Prince Shell

Eutrice Ulysses "Prince" Shell, accomplished musician, was born in Lott, Texas, USA, on December 31, 1928. He died on April 11 2007. He began playing piano as a child and later studied valve trombone at Chicago's DuSable High School with music educator and band director Walter Dyett. Shell honed his arranging skills while a member of the Tennessee State Collegians big-band at Tennessee State University and also at the Navy School of Music. During his service in the Air Force, Shell became "chief arranger" for the Strategic Air Command Band at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska. He performed and toured with Gene Ammons and Gene McDaniels, and became the house pianist at Chicago's original Regal Theater where he appeared with Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, The Four Tops, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, and others. Shell teamed up with Jesse Jackson and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1970 to arrange for and record their Operation Breadbasket Orchestra and Choir for Chess Records. Sun Ra and other nationally known musicians have performed and recorded his arrangements, and his works have been featured in concerts at the Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory of Music.