Bea Wain | Big-band singer, 100
Bea Wain, 100, who started singing on the radio at age 6, became a hit-making pop vocalist in the late 1930s, and performed into her ninth decade as one of the last surviving singers of prominence from the big-band era, died Saturday at an assisted-living community in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Bea Wain, 100, who started singing on the radio at age 6, became a hit-making pop vocalist in the late 1930s, and performed into her ninth decade as one of the last surviving singers of prominence from the big-band era, died Saturday at an assisted-living community in Beverly Hills, Calif.
The cause was congestive heart failure, said her daughter, Bonnie Barnes.
Largely self-taught, Ms. Wain had an expressive but understated swing style that propelled her career. She performed in nightclubs and on radio programs before her breakthrough in 1937 when arranger Larry Clinton selected her as the thrush for a band he was starting.
Clinton's orchestra never achieved the enduring recognition of groups led by Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Artie Shaw, or Benny Goodman. But with superb arrangements, a tight-knit group of players, and Ms. Wain out front, the ensemble had a solid commercial run with jukebox favorites such as "Deep Purple" and "Heart and Soul."
The band made its biggest impression adapting classical compositions into popular swing numbers, notably "My Reverie," from the Claude Debussy piano piece "Rêverie," and "Martha," from the Friedrich von Flotow opera of the same name.
For a brief period, Ms. Wain ranked in fan polls among the country's most popular singers, alongside Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Mildred Bailey, and Helen Forrest.
- Washington Post