Blue Steele

b.: March 11, 1897 (Salem, Fulton, Arkansas) d.: July 1, 1971 (Hot Springs, Arkansas) American trombonist, singer, and big band leader. Born in Arkansas as Eugene Charles Staples, Steele learned to play the trombone and mellophone. In World War I, he served as a musician with the Headquarters Troop of the 15th Cavalry Regiment in France, returning in June 1919. He supposedly acquired his nickname "Blue Steele" because of a metal plate implanted in his head after being wounded in the war. In the early 1920s, Steele played in a hot jazz group called Watson's Bell Hops. In the middle of the decade, he put together an orchestra in Atlanta, Georgia, and had his first engagement in Tarpon Springs, Florida, soon after. Blue Steele And His Orchestra became a popular territory band in Florida and the American South, later touring in the Midwest as well. After World War II, Steele jumped on the Dixieland craze as Blue Steele, the Dean of Dixieland, with a new band, Blue Steele and the Rhythm Rebels. Steele recorded 34 songs for Victor during the period 1927-1930.