Bill Grey

African-American pianist, bandleader, and composer of the 1940s. Grey's father was a musician in Ohio. He himself worked as a staff arranger for Radio City Music Hall in New York City, where he met his future wife, composer and arranger Margie Gibson (2). Together, they wrote several hits of the swing era, "Beau Brummel" (1941, for Count Basie) and "Special Delivery" (1942). With Ted McRae, he collaborated on "Southland Shuffle" (1940, for Charlie Barnet). In 1943, the Greys followed bandleader Charlie Spivak to the West Coast and decided to stay in Los Angeles, where Grey worked as an arranger for the Lincoln Theatre and Bardu Ali's band. In early 1945, he led his own 19-piece big band that played the "Club Alabam" in Los Angeles from Jan.-Feb. 1945 and included vocalist Bob Parrish, trombonist Luther "Sonny" Craven, alto saxophonist Art Dennis, and trumpeter Monte Easter and used the arrangements of Grey's wife, Margie Gibson (2).