Buddy Hughes, former big band jazz vocalist most notably with the orchestras of Jimmy Dorsey, Gene Krupa and Claude Thornhill has passed away at the age of 91 years (recently announced publicly on September 9th) on August 23, 2010 at his home in Glen Ellyn, Illinois of cancer(images in order of appearance: Buddy Hughes on left singing with Gene Krupa's band at the Capitol Theater in New York City; Buddy Hughes and Fran Warren vocalists being featured with Claude Thornhill's Orchestra; Vocalists Buddy Hughes and Delores Hawkins with the Gene Krupa Band) ...starting on radio (station WNT-Waterloo, IA) Buddy sang with Les Hartman's band along with female vocalist Fran Allison (later of “Kukla, Fran and Ollie" TV show fame)...then in 1938 he toured as a vocalist with the Minnesota-based Bennett Greten Orchestra...in the post-war era he acquired several accolades regarding his singing talent which included being labeled the “number one band singer" in December of 1947 by Metronome Magazine and in 1946 Downbeat Magazine declared his singing as “the freshest voice to be heard with a band." He was also marketed by Columbia Records as “a refined Johnny Mercer." The tunes Buddy Hughes recorded for Columbia (with the Gene Krupa band in 1947) were: “I'll Never Make The Same Mistake Again," “Fun and Fancy Free," “Please Don't Play Number Six Tonight," and “It's Whatcha Do With Whatcha Got." The personnel for Gene Krupa's Orchestra at this time included: Gene Krupa-(drums), Don Fagerquist, Gordon Boswell, Buddy Colaneri, Ed Shedowski-(trumpet), Urbie Green, Bob Fitzpatrick, Emil Manazec, Jack Zimmerman-(trombone), Larry Hambro, Charlie Kennedy-(alto sax), Buddy Wise, Mitch Melnick-(tenor sax), Bob Morton-(baritone sax), Bob Lesher-(guitar), Teddy Napoleon-(piano), Pete Ruggerio-(bass), Delores Hawkins, Buddy Hughes-(vocals), Eddie Finckle, George Williams-(arrangers).
Buddy Hughes also recorded on Columbia with Claude Thornhill's post-war band. Many of the band's songs at thattime featured vocals by Fran Warren (her big hit with Thornhill was “Sunday Kind Of Love"), but Buddy was also featured with the band on the recordings “Did I Have To Fall In Love With You?" and “Far Away Island." After having lost a job opportunity to sing with the Benny Goodman Orchestra (due to Goodman wanting a vocalist that could also double on an instrument), Buddy took up learning how to play the acoustic bass to stay in the jazz arena, as big band popularity diminished with the public in the post-war years. In later life Hughes performed occasionally with other Chicago-area jazz notables Bert Rose, Joe Vito, and Johnny Frigo. Mr. Hughes, a World War II veteran, served in Algiers with the U.S. Army's 102nd Cavalry.
There are some really great articles on Buddy Hughes at the following links from Bob Knack's “The Great Escape Newsletter" featured on his DixieSwing.com website: -Includes a pic of Buddy Hughes circa 2007—http://www.dixieswing.com/vol5.pdf -Great Overview of Buddy's Singing career—http://web.me.com/mikebaker/page5/files/greatescape19.pdf
—Memorial Service: Sepetember 25, 2010 10AM to 1PM Wheaton Wesleyan Church 1300 S. President St. Wheaton, IL
—On-Line Memorial and Guestbook is available here: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dailyherald/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=145190744
http://www.legacy.com/guestbook/dailyherald/guestbook.aspx?n=charles-hughes&pid=145190744&cid=gbsrchres
—Chicago Tribune Obit: http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/obituaries/ct-met-hughes-obit-0916-20100915,0,882949.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+chicagotribune%2Fobits+%28chicagotribune.com+-+Obituaries+in+the+news%29
—Chicago Sun Tmes Obit: http://www.suntimes.com/news/obituaries/2714580,CST-NWS-xhughes16.article
—Some Samples of Buddy Hughes Recordings With Gene Krupa's Orchestra: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000001MCA/ref=asc_df_B000001MCA1250854?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&tag=shopzilla_rev_552-20&linkCode=asn&creative=395093&creativeASIN=B000001MCA
Buddy Hughes also recorded on Columbia with Claude Thornhill's post-war band. Many of the band's songs at thattime featured vocals by Fran Warren (her big hit with Thornhill was “Sunday Kind Of Love"), but Buddy was also featured with the band on the recordings “Did I Have To Fall In Love With You?" and “Far Away Island." After having lost a job opportunity to sing with the Benny Goodman Orchestra (due to Goodman wanting a vocalist that could also double on an instrument), Buddy took up learning how to play the acoustic bass to stay in the jazz arena, as big band popularity diminished with the public in the post-war years. In later life Hughes performed occasionally with other Chicago-area jazz notables Bert Rose, Joe Vito, and Johnny Frigo. Mr. Hughes, a World War II veteran, served in Algiers with the U.S. Army's 102nd Cavalry.
There are some really great articles on Buddy Hughes at the following links from Bob Knack's “The Great Escape Newsletter" featured on his DixieSwing.com website: -Includes a pic of Buddy Hughes circa 2007—http://www.dixieswing.com/vol5.pdf -Great Overview of Buddy's Singing career—http://web.me.com/mikebaker/page5/files/greatescape19.pdf
—Memorial Service: Sepetember 25, 2010 10AM to 1PM Wheaton Wesleyan Church 1300 S. President St. Wheaton, IL
—On-Line Memorial and Guestbook is available here: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dailyherald/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=145190744
http://www.legacy.com/guestbook/dailyherald/guestbook.aspx?n=charles-hughes&pid=145190744&cid=gbsrchres
—Chicago Tribune Obit: http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/obituaries/ct-met-hughes-obit-0916-20100915,0,882949.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+chicagotribune%2Fobits+%28chicagotribune.com+-+Obituaries+in+the+news%29
—Chicago Sun Tmes Obit: http://www.suntimes.com/news/obituaries/2714580,CST-NWS-xhughes16.article
—Some Samples of Buddy Hughes Recordings With Gene Krupa's Orchestra: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000001MCA/ref=asc_df_B000001MCA1250854?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&tag=shopzilla_rev_552-20&linkCode=asn&creative=395093&creativeASIN=B000001MCA
This story appears courtesy of JAZZzology by Richard Watters .
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