#bobby tucker

[gottahavesoul]

Billie Holiday - You Better go Now (The Complete On Verve 1945-1959)

Live at Carnegie Hall, 1947

[njhgc]

When Lady Day sang the blues in Morristown

By the North Jersey History and Genealogy Center

Iconic blues singer, Billie Holiday, is best known for her performances in smoky New York City jazz clubs, but during one of the most difficult moments of her life she found safe haven in Morristown. Here, she briefly lived with the family of pianist Bobby Tucker, whose parents, Robert and Beatrice Tucker, lived on Cleveland Avenue.

Holiday details her troubled upbringing and struggles with substance abuse in her autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues. The book includes her 1947 narcotics arrest that resulted in a one year sentence at the Federal Women’s Reformatory in Alderson, West Virginia.

Upon gaining early release for good behavior, Billie was welcomed back to the Tucker homestead. She writes of Bobby Tucker meeting her at Newark Penn Station with her dog, Mister, who was so excited to see his owner that he leaped up and knocked her to the ground, causing a concerned crowd of onlookers to come to her aid thinking she’d been attacked by a stray.

Upon arriving at the Tucker family home, Billie noted that “his mother came running out and took me in her arms. Bobby and his mother made me feel like I was home and everything was cool.” During Holiday’s two and half months in Morristown, she continuously rehearsed for the Carnegie Hall concert that her manager arranged as a comeback performance.

Bobby’s sister, Jane Tucker, noted that these rehearsals took place in her mother’s enclosed porch, where Billie Holiday was joined by clarinetist (and Morristown native) Tony Sciacca, drummer Denzel Best, bassist John Levy, guitarist Remo Palmeri, and Bobby Tucker on piano.

The neighbors were too considerate to come over and listen. They felt Lady wouldn’t enjoy being stared at then, but we knew every ear was glued to the windows 

      - Jane Tucker

Holiday was unsure her fans would embrace her after her legal troubles. But her March 27, 1948, performance sold out, with fans purchasing over 2,500 advance tickets. Billie invited Jane and Beatrice Tucker to the concert as guests, placing them in the venue’s best box seats, and the concert’s success spring boarded Holiday’s revival.

Although Ms. Holiday had expressed a desire to buy a house in Morristown, her career kept her in New York and on the road. She did, however, let her boxer, Mister, stay with the family where he loved the added space in which to run around.

Bobby Tucker left Holiday to play for Billy Eckstine, and his sister Jane became a senior research assistant for the Menen Company. While the Tuckers kept in touch with Holiday, she never did return to Morristown.

Sources:

“When Lady Sang those blues Morristown had heard it all,” The Daily Record, February 1, 1973. Page 32.

North Jersey History and Genealogy Center Vertical Files

[dcaap-blog]

Portrait of Billy Eckstine | Bobby Tucker Collection | Archives Center, National Museum of American History

Calling all art-savvy followers: Processing Assistant Rebekah brought this 1965 pastel portrait to our attention, and we want to learn more about it! Can you point us toward any additional information? 

[black-0rpheus]

Billie Holiday and her pianist Bobby Tucker during her Broadway show Holiday on Broadway, c. 1948

[handdrawnrecords]

NEW: Exit 380, Live!

EXIT 380 HOUSE OF BLUES DALLAS Photos by Ronnie Jackson // Posted to On Tour Monthly (11/20/13)

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[ontourmonthly]

OTM EXCLUSIVE: In the Studio with Exit 380

IN THE STUDIO EXIT 380 by Larissa Shouga

Aaron Borden – Exit 380 | Photomaps Sessions | ©2013 James Villa Photography, On Tour Monthly, All Rights Reserved.

Upon my arrival at the studio I heard the delightful sound of a solitary violin finding its way…

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[neatlyinshambles]

"Anything is possible when your cause is great enough; anything is possible when you believe."

Bobby Tucker is a pastor and former student affairs professional who delivered the keynote address at a regional conference I attended this past weekend. He gave what is possibly the best keynote address that I've heard at any conference. During his speech, he spoke about a number of experiences that showed him why working with students was an amazing profession. The two that resonated the most are Texas A&M's "Red, White, and Blue Out" tribute shortly after September 11th, 2001 in which 5 students rallied to have nearly the entire stadium dress alike and raise money for relief efforts and the story of one of the victims of the Texas A&M Bonfire Collapse of 1999 which claimed the lives of 12 students and injured dozens more.

[billiesholiday]

An autographed photo of Billie Holiday given to her pianist Bobby Tucker.

To Bob,

Gee your [sic] great. Let's go places.

Billie Holiday