Al Hibbler, a jazz vocalist who captivated generations of music lovers with his unique vocal style, was born blind on August 16, 1915, in Tyro, Mississippi. He was the first black singer to have a radio program in Little Rock, Arkansas in the 1930s.
In the early 1940s he joined Jay McShann’s orchestra as a vocalist, but a past encounter with Duke Ellington soon changed the direction of his career. Hoping to join Ellington’s group as a vocalist, he had tried out with Ellington and company during a show they were playing in Little Rock. Excited by the audience’s positive response to his performance, Hibbler celebrated … by getting drunk. The next day, Ellington informed Hibbler that he didn’t want him in the organization, saying, “I can handle a blind man but not a blind drunk.”
Fortunately, after about 16 months singing for McShann, Hibbler got another chance to show Ellington what he could do. This time he made the cut, replacing Herb Jeffries in Ellington’s orchestra as its sole male vocalist in May of 1943. To showcase Hibbler’s unique vocal style, Ellington wrote lyrics for one of his popular instrumental pieces, creating the famous “Do Nothin’ Till You Hear from Me.” Another of Hibbler’s most successful recordings came in 1947 when he sang the opening of Ellington’s Liberian Suite, entitled, “I Like the Sunrise.”
By the late 1950s, Hibbler had become active in the civil rights movement, contributing not just financial support but participating in a number of demonstrations, marching with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and being arrested for civil disobedience in New Jersey in 1959 and in Birmingham, Alabama, on April 10, 1963, where he was picketing in front of the Trailways Bus Station. Although Birmingham police officers told reporters they had no intention of arresting him, demonstrators guided the blind jazz singer into the back of a paddy wagon after he insisted on joining 25 others going to the Birmingham City Jail.
Record companies feared Hibbler’s involvement in civil rights would create a backlash and began to shy away from the singer. With one exception. Frank Sinatra, who signed Hibbler to a contract with his Reprise Records shortly after the label’s debut
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