Herb Jeffries
1997 WMA Hall of Fame Member

Not many performers can boast of entertaining continuously for over 60 years. Fewer yet still sound good enough to be able to record a critically acclaimed album at 83 years of age. But Herb Jeffries did just that. Teamed with Michael Martin Murphey and the 108 member San Antonio Symphony Orchestra, Herb recorded an album of Western Songs two years ago. The first few tunes were taken from movies he did back in the late 1930's, when he starred as Bob Blake, the Bronze Buckaroo, Hollywood's only black singing Cowboy. The rest were recorded with Murphey and the Orchestra.

Herb was born in Detroit and performed in a combo locally and on radio. After moving to Chicago, he sang in local shows with the famous Earl "Fatha" Hines before being asked to go on a tour of the South.

There he experienced for the first time the ugliness of segregation and its effect on the lives of blacks. Seeing Westerns with only white cast members convinced him of the need for black role models for kids. And after a year of trying, he finally found a man in Hollywood who was interested in backing a series of films. Jeffries starred in them, chose the actors, wrote most of the music and did all his own riding and stunts.

After four major box office successes, the fifth film was never completed due to his signing a contract to sing with the Duke Ellington Orchestra in 1939. Many who remember the Big Band era will recall the hit songs "You, You Darling" and "Flamingo" with Herb Jeffries as the lead singer. "Flamingo" sold over 14 million copies!

After serving in the military during W.W.II, he opened a jazz club in Paris and 10 years later one in Los Angeles, both called "The Flamingo."

Since then he has made a number of movies and TV shows, and produced and recorded an album a year for many years and still performs up to six months each year with his own 16 piece band and as guest performer with many others, including Mercer Ellington and numerous classical orchestras. The San Antonio Orchestra album was recorded live and was a genuine first for Western Music.

Herb attributes his longevity and good health to a lifelong study of Eastern religion, meditation, and yoga; most importantly, he says, he never took his voice for granted. He keeps singing and his magnificent baritone voice is a testament to his efforts. Herb never outgrew his love for Westerns and Western Music, and the movies and music business are much richer because of him.

(by Michelle Sundin - taken from information supplied by Warner Western Music)