Harry James

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_James

Henry Haag “Harry” James (March 15, 1916 – July 5, 1983) was a trumpeter who led a jazz swing band during the Big Band Era of the 1930s and 1940s. He was especially known among musicians for his astonishing technical proficiency as well as his superior tone.

Biography

He was born in Albany, Georgia, the son of a bandleader of a traveling circus. By the age of 10 he was taking trumpet lessons from his father, who placed him on a strict daily practice schedule. Each day, James was given one page to learn from the Arban's book and was not allowed to pursue any other pastime until he had learned that particular page.

In 1931 the family settled in Beaumont, Texas, where James began playing with local dance bands.

He joined the nationally popular Ben Pollack in 1935 but at the start of 1937, left Pollack to join Benny Goodman's orchestra, where he stayed through 1938.

In February 1939 James debuted his own big band in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His hit "You Made Me Love You" was in the Top 10 during the week of December 7, 1941. He toured with the band into the 1980s.

His was the first "name band" to employ vocalist Frank Sinatra, in 1939. He wanted to change Sinatra's name to 'Frankie Satin' but Sinatra refused. His later band included drummer Buddy Rich.

He played trumpet in the 1950 film Young Man with a Horn, dubbing Kirk Douglas. James's recording of "I'm Beginning to See the Light" appears in the motion picture My Dog Skip (2000). His music is also featured in the Woody Allen film Hannah and Her Sisters. James recorded many popular records and appeared in many Hollywood movies.

He was second only to Glenn Miller as the most successful recording artist of 1942. His orchestra succeeded Miller's on a program sponsored by Chesterfield Cigarettes that year when Miller disbanded his orchestra to enter the Army.

James was married three times. On May 4, 1935, he married singer Louise Tobin, with whom he had two children. They divorced in 1943. That same year, he married actress Betty Grable. They had two daughters, Victoria and Jessica, before divorcing in 1965. James married a third time in 1968 to Las Vegas showgirl Joan Boyd, whom he would divorce in March 1970. Contrary to some assertions, he did not marry a fourth time. He had five children (two by Tobin, two by Grable, one by Boyd) and (as of his death) 16 grandchildren.

James owned several thoroughbred racehorses that won races such as the California Breeders' Champion Stakes (1951) and the San Vicente Stakes (1954). He was also a founding investor in the Atlantic City Race Course. His knowledge of horse racing was demonstrated during a 1958 appearance on The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour entitled "Lucy Wins A Racehorse."

In 1983, James was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer, but he continued to work, playing his last professional job on June 26, 1983, in Los Angeles, California, just nine days before his death in Las Vegas, Nevada. He died exactly 40 years after his marriage to Betty Grable (July 5, 1943), who was buried exactly 30 years after that date (July 5, 1973). Frank Sinatra gave the eulogy at the Bunkers Eden Vale Memorial Park in Las Vegas.

In 2007, a personally owned and stage-played custom made trumpet formerly owned by both James and trumpeter Joe Cabot was sold at auction for a mid five-figure amount. It was played by both men while they toured together from 1979–1982 in the musical review The Big Broadcast of 1944.

Filmography and Singles

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_James#Filmography

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Harry Haag James, jazz trumpet player and big-band leader, was born to Everett Robert and Maybelle (Stewart) James on March 15, 1916, in Albany, Georgia. James began his stage life as the circus contortionist in the Haag Circus, which later became the Christy Brothers Circus. The gimmick was "the Youngest and Oldest Contortionists in the World," because young Harry worked with a seventy-year-old partner. He started his musical education with the drums at age four in the circus band. He learned to play piano and trumpet with his father, the circus bandmaster.

Though thought by many to be a native Texan, Harry James did not arrive in Texas until the 1930s, when he and his parents moved to Beaumont. There he played trumpet and led a band. In 1934 he toured as a trumpet player with Joe Gill. When he joined Art Hicks and His Orchestra in 1934 he met vocalist and North Texas native Louise Tobin. They married in 1935. Tobin, a rising star in her own right, would later be featured with Benny Goodman’s orchestra before relenting to James’s wishes that she give up her career to start a family; they had two sons.

James joined Ben Pollack's band in 1935 and made his recording debut with the group early in 1936. Fame came later that year, when James joined Benny Goodman's orchestra. He made a name for himself with fiery trumpet solos and an appearance in the band's 1938 movie, Hollywood Hotel. After he started the Harry James Band in 1939, his hit song "You Made Me Love You" (1941) sold more than a million copies. Other popular Harry James recordings included "Carnival in Venice" and "Flight of the Bumble Bee." Early in his career as bandleader, James hired an unknown Frank Sinatra upon the recommendation of his wife Louise, but Sinatra soon left his band and accepted an offer to join Tommy Dorsey.

James had a great technique that showed off rich, brassy tones. A true virtuoso, Harry, along with his band, developed the boogie-woogie style for big-band swing. His romantic ballads, the key to his success, shot him to fame as a big-band leader. In 1941 a national poll voted his band the number-one dance band in the country. He appeared on radio shows for Danny Kaye, Coca Cola, and Jack Benny, and also on his own series, sponsored by Chesterfield Cigarettes. Some of the famous musicians who performed with Harry James in the 1940s were Dick Haymes, Frank Sinatra, and Helen Forrest. Into the 1950s and 1960s Harry and the band were joined as well by Buddy Rich, Sam Firmature, Jack Perciful, and Ray Sims.

James continued to be popular, appearing cameo or with Benny Goodman's band in many movies, including Two Girls and a Sailor (1944), Young Man with a Horn (1950), The Benny Goodman Story (1955), and Anything Goes (1956). Still an active musician in the 1970s, he was quoted then as saying, "I don't look at people as changing, being old or being young. I just look down from the stand to see if people are having fun."

James divorced Louise Tobin in 1943 and promptly married actress Betty Grable. He and Betty moved to Las Vegas, where Harry played for many years. They had two daughters but were divorced in 1965. Afterward, he married Joan Boyd, a Las Vegas showgirl, with whom he had a son. James died of cancer at the age of sixty-seven on July 5, 1983, in Las Vegas, Nevada. That year he was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame. The Museum of the Gulf Coast’s Music Hall of Fame in Port Arthur also honors James as a music legend, and he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

• Residence: 1920 - Galveston Ward 3, Galveston, Texas, United States
• Residence: 1930 - South Houston, Harris, Texas, United States
• Residence: 1935 - Albany, New York
• Residence: 1940 - Assembly District 10, Manhattan, New York City, New York, New York, United States
• Residence: July 6 1983 - Las Vegas
  • Reference: FamilySearch Family Tree - SmartCopy: Jun 30 2023, 23:51:59 UTC