singer for a short period before her own solo career took off.In the late 1940s the band continued to remain very popular and toured around all the large R&B auditoriums, although it had few chart hits for several years. In 1949 the band left Decca Records and joined first RCA Victor and then
King Records , recording with singersBig John Greer andAnnisteen Allen . The band’s last big hit was "I’m Waiting Just For You" with Allen in 1951, which reached # 2 on the R&B chart and # 19 pop.Later years
By 1952 Millinder was working as a radio DJ as well as continuing to tour with his band, but his style was beginning to fall out of favour and the band went through many personnel changes. In 1954 he took over the leadership of the house band at the
Apollo Theater for a while. He effectively retired from performing around 1955, although his final recordings were in 1960.He became active in music publishing, and in public relations for a whiskey distillery, before dying from a liver ailment in New York City in 1966
Notes and references
External links and main sources
* [http://www.southernmusic.net/luckymillinder.htm Career overview]
* [http://home.earthlink.net/%7Ejaymar41/luckym.html Detailed history of mid career]
* [http://www.bigbandlibrary.com/luckymillinder.html "Lucky Millinder: Big Band Rhythm & Blues" by Music Librarian Christopher Popa]
* [http://www.jazzhall.com Official website of the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame]
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