Bobby Tucker was a pianist and arranger during the jazz era from the 1940s into the 1960s. He is most famous for being Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing...

's accompanist from 1946 to 1949.

Billie Holiday

On November 12, 1946, during Billie Holiday's stay at the Down Beat Club, Bobby Tucker was drafted to accompany Holiday because Eddie Heywood

Eddie Heywood

Eddie Heywood was a jazz pianist who was popular in the 1940s. His father, Eddie Heyward, Sr. was also a jazz musician from the 1920s. Heywood, Jr...

 refused his opportunity. Billie's stay at the Down Beat was so successful due to Tucker's playing that she decided to keep him as her accompanist. The partnership lasted until 1949, where Tucker quit due to Holiday's abusive lover, John Levy, threatening him. (Not to be confused with the bass player)

Billy Eckstine

After leaving Holiday in 1949, Bobby Tucker began playing for Billy Eckstine

Billy Eckstine

William Clarence Eckstine was an American singer of ballads and a bandleader of the swing era. Eckstine's smooth baritone and distinctive vibrato broke down barriers throughout the 1940s, first as leader of the original bop big-band, then as the first romantic black male in popular...

. Not much is known about this partnership, but there is a 1960 album, No Cover, No Minimum

No Cover, No Minimum

No Cover, No Minimum is a 1960 live album by Billy Eckstine. It was recorded in Las Vegas and features Eckstine both as a vocalist and also on trumpet, backed by an orchestra arranged and directed by his pianist, Bobby Tucker. Production was by Teddy Reig...

which features Tucker playing piano for Eckstine. Tucker also released his own album under his own name in 1960, Too Tough.
Tucker died of a heart attack.