Lee Gaines, 73, a Jazz Singer (original) (raw)
Lee Gaines, 73, a Jazz Singer
https://www.nytimes.com/1987/07/21/obituaries/lee-gaines-73-a-jazz-singer.html
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- July 21, 1987
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July 21, 1987
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Section B, Page
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Lee Gaines, a singer and founder of the Delta Rhythm Boys, a jazz and pop vocal group, died Wednesday in Helsinki, Charles Horner, his biographer, said here today. He was 73 years old.
Mr. Horner said Mr. Gaines had suffered from cancer over the past year. He had lived in Finland for about a year.
Mr. Gaines also wrote lyrics for many songs, including Duke Ellington's ''Take the 'A' Train'' and ''Just A-Sitting and A-Rockin.''
Mr. Gaines, whose full name was Otho Lee Gaines, was born in Buena Vista, Miss., and began singing bass in high school. He formed a vocal quartet at Langston (Okla.) University in 1933, and later toured South America before returning to the United States in 1937.
The Delta Rhythm Boys were best known in the 1940's and 50's, having recorded with Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Jimmy Lunsford, Charlie Barnet, Fred Astaire, Ruth Brown and Les Paul.
As a vocal quartet, the Delta Rhythm Boys recorded more than 400 songs and appeared in more than 35 feature-length and musical short films.
The group, which moved to Europe in the 1950's, is best known for its recordings of ''Dry Bones,'' ''Take the 'A' Train'' and ''It's Only a Paper Moon,'' the latter with Ella Fitzgerald.
Mr. Gaines is survived by a brother, a sister, a daughter and a nephew.
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