Pee Wee Hunt
Pee Wee Hunt | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Walter Gerhardt Hunt |
Born | Mount Healthy, Ohio, U.S. | May 10, 1907
Died | June 22, 1979 Plymouth, Massachusetts, U.S. | (aged 72)
Genres | Jazz |
Occupation(s) | Trombonist, vocalist, bandleader |
Instrument(s) | 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
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
- ^ 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.
- ^ ISBN 0-214-20512-6.
- ^ a b c d Biographical notes by Roger St. Peirre on LP record MFP1151 Twelfth Street Rag
- ISBN 0-214-20512-6.