Al Hibbler
Encyclopedia
Albert George "Al" Hibbler (August 16, 1915 – April 24, 2001) was an American
baritone
vocalist, who sang with Duke Ellington
's orchestra before having several pop
hits as a solo artist. Some of his singing is classified as rhythm and blues
, but he is best classified as a bridge between R&B and traditional pop music
. According to one authority, "Hibbler cannot be regarded as a jazz
singer but as an exceptionally good interpreter of twentieth-century popular songs who happened to work with some of the best jazz musicians of the time."
, United States
, and was blind
from birth. At the age of 12 he moved to Little Rock, Arkansas
where he attended Arkansas School for the Blind, joining the school choir
. Later he began working as a blues
singer in local bands, failing his first audition for Duke Ellington
in 1935. However, after winning an amateur talent contest in Memphis, Tennessee
, he joined a band led by Jay McShann
in 1942, and the following year joined Ellington's orchestra, replacing Herb Jeffries.
pop chart (and # 1 for eight weeks on the "Harlem Hit Parade") in 1944, "I Ain't Got Nothin' But the Blues," and "I'm Just a Lucky So-and-So
." Although Hibbler's style was described as "mannered", "over-stated", and "full of idiosyncrasies" and "bizarre vocal pyrotechnics", he was also considered "undoubtedly the best" of Ellington's male vocalists. Whilst with Ellington, Hibbler won the Esquire
New Star Award in 1947 and the Down Beat
award for Best Band Vocalist in 1949.
Hibbler left Ellington's band in 1951 after a dispute over his wages. He then recorded with various bands including those of Johnny Hodges
and Count Basie
, and for various labels including Chess
, Mercury
, and Norgran, a subsidiary of Verve Records
, for whom he released an LP
, Al Hibbler Favorites, in 1953. In 1954 he released a more successful album, Al Hibbler Sings Duke Ellington, and in 1955
, he started recording with Decca Records
, with immediate success. His biggest hit was "Unchained Melody
", which reached # 3 on the US pop chart, and its success led to network appearances, including a live jazz club remote
on NBC's Monitor
. Other hits were "He
," "11th Hour Melody" and "Never Turn Back" (all in 1956
). "After the Lights Go Down Low
" (also in 1956) was his last top ten hit.
activist, marching with protestors and getting arrested in 1959 in New Jersey
and in 1963 in Alabama
. The notoriety of this activism discouraged major record label
s from carrying his work, but Frank Sinatra
supported him and signed him to a contract with his label, Reprise Records
. However, Hibbler made very few recordings after that, occasionally doing live appearances through the 1990s. In 1971, Hibbler sang two songs at Louis Armstrong
's funeral. In 1972 he made an album, A Meeting of the Times
, with another fiercely independent blind musician, the multi-instrumentalist Rahsaan Roland Kirk
.
in 2001, at the age of 85.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
vocalist, who sang with Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
's orchestra before having several pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
hits as a solo artist. Some of his singing is classified as rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
, but he is best classified as a bridge between R&B and traditional pop music
Traditional pop music
Traditional pop or classic pop or standards music denotes, in general, Western popular music that either wholly predates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s, or to any popular music which exists concurrently to rock and roll but originated in a time before the appearance of rock and roll,...
. According to one authority, "Hibbler cannot be regarded as a jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
singer but as an exceptionally good interpreter of twentieth-century popular songs who happened to work with some of the best jazz musicians of the time."
Early life
Hibbler was born in Tyro, MississippiMississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, and was blind
Blindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
from birth. At the age of 12 he moved to Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock, Arkansas
Little Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...
where he attended Arkansas School for the Blind, joining the school choir
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
. Later he began working as a blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
singer in local bands, failing his first audition for Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
in 1935. However, after winning an amateur talent contest in Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
, he joined a band led by Jay McShann
Jay McShann
Jay McShann was an American Grammy Award-nominated jump blues, mainstream jazz, and swing bandleader, pianist and singer....
in 1942, and the following year joined Ellington's orchestra, replacing Herb Jeffries.
Career
He stayed with Ellington for almost eight years, and featured on a range of Ellington standards including "Do Nothin' Til You Hear From Me", the words for which were written specifically for him and which reached # 6 on the BillboardBillboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
pop chart (and # 1 for eight weeks on the "Harlem Hit Parade") in 1944, "I Ain't Got Nothin' But the Blues," and "I'm Just a Lucky So-and-So
I'm Just a Lucky So-and-So
"I'm Just a Lucky So-and-So" is a 1945 song composed by Duke Ellington, with lyrics written by Mack David.-Notable recordings:*Billy Eckstine & Quincy Jones 1959...
." Although Hibbler's style was described as "mannered", "over-stated", and "full of idiosyncrasies" and "bizarre vocal pyrotechnics", he was also considered "undoubtedly the best" of Ellington's male vocalists. Whilst with Ellington, Hibbler won the Esquire
Esquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
New Star Award in 1947 and the Down Beat
Down Beat
Down Beat is an American magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond" to indicate its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois...
award for Best Band Vocalist in 1949.
Hibbler left Ellington's band in 1951 after a dispute over his wages. He then recorded with various bands including those of Johnny Hodges
Johnny Hodges
John Cornelius "Johnny" Hodges was an American alto saxophonist, best known for his solo work with Duke Ellington's big band. He played lead alto in the saxophone section for many years, except the period between 1932–1946 when Otto Hardwick generally played first chair...
and Count Basie
Count Basie
William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...
, and for various labels including Chess
Chess Records
Chess Records was an American record label based in Chicago, Illinois. It specialized in blues, R&B, soul, gospel music, early rock and roll, and occasional jazz releases....
, Mercury
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
, and Norgran, a subsidiary of Verve Records
Verve Records
Verve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve...
, for whom he released an LP
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
, Al Hibbler Favorites, in 1953. In 1954 he released a more successful album, Al Hibbler Sings Duke Ellington, and in 1955
1955 in music
-Events:*January 1 – RCA Victor announces a marketing plan called "Operation TNT." The label drops the list price on LPs from $5.95 to $3.98, EPs from $4.95 to $2.98, 45 EPs from $1.58 to $1.49 and 45's from $1.16 to $.89...
, he started recording with Decca Records
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
, with immediate success. His biggest hit was "Unchained Melody
Unchained Melody
"Unchained Melody" is a 1955 song with music by Alex North and lyrics by Hy Zaret. It has become one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century, by some counts having spawned over 500 versions in hundreds of different languages....
", which reached # 3 on the US pop chart, and its success led to network appearances, including a live jazz club remote
Big band remote
A big band remote was a remote broadcast, popular on radio during the 1930s and 1940s, involving a coast-to-coast live transmission of a big band.As early as 1923, listeners could tune in The Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra...
on NBC's Monitor
Monitor (NBC Radio)
NBC Monitor was an American weekend radio program broadcast from June 12, 1955, until January 26, 1975. Airing live and nationwide on the NBC Radio Network, it originally aired beginning Saturday morning at 8am and continuing through the weekend until 12 midnight on Sunday...
. Other hits were "He
He (song)
"He" is a song about God, written in 1954, which made the popular music charts the following year.The music was written by Jack Richards, with lyrics by Richard Mullan...
," "11th Hour Melody" and "Never Turn Back" (all in 1956
1956 in music
-Events:*January 26 – Buddy Holly's first recording sessions for Decca Records take place in Nashville, Tennessee*Roy Orbison signs with Sun Records*January 27 – Elvis Presley's single "Heartbreak Hotel" / "I Was the One" is released...
). "After the Lights Go Down Low
After the Lights Go Down Low (song)
"After The Lights Go Down Low" is a popular song written by Phil Belmonte, Allen White and Leroy C. Lovett and published in 1956. It has been recorded by many artists...
" (also in 1956) was his last top ten hit.
Activism
In the late 1950s and 1960s, Hibbler became a civil rightsCivil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
activist, marching with protestors and getting arrested in 1959 in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
and in 1963 in Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
. The notoriety of this activism discouraged major record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
s from carrying his work, but Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
supported him and signed him to a contract with his label, Reprise Records
Reprise Records
Reprise Records is an American record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operated through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:...
. However, Hibbler made very few recordings after that, occasionally doing live appearances through the 1990s. In 1971, Hibbler sang two songs at Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
's funeral. In 1972 he made an album, A Meeting of the Times
A Meeting of the Times
A Meeting of the Times is an album by jazz multi-instrumentalist Rahsaan Roland Kirk and vocalist Al Hibbler recorded in March 1972 in New York City...
, with another fiercely independent blind musician, the multi-instrumentalist Rahsaan Roland Kirk
Rahsaan Roland Kirk
Rahsaan Roland Kirk was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist who played tenor saxophone, flute and many other instruments...
.
Death
He died at Holy Cross Hospital in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
in 2001, at the age of 85.
Solo singles (chart hits only)
| Year | Title | Label & Cat. No. | U.S. Pop Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
U.S. R&B Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,... |
UK UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1948 | "Trees" / "Lover, Come Back To Me Lover, Come Back to Me "Lover, Come Back to Me" is a popular song. The music was written by Sigmund Romberg with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II for the Broadway show The New Moon, where the song was introduced by Evelyn Herbert and Robert Halliday... " |
Miracle 501 | |
|
|
| 1950 | "Danny Boy Danny Boy -Background:The words to "Danny Boy" were written by English lawyer and lyricist Frederic Weatherly in 1910. Although the lyrics were originally written for a different tune, Weatherly modified them to fit the "Londonderry Air" in 1913, after his sister-in-law in the U.S. sent him a copy. Ernestine... " |
Atlantic 911 | |
|
|
| 1951 | "What Will I Tell My Heart" | Chess 1455 | |
|
|
| 1955 | "Unchained Melody Unchained Melody "Unchained Melody" is a 1955 song with music by Alex North and lyrics by Hy Zaret. It has become one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century, by some counts having spawned over 500 versions in hundreds of different languages.... " |
Decca 29441 (US) Brunswick 05420 (UK) |
|
|
|
| 1955 | "He He (song) "He" is a song about God, written in 1954, which made the popular music charts the following year.The music was written by Jack Richards, with lyrics by Richard Mullan... " |
Decca 29660 | |
|
|
| 1956 | "11th Hour Melody" | Decca 29789 | |
|
|
| 1956 | "Never Turn Back" / "Away All Boats" | Decca 29950 | |
|
|
| 1956 | "After The Lights Go Down Low" | Decca 29982 | |
|
|
| 1957 | "Trees" (re-recording) | Decca 30176 | |
|
|
Albums
- The Ellingtonians With Al Hibbler, Mercer 1004, 1951
- Al Hibbler Favorites, Norgran MGN-4, 1953
- Al Hibbler Sings Duke Ellington, Norgran MGN-15, 1954
- Al Hibbler Sings With The Duke, Columbia CL2593, 1954
- Starring Al Hibbler, Decca DL8328, 1956
- After The Lights Go Down Low, Atlantic 1251, 1956
- Melodies By Al Hibbler, Argo 601, 1956
- Here's Hibbler!, Decca DL8420, 1957
- I Surrender Dear, Score SLP4013, 1957 (one side only)
- Torchy and Blue, Decca DL8697, 1958
- Hits By Hibbler, Decca DL8757, 1958
- Al Hibbler Remembers The Big Songs of the Big Bands, Decca DL 78862, 1959
- Al Hibbler Sings Love Songs, Verve MGV-4000, 1959
- Al Hibbler Sings The Blues: Monday Every Day, Reprise R9-2005, 1961
- Shades of Blue, Imperial 9185, 1961 (one side only)
- Early One Morning, LMI, 1964
- A Meeting Of The Times (with Rahsaan Roland Kirk), Atlantic 1630, 1972
- Christmas With Al Hibbler, Holiday HDY1926, 1981
- For Sentimental Reasons (with Hank Jones), Open Sky, 1982
Listen to
See also
- List of artists under the Decca Records label
- List of artists who reached number one on the Billboard R&B chart
- List of artists who reached number one on the Australian singles chart
- List of people from Little Rock, Arkansas