Biography

Debonair jazz vocalist and bandleader Billy Eckstine was a major influence on generations of singers across the pop and jazz spectrum. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Eckstine got his first major break as a singer with Earl "Fatha" Hines's Chicago band in the late 1930s. By the mid-'40s, Eckstine was leading his own big band, which featured a rotating line-up of soon-to-be jazz legends (including Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and Charlie Parker, among many others). Eckstine eventually struck out on his own and established himself as one of the premier balladeers in American popular music, remaining a major musical figure up until his death in 1993.

Top Tracks

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• A Cottage For Sale

• Blowing The Blues Away

• Caravan

• Cool Breeze

• 'deed I Do

• Don't Take Your Love From Me

• Everything I Have Is Yours

• Fools Rush In

• Good Jelly Blues

• I Got A Date With Rhythm

• I Hear A Rhapsody

• I Love The Rhythm In A Riff

• I Stay In The Mood For You

• If That's The Way You Feel

• I'll Wait And Pray

• I'm In The Mood For Love

• Imagination

• In My Solitude

• In The Still Of The Night

• I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face

• Jelly, Jelly

• Lonesome Lover Blues

• Long, Long Journey

• Mr. B's Blues

• My Foolish Heart

• Oop Bop Sh'bam

• Opus X

• Please Send Me Someone To Love

• Prisoner Of Love

• She's Got The Blues For Sale

• Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

• Somehow

• Someone To Watch Over Me

• Sophisticated Lady

• Stardust

• Stella By Starlight

• Stormy Weather

• The Real Thing Happened To Me

• What's New?

• You Don't Know What Love Is

Discography

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• Billy Eckstine Sings with Benny Carter

  Verve

  1986

• Feel the Warm

  Enterprise

  1971

• My Way

  Motown

  1966

• Prime of My Life

  Motown

  1965

• 12 Great Movies

  Mercury

  1964

• Don't Worry 'bout Me

  1962

• At Basin Street East

  Emarcy

  1961

• Billy Eckstine and Quincy Jones

  Mercury

  1961

• Broadway, Bongos and Mr. B

  1961

• No Cover, No Minimum

  Roulette Records

  1960

• Once More with Feeling

  Roulette Records

  1960

• Billy and Sarah

  Lion

  1959

• Basie and Eckstine, Inc.

  Roulette Records

  1959

• Billy's Best!

  Verve / Mercury

  1958

• Imagination

  Polygram

  1958

• Billy Eckstine's Imagination

  Polygram

  1958

• Rendezvous

  MGM

  1955

• That Old Feeling

  MGM

  1955

• Mister B with a Beat

  MGM

  1955

• I Surrender, Dear

  Emarcy

  1955

• I Let a Song Go Out of My Heart

  1954

• Songs by Billy Eckstine

  MGM

  1954

• Blues for Sale

  Emarcy

  1954

• The Great Mr. B

  1954

• Favorites

  MGM

  1954

• The Love Songs of Mr. B

  Emarcy

  1954

• Tenderly

  MGM

  1952

• Billy Eckstine Sings

  Savoy

  1950