Mildred Bailey

At 44 years old, Mildred Bailey physical status not available right now. We will update Mildred Bailey's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Mildred Bailey (born Mildred Rinker; 1907 to 1951) was a Native American jazz performer known as "The Queen of Swing," "The Rockin' Chair Lady," and "Mrs."

"Swing" is a play on the lyric.

"It's So Peaceful in the Country," "Trust in Me," "Where Are You?" are two of her best-known hits. "I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart," "Small Fry," "Darn That Dream," "Meat That Chair," "Blame It on My Last Affair," and "Says My Heart" are among "I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart" "Please Be Kind."

She had three singles that were ranked first on the charts, as her mother was an enrolled member of the Coeur d'Alene Reservation in Idaho.

When she was 13 years old, the family moved to Spokane, Washington.

Her younger brothers also became musicians, with her brother Al Rinker starting to perform with Bing Crosby in Spokane and eventually becoming a member of The Rhythm Boys.

Charles Rinker was a clarinet and saxophone player, and Miles Rinker was a booking agent.

Early life

Bailey was born Mildred Rinker on a farm in rural Tekoa, Washington. Josephine, her mother, was a member of the Coeur d'Alene people and a devout Roman Catholic. Bazil Peone, Bailey's great-grandfather, was a chief speaker and song leader of the Coeur d'Alene at the turn of the twentieth century. His ability to produce indigenized Catholic hymns helped the tribe navigate during difficult times of active colonization by Jesuit missionaries.

Bailey and her siblings grew up near De Smet, Idaho, on the Coeur d'Alene Reservation. Her father used to play fiddle and called square dances. Her mother played piano every evening and taught her to play and sing. Miles, Al, a singer and composer, and Charles, a lyricist, were among her younger siblings. With both Josephine and Mildred at the piano, the family often held Saturday night gatherings, as well as a small music and dance hall in the home for local ranchers. Mildred also led her mother to a traditional native ceremony, where she heard and performed the classic songs and lyrics that would later influence her unique singing voice.

Josephine died of tuberculosis at the age of 36, putting Mildred's ability to stay connected to her roots and roots in a way that she could while her mother was alive. Mildred's father remarried shortly after Josephine's death, carrying a daughter and constructing a tumultuous and unhappy home where Mildred and her siblings were repeatedly pushed out of by her new stepmother. Mildred's father and his partner, Mildred, fought for his own children or his new wife after an ultimatum was given to choose his own children or his new spouse, and Mildred's father and Mildred stayed out of the house and into her aunt and uncle in Seattle. A little while later, she and her aunt were involved in a big car crash that killed her aunt and left Mildred with serious physical and emotional scars.

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Music career

At age 17, Rinker moved to Seattle and worked as a sheet music demonstrator at Woolworth's. She married and divorced Ted Bailey, keeping his last name because she thought it sounded more American than Rinker, which was of Swiss (German) origin.

She toured with a West Coast revue and finished in California where she obtained work at radio station KMTR and at a speakeasy in Bakersfield called The Swede's. With the help of her second husband Benny Stafford, Bailey became an established blues and jazz singer on the west coast of the United States. According to Gary Giddins in his book Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams, The Early Years 1903–1940, she found work for her brother Al Rinker and Bing Crosby, who had started performing in Spokane, Washington. They had traveled from Spokane to join her in Los Angeles. Giddins says Crosby heard about Louis Armstrong from Bailey, who urged him to hear Armstrong if Crosby was to be a serious jazz singer. She also played Crosby records from her collection by Ethel Waters and Bessie Smith.

Crosby helped Bailey in turn by introducing her to Paul Whiteman in Los Angeles. She sang with Whiteman's band from 1929 to 1933. Whiteman had a radio program for Old Gold Cigarettes, and when Bailey debuted on it with her version of "Moanin' Low" on August 6, 1929, favorable public reaction was immediate. However, Bailey's first recording with Whiteman did not take place until October 6, 1931, when she recorded a song called "My Goodbye to You". Her recording of "All of Me" with Whiteman the same year was a hit in 1932.

Her first two records had been as an uncredited vocalist for a 1929 session by the Eddie Lang Orchestra ("What Kind o' Man Is You?", a Hoagy Carmichael song that was issued only in the UK), and a recording on May 8, 1930, of "I Like to Do Things for You" for Frankie Trumbauer. She was Whiteman's female vocalist through 1932 (recording in a smooth, crooning style) but left the band later that same year over salary disagreements. She recorded four sides for Brunswick in 1931 with the Casa Loma Orchestra. and there were further recordings for the label in 1933 with the Dorsey Brothers as supporting musicians. Bailey was part of an all-star session with Benny Goodman's studio band in 1934 featuring Coleman Hawkins, Dick McDonough, and Gene Krupa. After leaving Whiteman, Bailey sang on the radio shows of George Jessel and Willard Robison.

In 1933, Bailey married Red Norvo, a xylophonist, improviser, and band leader who had also worked with Paul Whiteman. A dynamic couple, they remained married until 1942 and were known as "Mr. and Mrs. Swing". They worked much of the time in New York City. They remained friends after their divorce. She worked as a solo act, singing in clubs in New York, such as the Café Society and the Blue Angel. From September 1944, Bailey's radio show began on CBS and continued until February 1945. Her last major engagement was with Joe Marsala in Chicago in 1950.

From 1936 to 1939, Norvo recorded for Brunswick (with Bailey as primary vocalist), and Bailey recorded for Vocalion, often with Norvo's band. Some of her other recordings featured members of Count Basie's band. The two performers continued to record together intermittently until 1945. Bailey was featured on Benny Goodman's Camel Caravan radio program and sang on a number of Goodman's Columbia recordings in 1939 and 1940, including her version of "Darn That Dream" which was a hit in 1940.

Bailey suffered from diabetes. Due to her health, she was hospitalized in 1938, 1943, and 1949. She went into retirement for a time in 1949 on a farm she owned in Poughkeepsie, New York. Often in financial difficulties, she was bailed out several times by Bing Crosby.

Bailey died of heart failure on December 12, 1951 in St. Francis Hospital in Poughkeepsie, New York at the age of 44.

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Awards and honors

• In 1989, Bailey was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame.
• The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz describes Bailey as "the first white singer to absorb and master the jazz-flavored phrasing...of her black contemporaries."
• In 1994, a 29-cent stamp was issued by the US Postal Service in Bailey's honor; it was designed by Howard Koslow, based on the photograph by jazz photographer William Gottlieb (at the head of this article) of Bailey performing at Carnegie Hall.
• In 2012, the Coeur d'Alene Nation introduced a resolution honoring Bailey to the Idaho state legislature. They were seeking acknowledgement of the singer's Coeur d'Alene ancestry as well as to promote her induction to the Jazz at Lincoln Center Hall of Fame in New York City.