Edythe Wright
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Edythe Wright (August 16, 1916 – October 28, 1965) was a singer best known for her work with Tommy Dorsey.
She was born in Bayonne, New Jersey. After graduating from New Brunswick High School in 1933 she attended the New Jersey State College for Women. In 1935 Edythe filled in for Nancy Flake who was the featured singer for Frank Dailey's Orchestra at Asbury Park. During this stint she was discovered by Tommy Dorsey and worked in Dorsey's orchestra from September 1935 through August 1939. After leaving the Dorsey orchestra she apparently did some radio work, travelled with Dorsey and then moved to California. A 1950 Variety column notes that she came back to New York to manage Sy Oliver. Information beyond this is lacking. Sometime during the 1950's she married John T. Smith and they had a son Patrick Smith. During this time Edythe was apparently involved with the New Jersey Democratic State Assembly in Wall Township, New Jersey and directing amateur musicals at Chadwick Beach. She died of cancer in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, and after a funeral Mass at Saint Denis Church in Manasaquan, New Jersey, she was buried at Saint Catherine's Cemetery in Spring Lake Heights, New Jersey. Her husband, John T. Smith died in 1981 and the whereabouts of her son is unknown.
The only known article about Edythe was by Rose Shiffman in After Beat (1972). Several threads have been posted about her at the Big Band Talk message board.
She made approximately 120 studio recordings with the Dorsey band between 1935 and 1939 (not including transcriptions under a pseudonym) and was a feature on radio on the Jack Pearl Show, broadcasts by Tommy Dorsey and the Ellery Queen radio series.
