Pee Wee Hunt
Pee Wee Hunt | |
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![]() Hunt in 1941 | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Walter Gerhardt Hunt |
Born | (1907-05-10)May 10, 1907 Mount Healthy, Ohio, U.S. |
Died | June 22, 1979(1979-06-22) (aged 72) Plymouth, Massachusetts, U.S. |
Genres | Jazz |
Occupation(s) | Trombonist, vocalist, bandleader |
Instrument | Trombone |
Walter Gerhardt "Pee Wee" Hunt (May 10, 1907 – June 22, 1979)[1] was an American jazz trombonist, vocalist, and bandleader.[2] Hunt was born in Mount Healthy, Ohio.[3] He developed a musical interest at an early age, as his mother, Sadie, played the banjo and his father, Edgar C., played violin.[1] He had a younger sister, Marian, and younger brother, Raymond. The teenage Hunt was a banjoist with a local band while he was attending college at Ohio State University,[1] where he majored in Electrical Engineering,[4] and during his college years he switched from banjo to trombone.[1] He graduated from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music.[4] He joined Jean Goldkette's Orchestra in 1928.[4]
Hunt was the co-founder and featured trombonist with the Casa Loma Orchestra,[1] but he left the group in 1943 to work as a Hollywood radio disc jockey, before joining the Merchant Marine near the end of World War II.[4] He returned to the West Coast music scene in 1946.[1] His "Twelfth Street Rag" was a three-million-selling[2] number-one hit in September 1948.[3] He was satirized as Pee Wee Runt and his All-Flea Dixieland Band in Tex Avery's animated MGM cartoon Dixieland Droopy (1954). His second major hit was "Oh!" (1953), his second million-selling disc, which reached number three in the Billboard chart.[5]
At age 72, Hunt died after a long illness in Plymouth, Massachusetts.[1] Hunt and his wife, Ruth, had a daughter, Holly, and a son, Lawrence.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 1209x. ISBN 0-85112-939-0.
- ^ a b "Pee Wee Hunt - Hollywood Star Walk - Los Angeles Times". Projects.latimes.com. 1979-06-24. Retrieved 2015-08-17.
- ^ a b Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. p. 44. ISBN 0-214-20512-6.
- ^ a b c d Biographical notes by Roger St. Peirre on LP record MFP1151 Twelfth Street Rag
- ^ Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. p. 65. ISBN 0-214-20512-6.
External links
- Famous King players: Pee Wee Hunt
- Allmusic
- Outlet.historicimages.com : 1959 Press Photo Pee Wee Hunt
- Pee Wee Hunt recordings at the Discography of American Historical Recordings.
- v
- t
- e
- 1946: "Prisoner of Love" – Perry Como
- 1947: "Near You" – Francis Craig
- 1948: "Twelfth Street Rag" – Pee Wee Hunt
- 1949: "Riders in the Sky" – Vaughn Monroe Orchestra
- 1950: "Goodnight, Irene" – Gordon Jenkins and The Weavers
- 1951: "Too Young" – Nat King Cole
- 1952: "Blue Tango" – Leroy Anderson
- 1953: "The Song from Moulin Rouge" – Percy Faith
- 1954: "Little Things Mean a Lot" – Kitty Kallen
- 1955: "Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White" – Pérez Prado
- 1956: "Heartbreak Hotel" – Elvis Presley
- 1957: "All Shook Up" – Elvis Presley
- 1958: "Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu (Volare)" – Domenico Modugno
- 1959: "The Battle of New Orleans" – Johnny Horton
- Complete list
- (1946–1959)
- (1960–1979)
- (1980–1999)
- (2000–2019)
- (2020–present)