Get a closer look at some of Hollywood's perfect pairs.

Hollywood Power Couples

Get a closer look at some of Hollywood&#39;s perfect pairs.

See which big screen releases you can watch from the comfort of your couch.

Theatrical Releases Coming to Streaming

Get a closer look at these actors from their many TV and streaming series roles.

Streaming Stars, Then and Now

One of the great American jazz vocalists, born Marietta Williams in Homestead, Pennsylvania. Maxine's precocious talent led to early jobs on radio broadcasts in Pittsburgh and gigs with a local group led by her Uncle Harry, the Red Hot Peppers. After being introduced to the proprietor, she was hired as the featured singer at a speakeasy for $14 a week, a place known euphemistically as the Benjamin Harrison Literary Club. Pianiste Gladys Mosier (who played with the all-girl band of movie star Betty's sister Ina Ray Hutton) heard her perform and arranged a recording date at the Onyx Club on 52nd Street with band leader Claude Thornhill (who prompted her change of name, simply, because there were too many musicians named Williams on the scene already). By 1937, Maxine had developed her own intimate, swinging style, which blended with perfect diction and intonation for several famous recordings with Thornhill's orchestra, including "Gone With the Wind" and the best-selling up-tempo folk songs "Loch Lomond" and "Annie Laurie".

By the end of the decade, the "Pint-Sized Songstress" was at the peak of her popularity. Her face had hit the cover of Life magazine and she commuted regularly for sessions between the West Coast and New York. Her rendition of "Summertime" at a 1938 memorial concert for George Gershwin was a showstopper. In the Paramount musical St. Louis Blues (1939), Maxine can be heard singing the title track. Between 1940 and 1941, she cut several more hit records with bassist John Kirby (to whom she was married at the time) and his 'biggest little band in the land'. She also joined Kirby for two seasons on the CBS show "Flow Gently, Sweet Rhythm", in the process setting a landmark for African-American women being showcased on radio for any length of time. In the summer of 1941, she went on tour with Benny Carter's orchestra, then left showbiz for several years. Back in New York in the mid- 40's, Maxine went on pursuing a successful career as a soloist, enjoying long residencies at famous venues like Le Ruban Bleu, Village Vanguard and Penthouse. In addition to singing, she had also added the valve trombone, pocket trumpet and the flügelhorn to her repertoire. After touring Europe in 1948 and 1954, she retired from performing a second time to take up nursing, physical therapy and and health counselling at schools in the Bronx.

Her final comeback began in 1958. In the course of the succeeding two decades, Maxine worked with second husband Cliff Jackson (an ex-Chick Webb alumnus), the brilliant clarinettist Bob Wilber, as well as performing with the World's Greatest Jazz Band, at the Half Note in New York and at a number of international jazz festivals. In the 80's, she added three Grammy Award nominations to her Tony nomination for a 1979 Broadway role in the musical "My Old Friends".

Maxine Sullivan in St. Louis Blues (1939)

From 1958, Sullivan worked as a nurse before resuming her musical career in 1966, performing in jazz festivals alongside her fourth husband Cliff Jackson, who can be heard on the 1966 live recording of Sullivan&#39;s performance at the Manassas Jazz Festival.

Sullivan continued to perform throughout the 1970s and made a string of recordings during the 1980s, despite being over 70 years old.

Mother of <a class="ipc-md-link ipc-md-link--entity" href="/name/nm0561128/?ref_=nmtrv_trv">Paula Morris</a> and Orville Williams.

Inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1998.

Nominated for the 1979 Tony Award (New York City) for Supporting or Features Actress in a Musical for &quot;My Old Friends&quot;.

The early success of her swinging version of the folk song Loch Lomond &quot;branded&quot; Sullivan&#39;s style, leading her to sing similar swing arrangements of traditional folk tunes mostly arranged by Thornhill, such as &quot;If I Had a Ribbon Bow&quot; and &quot;I Dream of Jeanie&quot;.

She was nominated for the 1979 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical (won by Carlin Glynn) for her role in My Old Friends, and participated in the film biography Maxine Sullivan: Love to Be in Love, shortly before her death.

Singer Peggy Lee named Sullivan as a key influence in several interviews.

Sullivan began her music career singing in her uncle&#39;s band, The Red Hot Peppers, in her native Pennsylvania, in which she occasionally played the flugelhorn and the valve trombone, in addition to singing.

A precursor to better-known later vocalists such as Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan, Sullivan is considered one of the best jazz vocalists of the 1930s.

Her early popularity also led to a brief appearance in the 1938 film Going Places with Louis Armstrong.

Maxine Sullivan was active for half a century, from the mid-1930s to just before her death in 1987. She is best known for her 1937 recording of a swing version of the Scottish folk song &quot;Loch Lomond&quot;.

Throughout her career, Sullivan also appeared as a performer on film as well as on stage.

In 1958, she was one of those photographed for the iconic photograph A Great Day in Harlem.

Trivia

Maxine Sullivan

Contribute to this page

More from this person

More to explore

Recently viewed