Jack Leonard (February 10, 1913 - June 17, 1988) was an American big band singer who recorded many songs with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra,
One of the top male vocalists of the late 1930s, Brooklyn born Jack Leonard was rivalled only by Bing Crosby in popularity. Leonard got his start singing at a roadside stand on Long Island and worked on the government relief team that built New York’s Jones Beach in the early 1930s. He was singing in Bert Block’s orchestra in 1935 when Tommy Dorsey hired him away. Dorsey also took trumpeter Joe Bauer and arranger Axel Stordahl, then known as Odd Stordahl. Together the men formed a vocal group call the Three Esquires. It was as a soloist, though, that Leonard would achieve stardom, recording more than 200 songs with the orchestra with such classics as “Marie,” “All the Things You Are,” “Our Love,” and “Indian Summer.”
Leonard was a shy, handsome man who was liked by all. He was very near-sighted but refused to wear glasses in public so as not to spoil his romantic image. His departure from Dorsey’s orchestra in November of 1939 was a surprise to his band mates.
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The rumor was that Dorsey had grown suspicious of Leonard’s intentions, fearing that he was going to leave soon for a solo career, and had forced him out, though Leonard himself tried to dispel it at the time, saying he just needed a break and would return soon. He never did. He was replaced in the band by Allan DeWitt, who failed to work out and was replaced after only one month by Frank Sinatra.
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| Leonard and first wife Edna Ryan |
Leonard also served as Nat King Cole’s business manager and later worked in music publishing before retiring in the 1970s. Jack Leonard died from cancer in 1988 at the Motion Picture & Television Country Home and Hospital in Woodland Hill. He was 75.
(Info from BandChirps)
Jack Leonard, backed by the Modernaires, receates two of his great Tommy Dorsey hits, "I Hadn't Anyone Till You" and"Marie" in this rare 1983 TV appearance.
Jack Leonard, backed by the Modernaires, receates two of his great Tommy Dorsey hits, "I Hadn't Anyone Till You" and"Marie" in this rare 1983 TV appearance.