Leroy Kirkland
Leroy Edward Kirkland{{cite web|url=https://originalproduct.de/artikel/?26684|title=VARIOUS ARTISTS : Leroy Kirkland - Good Gracious|website=Originalproduct.de|access-date=February 26, 2024}} (February 10, 1904 or 1906 – April 6, 1988) was an American arranger, bandleader, guitarist and songwriter whose career spanned the eras of big band jazz, R&B, rock and roll and soul.
Life and career
Born in Columbia, South Carolina, in either 1904 or 1906 (sources differ), Kirkland played guitar in southern jazz bands in the 1920s, and after a spell in the army worked as arranger and songwriter for Erskine Hawkins.{{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=1386}} He joined Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey in the 1940s, and in 1951 began arranging music at Savoy Records in New York. He continued to arrange R&B artists for OKeh Records, Mercury Records and other companies, and worked on rock and roll shows with Alan Freed. Two of his compositions became popular with jazz musicians: "Charleston Alley" (recorded by Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, Charlie Barnet, and others) and "Cloudburst" (recorded by Count Basie, The Pointer Sisters, and others).{{cite book|last=Franklin V|first=Benjamin|title=An Encyclopedia of South Carolina Jazz and Blues Musicians|date=2016|pages=150|publisher=University of South Carolina|location=Columbia|isbn=978-1-61117-621-6}} Kirkland's co-composed number, "Something's Got a Hold on Me" was first recorded by Etta James in 1962.{{cite AV media notes|title=Etta James|title-link=Etta James (1962 album)|others=Etta James|year=1962|first=Etta |last=James|author-link=Etta James|type=Liner notes|publisher=Argo Records}}
Although behind the scenes for most of his career, Kirkland contributed to the recordings of musicians such as Etta James, Charlie Parker, Ella Fitzgerald, The Righteous Brothers, The Supremes, Brook Benton and the Five Satins.[http://www.allmusic.com/artist/leroy-kirkland-mn0000819225/biography Artist Biography] by Eugene Chadbourne at AllMusic He worked on 1963's No. 1 hit "Our Day Will Come" by Ruby and the Romantics, whom he managed.
Kirkland died in New York City in 1988.
References
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Category:American jazz musicians
Category:20th-century American musicians
Category:Songwriters from South Carolina
Category:People from Columbia, South Carolina