Judy Ellington

Jazz vocalist from Raleigh, North Carolina, who sang with various orchestras - most notably that of Charlie Barnet - in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Ellington started her career at the age of 12 on a local radio station, WPTF. Around 1933 she followed his brother Cecil Ellington and his band to Richmond. From there she moved to Washington DC, where she sang at clubs for two and a half years. In New York, she first recorded with Russ Morgan (2), and then sang with Wingy Manone and toured with Rudy Vallee. After returning from tour, she joined Charlie Barnet's orchestra in October 1938. She left Barnet's orchestra to join Tommy Reynolds (3) in December 1939. She briefly performed on her own before marrying vaudeville comedian Donald Graham in 1942, after which she retired from singing. She made a brief comeback in 1968 and performed a series of shows in Raleigh. Born: circa 1916 in Raleigh, North Carolina, USA Died: 20 June 1980 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA (aged 64)