Lucius Venable "Lucky" Millinder (August 8, 1910 – September 28, 1966) was an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
rhythm and bluesRhythm and blues is the name given to a wide-ranging genre of popular music created by African Americans in the late 1940s and early 1950s...
and swing
bandleaderA bandleader is the leader of a band of musicians. The term is most commonly, though not exclusively, used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or rock and roll music....
. Although he could not read or write music, did not play an instrument and rarely sang, his showmanship and musical taste made his bands successful. His group was said to have been
"the greatest big band to play rhythm and blues" http://www.bigbandlibrary.com/luckymillinder.html, and gave a break to a number of influential musicians at the dawn of the rock and roll era.
Lucius Venable "Lucky" Millinder (August 8, 1910 – September 28, 1966) was an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
rhythm and bluesRhythm and blues is the name given to a wide-ranging genre of popular music created by African Americans in the late 1940s and early 1950s...
and swing
bandleaderA bandleader is the leader of a band of musicians. The term is most commonly, though not exclusively, used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or rock and roll music....
. Although he could not read or write music, did not play an instrument and rarely sang, his showmanship and musical taste made his bands successful. His group was said to have been
"the greatest big band to play rhythm and blues" http://www.bigbandlibrary.com/luckymillinder.html, and gave a break to a number of influential musicians at the dawn of the rock and roll era. He is a 1986 inductee of the
Alabama Jazz Hall of FameThe Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame was founded in 1978, and opened a museum on September 18, 1993, with a mission "to foster, encourage, educate, and cultivate a general appreciation of the medium of jazz music as a legitimate, original and distinctive art form indigenous to America...
.
Early career
Millinder was born in
Anniston, AlabamaAnniston is a city in Calhoun County in the state of Alabama, United States. As of the 2000 census, the population of the city is 24,276. According to the 2005 U.S. Census estimates, the city had a population of 23,741...
and was raised in Chicago, Illinois. In the 1920s he worked in clubs, ballrooms, and theatres in Chicago as a master of ceremonies and dancer. He first fronted a band in 1931 for an RKO theater tour, and in 1932 took over leadership of Doc Crawford's orchestra in
HarlemHarlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, long known as a major African-American residential, cultural, and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands.Harlem has been defined by a series...
, New York City, as well as freelancing elsewhere.
In 1933, he took a band to Europe, playing residencies in Monte Carlo and Paris. He returned to New York to take over leadership of the
Mills Blue Rhythm BandThe Mills Blue Rhythm Band was an American big band of the 1930s.The band was formed in Harlem in 1930, with reedman Bingie Madison the first of its many leaders. It started life as the Coconut Grove Orchestra, changing to Mills Blue Rhythm Band when Irving Mills became its manager in 1931...
, which included Henry "Red" Allen,
Charlie ShaversCharlie James Shavers was a swing era jazz trumpet player who played at one time or another with Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Eldridge, Johnny Dodds, Jimmy Noone, Sidney Bechet, Midge Williams and Billie Holiday...
, Harry "Sweets" Edison and J.C. Higginbotham, and which had a regular slot at
The Cotton ClubThe Cotton Club may refer to:* Cotton Club , a famous nightclub in New York City.* Cotton Club , a now-defunct club in Portland, Oregon.* The Cotton Club , a film centered on the New York club....
. Around this time he also discovered singer and guitarist Rosetta Tharpe, with whom he performed for many years and first recorded with on "Trouble In Mind" in 1941.
With his own orchestra
In 1938 he teamed up with pianist
Bill DoggettWilliam Ballard Doggett was an American jazz and rhythm and blues pianist and organist.He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His mother, a church pianist, introduced him to music when he was 9 years old...
's group, and by 1940 had formed a completely new orchestra, which included Doggett and drummer "Panama" Francis. He established a residency at New York's Savoy Ballroom, and won a contract with
Decca RecordsDecca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; later the link with the British company was broken for several decades...
.
Dizzy GillespieJohn Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, singer, and composer.Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...
was the band’s trumpeter for a while, and featured on Millinder's first charted hit, "When The Lights Go On Again (All Over The World)", which reached # 1 on the R&B chart and # 14 on the pop chart in 1942. The follow-up records "Apollo Jump" and "Sweet Slumber" were also big hits, with vocals by Trevor Bacon.
By the mid-1940s the band was drifting towards what would be known as "
Rhythm and BluesRhythm and blues is the name given to a wide-ranging genre of popular music created by African Americans in the late 1940s and early 1950s...
". Other band members around this time included saxophonists
Bull Moose JacksonBenjamin Clarence "Bull Moose" Jackson was an American blues and rhythm and blues singer and saxophonist, who was most successful in the late 1940s.-Career:...
,
Tab SmithTalmadge Smith , was an American swing and rhythm and blues alto saxophonist.Smith joined his first professional band, the Carolina Stompers, in 1929...
and Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, and pianist
“Sir” Charles ThompsonCharles Phillip Thompson , is an American swing and bebop pianist, organist and arranger.He was a professional pianist from the age of 10. By the age of twelve Thompson was playing private parties with Bennie Moten and his band in Colorado Springs...
. In 1944 Millinder recruited singer
Wynonie HarrisWynonie Harris , born in Omaha, Nebraska, was an American blues shouter and rhythm and blues singer of upbeat songs featuring humorous, with often ribald lyrics. With fifteen Top 10 hits between 1946 and 1952, Harris is generally considered one of rock and roll's forerunners, influencing Elvis...
, and their recording together of "Who Threw the Whiskey in the Well" became the group’s biggest hit in 1945, staying at # 1 on the R&B chart for eight weeks and also crossing over to reach # 7 on the US pop chart. After Harris left for a solo career, Millinder followed up with another hit, “Shorty’s Got To Go” on which he took lead vocals. Soon afterwards,
Ruth BrownRuth Brown was an American R&B singer, and actress noted for bringing a popular music style to rhythm and blues in a series of hit songs for fledgling Atlantic Records in the 1950s, such as "So Long", "Teardrops from My Eyes" and " He Treats Your Daughter Mean"...
became the band’s singer for a short period before her own solo career took off.
In the late 1940s the band continued to remain very popular and toured around all the large R&B auditoriums, although it had few chart hits for several years. In 1949 the band left Decca Records and joined first RCA Victor and then
King RecordsKing Records is an American record label, started in 1943 by Syd Nathan and headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.At first it specialized in country music, at the time still known as "hillbilly music." King advertised, "If it's a King, It's a Hillbilly -- If it's a Hillbilly, it's a King." One of the...
, recording with singers
Big John GreerBig John Greer was an American blues tenor saxophonist and vocalist, best known for his recordings from 1949 to 1955.Greer was a friend of Henry Glover from childhood, and both attended college at Alabama A&M together. Glover was playing in Lucky Millinder's band when Bull Moose Jackson left the...
and
Annisteen AllenAnnisteen Allen, born Ernestine Allen was an American blues singer.Allen's first recordings were made in 1945, and included "Miss Annie's Blues" and "Love for Sale"...
. The band’s last big hit was "I’m Waiting Just For You" with Allen in 1951, which reached # 2 on the R&B chart and # 19 pop.
Later years
By 1952 Millinder was working as a radio DJ as well as continuing to tour with his band, but his style was beginning to fall out of favour and the band went through many personnel changes. In 1954 he took over the leadership of the house band at the
Apollo TheaterThe Apollo Theater in New York City is one of the most famous music halls in the United States, and the most famous club associated almost exclusively with African-American performers. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and is the home of Showtime at the Apollo, a...
for a while. He effectively retired from performing around 1955, although his final recordings were in 1960.
He became active in music publishing, and in public relations for a whiskey distillery, before dying from a liver ailment in New York City in 1966
External links and main sources