| Leslie Hutchinson | |
|---|---|
Hutch 1930s |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Leslie Arthur Julien Hutchinson |
| Also known as | "Hutch" |
| Born | March 7, 1900 |
| Origin | Gouyave, Grenada |
| Died | August 18, 1969 (aged 69) |
| Genres | Cabaret |
| Occupations | Singer |
| Instruments | Piano |
| Years active | c. 1920-c. 1965 |
Leslie Arthur Julien Hutchinson, known as "Hutch" (born Gouyave, Grenada, 7 March 1900, died London, England, 18 August 1969) was one of the biggest cabaret stars in the world during the 1920s and 1930s.[1]
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Born in Grenada in 1900 to George Hutchinson and Marianne (née Turnbull),[2] he took piano lessons as a child.[3] He moved to New York City in his teens, originally to take a degree in medicine as he won a place due to his high aptitude, and began playing the piano and singing in bars. He then joined a black band led by Henry "Broadway" Jones, who often played for white millionaires such as the Vanderbilts, attracting the wrath of the Ku Klux Klan. In 1924 he left America for Paris, where he had a residency in Joe Zelli's club and became a friend and lover of Cole Porter.[4][5] He was for some time the highest paid star in Britain and was one of the biggest stars during the twenties and thirties in the UK.[3]
"Hutch" might have been secretly bisexual and was alleged to have had relationships with Ivor Novello, Merle Oberon, and actress Tallulah Bankhead--an openly bisexual Golden Age Hollywood actress.[2] The rumours include affairs with Edwina Mountbatten and members of the British Royal Family which supposedly led to his social ostracism and the destruction of his professional career.[5] Such rumours pertaining to an affair with a senior Royal just after the end of WW2, are hinted to in the 2008 film 'The Bank Job' with it posited that the character 'Martine Love' played by Saffron Burrows is indeed that Royal stealing her own photographs to be able to ensure the future of a lineage descended from her and Hutch's lovechild. It was not unusual for signs on guest houses to read 'no Irish, no blacks, no dogs' thus possession of such pictures allowed the Royal to protect against those accurséd courtiers, and indeed one of her descendents is now an internationally renowned singer/songwriter with success in her own right.
Encouraged by his lover Edwina Mountbatten, he came to England in 1927 to perform in a Rodgers and Hart musical, and soon became the darling of society and the population in general. "Hutch" was a favourite singer of the then Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII). He was regularly heard on air with the BBC. One of his greatest hits was "These Foolish Things". He was a much-loved wartime entertainer.
As well as being a friend and lover of Cole Porter, he recorded several of his songs, including "Begin the Beguine" and Porter's list song "Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love)", to which he supposedly made up some 70 new verses.
He married Ella Byrd, a woman of African, English, and Chinese ancestry, in 1923 or 1924 in New York City.[2][1] Their daughter, Lesley Bagley Yvonne, was born on 9 April 1926. Hutch would go on to sire six further children to five different mothers. Gordon was born in August 1928, Gabrielle in September 1930, Gerald and Chris in 1948, and Graham (Chris' full brother) in 1953, and Emma in April 1964.[2][6][7]
Leslie Hutchinson suffered from ill-health in his later years and died from pneumonia on 19 August 1969. Only 42 people attended his funeral.[5]