Billy Banks

about

Billy Banks (b. c. 1908; d. October 19, 1967, Tokyo, Japan) was an American jazz singer. Banks is most prominently remembered for being a successful female impersonator on record. Banks recorded in 1932 with an all-star, multi-racial jazz lineup made up of Red Allen on trumpet, Pee Wee Russell on clarinet, Tommy Dorsey on trombone, Jess Stacy on piano, Zutty Singleton on drums, and Fats Waller, also on piano; most of the black musicians were from Luis Russell's retinue, while the white ones had been brought to the studio by producer Irving Mills. The vocals were once thought to have been performed by Una Mae Carlisle, but Banks is the actual vocalist. Banks worked with Russell as a showman and vocalist, and later worked with Noble Sissle. He later performed in cabarets under Billy Rose, then toured Europe, Australia, and East Asia in the 1950s. One of his last recordings was done in Denmark in 1954 with Cy Laurie. Late in the 1950s he relocated to Japan, and died there in Tokyo in 1967 User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

top songs

albums

Swing Kids

Swing Kids [Original Soundtrack]

▥

Golden Greats: Greatest Dixieland Jazz Disc 2

▥

Bathe

▥

Swing Kids Soundtrack

▥

Swing Kids OST

Harlem meets Chicago Jazz 1932

▥

Great Songs Of 1932

▥

Jazz macht Frauen Beine

▥

Swing Kids: Music From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

▥

Golden Greats: Greatest Dixieland Jazz

▥

1932

similar artists