Velma Middleton (September 1, 1917 – February 10, 1961) was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

vocalist and entertainer who sang with

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s an ...

s and small groups from 1942 until her death.

Biography

Middleton was born in

Holdenville, Oklahoma Holdenville is a city in and county seat of Hughes County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 5,771 at the 2010 census, an increase of 22 percent from 4,732 at the 2000 census.

, and moved with her parents to

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

. She started her career as a

chorus girl A chorus line is a large group of dancers who together perform synchronized routines, usually in musical theatre. Sometimes, singing is also performed. Chorus line dancers in Broadway musicals and revues have been referred to by slang terms s ...

and dancer and throughout her career performed acrobatic splits on stage. After working as a solo performer, and singing with Connie McLean and his Rhythm Orchestra on a tour of

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

, she joined Armstrong's big band in 1942, and appeared with him in

soundies Soundies are three-minute American musical films, and each short displays a performance. The shorts were produced between 1940 and 1946 and have been referred to as "precursors to music videos" by UCLA. Soundies exhibited a variety of musical gen ...

.Yanow, Scott
Biography of Velma Middleton, ''AllMusic.com''
Retrieved 15 November 2016 When Armstrong's orchestra disbanded in 1947, Middleton joined his All-Stars, a smaller group. She was often used for comic relief, such as for duets with Armstrong on "

That's My Desire "That's My Desire" is a 1931 popular song with music by Helmy Kresa and lyrics by Carroll Loveday. The highest-charting version of the song was recorded by the Sammy Kaye orchestra in 1946, although a version of the song recorded by Frankie Lai ...

" and "

Baby, It's Cold Outside "Baby, It's Cold Outside" is a popular song written by Frank Loesser in 1944 and popularized in the 1949 film '' Neptune's Daughter''. While the lyrics make no mention of a holiday, it is commonly regarded as a Christmas song owing to its winter ...

", and she did occasional features. She also recorded eight tracks as a solo singer for Dootone Records in 1948 and 1951. Although she was not widely praised for her voice, described by critic

Scott Yanow Scott Yanow (born October 4, 1954) is an American jazz reviewer, historian, and author.Allmusic Biography/ref> Biography Yanow was born in New York City and grew up near Los Angeles. Since 1974, he was a regular reviewer of many jazz styles an ...

as "average but reasonably pleasing and good-humored", Armstrong regarded her as an important and integral part of his show. Middleton performed on June 7, 1953 with

and his All Stars for the famed ninth Cavalcade of Jazz concert held at

Wrigley Field Wrigley Field is a Major League Baseball (MLB) stadium on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home of the Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charles Weeghman's Chicago Wh ...

in Los Angeles which was produced by

Leon Hefflin, Sr. Leon Norman Hefflin, Sr. (August 17, 1898 – November 20, 1975) was a pioneering African-American producer, director, business owner, furniture manufacturer, and entrepreneur. After losing his large and successful manufacturing business in the ...

Also featured that day were

Don Tosti Don Tosti (given name: Edmundo Martínez Tostado) (March 27, 1923 – August 2, 2004) was an American musician and composer. Tosti forged a career spanning several decades and styles, from classical to jazz and rhythm and blues. He was best rem ...

and His Mexican Jazzmen, Roy Brown and his Orchestra,

Shorty Rogers Milton "Shorty" Rogers (born Milton Rajonsky; April 14, 1924 – November 7, 1994) was an American jazz musician, one of the principal creators of West Coast jazz. He played trumpet and flugelhorn and was in demand for his skills as an arran ...

Earl Bostic Eugene Earl Bostic (April 25, 1913 – October 28, 1965) was an American alto saxophonist. Bostic's recording career was diverse, his musical output encompassing jazz, swing, jump blues and the post-war American rhythm and blues style, which he ...

, and Nat "King" Cole."Jazz Cavalcade will be greatest Sunday, June 7th", ''The California Eagle'', May 21, 1953. While touring with Armstrong in

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierra ...

, she suffered a stroke in January 1961, and died the following month in a hospital in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Freetown. Musician

Barney Bigard Albany Leon "Barney" Bigard (March 3, 1906 – June 27, 1980) was an American jazz clarinetist known for his 15-year tenure with Duke Ellington. He also played tenor saxophone. Biography Bigard was born in New Orleans to Creole parents, Ale ...

was critical of Armstrong as well as manager

Joe Glaser Joseph G. Glaser (December 17, 1896 – June 6, 1969) was an artist manager known for his involvement in the careers of jazz musicians, including Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday. Biography Glaser was the son of a Chicago family of Russian Jewi ...

for refusing, after Middleton took ill, to arrange her transfer to a country with better health facilities.

References

External links

Velma Middleton at JazzLives
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Middleton, Velma 1917 births 1961 deaths Jazz musicians from Oklahoma People from Holdenville, Oklahoma 20th-century American singers American jazz singers American women jazz singers Dixieland singers Deaths in Sierra Leone 20th-century American women singers

Biography

References

Further reading

External links