Ina Ray Hutton
{{Short description|American jazz singer (1916–1984)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Ina Ray Hutton
| image = Ina Ray Hutton Billboard.jpg
| caption = Hutton in 1942
| birth_name = Odessa Cowan
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1916|3|13}}
| birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1984|2|19|1916|3|16 |mf=yes}}
| death_place = Ventura, California, U.S.
| occupation = Singer, bandleader
| years_active = 1926–1968
}}
Ina Ray Hutton (born Odessa Cowan; March 13, 1916 – February 19, 1984){{cite book |title=The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music |editor=Colin Larkin |publisher=Guinness Publishing |date=1992 |edition=First |isbn=0-85112-939-0 |page=1215}} was an American singer, bandleader, and the elder sister of June Hutton.{{cite book |last=Pool |first=Jeannie Gayle |title=Peggy Gilbert & Her All-Girl Band |date=2008 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=9781461737346 |page=[https://archive.org/details/peggygilberthera00pool/page/92 92] |url=https://archive.org/details/peggygilberthera00pool |url-access=registration |access-date=August 2, 2019}} She led one of the first all-female big bands.
Biography
File:Ina Ray Hutton, Bandleader.jpg
A native of Chicago, Hutton began dancing and singing on stage at the age of eight.{{cite book |last=Yanow |first=Scott |title=The Jazz Singers: The Ultimate Guide |date=2008 |publisher=Backbeat |isbn=978-0-87930-825-4 |page=109}} Her mother was a pianist in Chicago. At age 15, she starred in the Gus Edwards revue Future Stars Troupe at the Palace Theater 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.{{cite web |title=Ina Ray |website=Playbill |url=https://www.playbill.com/person/ina-ray-vault-0000054663 |access-date=August 30, 2022}}
In 1934, she was approached by Irving Mills and vaudeville agent Alex Hyde to lead an all-girl orchestra, the Melodears,{{cite book |last=Lee |first=William F. |title=American Big Bands |date=2005 |publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation |isbn=9780634080548 |page=[https://archive.org/details/americanbigbands00leew/page/183 183] |url=https://archive.org/details/americanbigbands00leew |url-access=registration |access-date=August 2, 2019}} As part of the group's formation, Mills asked her to change her name.{{cite book |last=McGee |first=Kristin A. |title=Some Liked It Hot: Jazz Women in Film and Television, 1928–1959 |date=2010 |publisher=Wesleyan University Press |isbn=9780819569677 |pages=86–110 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vmsbhYc8-XEC&pg=PA86 |access-date=August 2, 2019}} 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.{{cn|date=April 2022}}
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. Soon after, she started the Ina Ray Hutton Orchestra (with men only) that included George Paxton and Hal Schaefer.
The band appeared in the film Ever Since Venus (1944), recorded for Elite and Okeh,{{cite book |last1=Young |first1=William H. |last2=Young |first2=Nancy K. |title=Music of the World War II Era |date=2008 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=9780313338915 |page=[https://archive.org/details/musicofworldwari0000youn/page/67 67] |url=https://archive.org/details/musicofworldwari0000youn |url-access=registration |access-date=August 2, 2019}} and performed on the radio.
After this band broke up, she started another male band a couple years later. She married jazz trumpeter Randy Brooks.
During the 1950s, Hutton formed a female big band that played on television and starred in The Ina Ray Hutton Show. She retired from music in 1968 and died at the age of 67 on February 19, 1984, from complications due to diabetes.{{cite news |title=Ina Ray Hutton, Band Leader in 40's and 50's |newspaper=The New York Times |date=February 22, 1984 |page=D21 |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1984/02/22/005253.html?pageNumber=91 |access-date=August 30, 2022 |url-access=subscription}}
Race
Although Hutton and some members of her family are thought to have been white,{{Citation needed|date=September 2022|reason=Known by whom}} 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". 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.{{cite web |last=McElroy |first=Molly |title=Secrets of famous 1930s 'blonde bombshell of rhythm' revealed with help from UW library |url=https://www.washington.edu/news/2012/03/27/secrets-of-famous-1930s-blonde-bombshell-of-rhythm-revealed-with-help-from-uw-library/ |website=UW News |publisher=University of Washington |access-date=August 2, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190802013148/https://www.washington.edu/news/2012/03/27/secrets-of-famous-1930s-blonde-bombshell-of-rhythm-revealed-with-help-from-uw-library/ |archive-date=August 2, 2019 |date=March 27, 2012}}
Personal life
She was married and divorced five times and had no children:
- Charles Doerwald, a traveling salesman. They eloped and were married July 29, 1939.{{cite news |last=Commonwealth of |first=Virginia |title=Certificate of Marriage |agency=Fauquier County |date=July 29, 1939}} However, Doerwald's divorce from his current wife was not final and his marriage to Hutton was annulled.{{cite news |title=Ina Ray Hutton Asks Annulment of Marriage |newspaper=Burlington Daily News |location=Burlington, VT |date=February 2, 1940 |page=10 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108632315/ina-ray-hutton-marriage-1/ |access-date=August 20, 2022}}
- Louis P. Parisotto, saxophonist with Hutton's all-male band. Married October 27, 1943.{{cite news |last=Crittenden |first=Arkansas |title=County Marriages |date=October 27, 1943}} Divorced December 3, 1946.{{cite news |title=Band Leader Granted Divorce from Musician |newspaper=The Morning News |location=Wilmington, DE |date=December 14, 1946 |page=15 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108632649/ina-ray-hutton-marriage-2/ |access-date=August 30, 2022}}
- Randy Brooks, trumpeter. Married April 10, 1949.{{cite news |title=Brooks to Marry Ina Ray Hutton |newspaper=The Philadelphia Inquirer |date=April 9, 1949 |page=3 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108633008/ina-ray-hutton-marriage-3/ |access-date=August 30, 2022}} Divorced June 1957.{{cite news |last=Newspaper |first=Archive |title=Nevada State Journal: Reno |date=June 27, 1957}}
- Michael Anter, owner of a beauty salon in Las Vegas. Married May 31, 1958.{{cite news |title=Ina Ray Hutton Weds Hairdresser |newspaper=News-Pilot |location=San Pedro, CA |date=June 2, 1958 |page=1 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108633327/ina-ray-hutton-marriage-4/ |access-date=August 30, 2022 }} Divorced 1960.{{cite news |last=Newspaper |first=Archive |title=Reno Evening Gazette |date=December 14, 1960}}
- John "Jack" Franklin Curtis, owner of a tool company. Married April 13, 1963.{{cite news |title=Ina Ray Hutton to Wed |newspaper=The Courier-Journal |location=Louisville, KY |date=March 27, 1963 |page=14 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/108633897/ina-ray-hutton-marriage-5/ |access-date=August 30, 2022}} Divorced December 29, 1979. {{Citation needed |date=September 2022}}
Discography
- Ina Ray Hutton and Her Melodears (Vintage Music, 2001)
- The Definitive Collection (Fantastic Voyage, 2011){{cite news |last=Stanley |first=Bob |title=Ina Ray Hutton: The Forgotten Female Star of 1930s Jazz |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jul/07/ina-ray-hutton-melodears-jazz |access-date=August 2, 2019 |work=The Guardian |date=July 7, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190802015807/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jul/07/ina-ray-hutton-melodears-jazz |archive-date=August 2, 2019}}
References
{{Reflist}}
Sources
- {{Cite web |url=http://hollywoodlandforever.blogspot.com/2014/04/sisters-secrets-ina-ray-and-june.html |title=Sisters, Secrets - Ina Ray & June Hutton's Real History |date=April 25, 2014 |publisher=J'aime Rubio, Author |access-date=August 9, 2018}}
- {{Cite web |url=http://www.studio360.org/2011/sep/30/secrets-of-a-blonde-bombshell/ |title=Secrets of a Blond Bombshell |publisher=Studio 360 |access-date=October 3, 2011}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hutton, Ina Ray}}
Category:American big band bandleaders
Category:American jazz bandleaders
Category:American jazz singers
Category:20th-century American singers