Billy Eckstine

Debonair jazz vocalist and bandleader Billy Eckstine was a major influence on generations of singers across the pop and jazz spectrum. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Eckstine got his first major break as a singer with Earl "Fatha" Hines's Chicago band in the late 1930s. By the mid-'40s, Eckstine was leading his own big band, which featured a rotating line-up of soon-to-be jazz legends (including Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and Charlie Parker, among many others). Eckstine eventually struck out on his own and established himself as one of the premier balladeers in American popular music, remaining a major musical figure up until his death in 1993.