Ina Ray Hutton | |
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![]() Hutton in 1942 | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Odessa Cowan |
Born | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | March 13, 1916
Died | February 19, 1984 Ventura, California, U.S. | (aged 67)
Genres | Jazz, big band |
Occupation(s) | Singer, bandleader |
Years active | 1926–1968 |
Ina Ray Hutton (born Odessa Cowan; March 13, 1916 – February 19, 1984) [1] was an American singer, bandleader, and the elder sister of June Hutton. [2] She led one of the first all-female big bands.
A native of Chicago, Hutton began dancing and singing on stage at the age of eight. [3] [4] Her mother was a pianist in Chicago. [4] At age 15, she starred in the Gus Edwards revue Future Stars Troupe at the Palace Theater [4] and Lew Leslie's Clowns in Clover. On Broadway she performed in George White's revues Melody, Never Had an Education and Scandals, then with the Ziegfeld Follies of 1934. [5]
In 1934, she was approached by Irving Mills and vaudeville agent Alex Hyde to lead an all-girl orchestra, the Melodears, [6] As part of the group's formation, Mills asked her to change her name. [4] The group included trumpeter Frances Klein, Canadian pianist Ruth Lowe Sandler, saxophonist Jane Cullum, guitarist Marian Gange, trumpeter Mardell "Owen" Winstead, and trombonist Alyse Wells.[ citation needed]
The Melodears appeared in short films and in the movie Big Broadcast of 1936. They recorded six songs, sung by Hutton, before disbanding in 1939. [3] Soon after, she started the Ina Ray Hutton Orchestra (with men only) that included George Paxton and Hal Schaefer. [3]
The band appeared in the film Ever Since Venus (1944), recorded for Elite and Okeh, [7] and performed on the radio. After this band broke up, she started another male band a couple years later. [3] She married jazz trumpeter Randy Brooks. [3]
During the 1950s, Hutton formed a female big band that played on television and starred in The Ina Ray Hutton Show. [3] She retired from music in 1968 and died at the age of 67 on February 19, 1984, from complications due to diabetes. [8]
Although Hutton and some members of her family are thought to have been white,[ citation needed] historians have theorized that she and her family were of mixed white and African-American ancestry. In 1920, Hutton herself was listed in the US Census as "mulatto" and in 1930 as "negro". [9] Hutton was also mentioned under her birth name Odessa Cowan in the African American Chicago newspaper The Chicago Defender in several articles describing the early years of her career. A photograph of her as a 7-year-old dancer in an all-Black dance troupe appeared in a 1924 issue of the paper. [9]
She was married and divorced five times and had no children:
Ina Ray Hutton | |
---|---|
![]() Hutton in 1942 | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Odessa Cowan |
Born | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | March 13, 1916
Died | February 19, 1984 Ventura, California, U.S. | (aged 67)
Genres | Jazz, big band |
Occupation(s) | Singer, bandleader |
Years active | 1926–1968 |
Ina Ray Hutton (born Odessa Cowan; March 13, 1916 – February 19, 1984) [1] was an American singer, bandleader, and the elder sister of June Hutton. [2] She led one of the first all-female big bands.
A native of Chicago, Hutton began dancing and singing on stage at the age of eight. [3] [4] Her mother was a pianist in Chicago. [4] At age 15, she starred in the Gus Edwards revue Future Stars Troupe at the Palace Theater [4] and Lew Leslie's Clowns in Clover. On Broadway she performed in George White's revues Melody, Never Had an Education and Scandals, then with the Ziegfeld Follies of 1934. [5]
In 1934, she was approached by Irving Mills and vaudeville agent Alex Hyde to lead an all-girl orchestra, the Melodears, [6] As part of the group's formation, Mills asked her to change her name. [4] The group included trumpeter Frances Klein, Canadian pianist Ruth Lowe Sandler, saxophonist Jane Cullum, guitarist Marian Gange, trumpeter Mardell "Owen" Winstead, and trombonist Alyse Wells.[ citation needed]
The Melodears appeared in short films and in the movie Big Broadcast of 1936. They recorded six songs, sung by Hutton, before disbanding in 1939. [3] Soon after, she started the Ina Ray Hutton Orchestra (with men only) that included George Paxton and Hal Schaefer. [3]
The band appeared in the film Ever Since Venus (1944), recorded for Elite and Okeh, [7] and performed on the radio. After this band broke up, she started another male band a couple years later. [3] She married jazz trumpeter Randy Brooks. [3]
During the 1950s, Hutton formed a female big band that played on television and starred in The Ina Ray Hutton Show. [3] She retired from music in 1968 and died at the age of 67 on February 19, 1984, from complications due to diabetes. [8]
Although Hutton and some members of her family are thought to have been white,[ citation needed] historians have theorized that she and her family were of mixed white and African-American ancestry. In 1920, Hutton herself was listed in the US Census as "mulatto" and in 1930 as "negro". [9] Hutton was also mentioned under her birth name Odessa Cowan in the African American Chicago newspaper The Chicago Defender in several articles describing the early years of her career. A photograph of her as a 7-year-old dancer in an all-Black dance troupe appeared in a 1924 issue of the paper. [9]
She was married and divorced five times and had no children: