Herb Jeffries
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Herb Jeffreys | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Herbert Jeffreys |
| Born | September 24, 1911 |
| Genre(s) | Jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Singer and actor |
| Years active | 1938 - 1995 |
Herbert "Herb" Jeffries (born September 24, 1911) is an American jazz singer and actor.
A jazz musician of Ethiopian-French Canadian and Italian-Irish descent, Jeffries is noted for his singing cowboy roles in several all-black Western films in which he sang his own western compositions. Jeffries got the financing for the first black western film and hired Spencer Williams to appear with him. In addition to starring in the film, Jeffries sang and performed his own stunts as the cowboy character "Bob Blake."
Through his series of low-budget westerns, he soon became known as the "Bronze Buckaroo" by fans who flocked to his films that in the days of American racial segregation played only in theaters catering to African Americans audiences. Jeffries remained a virtual unknown with white audiences until interest in his career was revived in the 1980s.
In 1995, at age eighty-three, Herbert Jeffries recorded a Nashville album of songs on the Warner Western label titled The Bronze Buckaroo (Rides Again).
For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Herb Jeffries has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6672 Hollywood Blvd.
In 2004, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Jeffries was married five times, including once to burlesque dancer Tempest Storm.
[edit] Partial filmography
- Harlem on the Prairie (1937)
- Two-Gun Man from Harlem (1938)
- Harlem Rides the Range (1939)
- The Bronze Buckaroo (1939)
[edit] Selected discography
- Sidney Bechet: 1940-1941 (Classics)
- Earl Hines: 1932-1934 (Classics)
- Duke Ellington:The Blanton Webster Band (RCA, 1940-42)
[edit] References
- James L. Collier: Duke Ellington, Oxford University Press, 1987. ISBN 0-19-503770-7
- Richard Cook & Brian Morton: The Penguin Guide To Jazz on CD, 6th Edition, London, Penguin, 2002 ISBN 0-14-017949-6.
