Eckstine, Billy (William Clarence, originally Eckstein) (1914-1993)

US jazz singer, bandleader, and trumpeter. His mid-1940s orchestra included bebop greats Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, and singer Sarah Vaughan. He had several top-ten hits, including ‘I Apologize’ (1950) and ‘Passing Strangers’ (1957), a duet with Vaughan.

With his deep baritone vibrato and liking for ballads, he began as a night-club singer and was always equally at home with pop and jazz. As vocalist 1939-43 in the orchestra led by pianist Earl Hines, Eckstine learned to play trumpet and trombone, and had his first hit in 1940 with ‘Jelly, Jelly’. The big band he led 1944-47 became legendary for the number of outstanding jazz musicians it employed (the teenage Miles Davis and the drummer Art Blakey among them) and for its bebop innovation, but was not a commercial success. Returning to a solo career, he became the most popular vocalist in the USA, with hits like ‘Blue Moon’ (1948) and ‘Caravan’ (1949). In the late 1950s he disappeared from the charts and returned to night clubs.

Eckstine was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but grew up in Washington, DC. In his heyday the handsome Mr B, as he was known, was noted for his sartorial style. Working with Duke Ellington's orchestra in 1966, Eckstine managed for four weeks to wear a different suit each evening.