Helen O'Connell born 23 May 1920

Helen O'Connell (May 23, 1920 – September 9, 1993) was an American singer, actress, and hostess, described as "the quintessential big band singer of the 1940s".

Born in Lima, Ohio, O'Connell grew up in Toledo, Ohio. By the time she was 15, she and her older sister, Alice, were singing duets in clubs and hotels and on radio stations in Toledo. O'Connell sang with minor bands like Jimmy Richards and Arthur Wylie, but launched her career as a big-band singer with Larry Funk and his Band of a Thousand Melodies. She was singing with Funk's band in Greenwich Village when Jimmy Dorsey's manager discovered her. She joined the Dorsey band in 1939 and in 1940 she came top in a Metronome poll and was named Best Female Vocalist of 1940. Downbeat readers went one better and voted her Best Female Singer of 1940 and 1941.

Helen with Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra

Although primarily a solo singer (her 1942 recording of Brazil with the band was added to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2009) she is probably best remembered for the string of Latin-flavoured duets she did with the band’s boy singer Bob Eberly (older brother of Ray, who worked for Glenn Miller) – Time Was, Green Eyes, Amapola, Tangerine, Yours – all of which followed what proved a winning formula.

Helen with Bob Eberly

Eberly would croon a chorus in ballad-time then O’Connell and the band would up the tempo and swing it, the result being solid hits for all concerned. While still with the band O’Connell appeared in two prestigious Hollywood movies, Paramount’s The Fleet’s In (later remade as G I Blues with Elvis Presley) and MGM’s I Dood It. If the latter yielded the standard Star Eyes, by Gene DePaul and Don Raye, the former boasted the finer all-round score, with I Remember You, Tangerine, Not Mine, The Fleet’s In and Arthur Murray Taught Me Dancing In A Hurry with lyrics by Johnny Mercer and music by Victor Schertzinger who also directed but sadly died shortly after completing the film.

                                  

Although O'Connell retired from show business upon her first marriage in 1943, she did return briefly to play herself in the 1947 biopic The Fabulous Dorseys, purportedly a true account of Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey that fit where it touched. When her marriage ended in 1951, she resumed her career, achieving some chart success and making regular appearances on radio and television. O'Connell sang duets with Bing Crosby, Johnny Mercer, and Dean Martin. In 1953, O'Connell and Bob Eberly headlined TV's Top Tunes, a summer replacement program for Perry Como's CBS television show. The program also featured Ray Anthony and his orchestra. 

Stan Freberg, Helen and Bobby Troup

In March 1955 O'Connell visited Australia as a support act on the landmark tour headlined by singer Johnnie Ray, which set a new box office record for Australia that stood until the 1964 visit by The Beatles (and during which local media also reported that O'Connell was romantically linked with Ray). O'Connell also was the featured singer on The Russ Morgan Show on CBS TV in 1956. In 1957, she had her own 15-minute program, The Helen O'Connell Show, twice a week on NBC. She was one of the first "girls" on NBC's The Today Show, commenting at the time: "I wasn't hired as a singer, I was hired as a talker, a pleasant switch." She had that role from 1956 to 1958. In 1961, she co-hosted the Desilu-NBC program Here's Hollywood, conducting interviews with celebrities, often in their own homes. 

Helen in 1965

It was during the 1960s she was an accomplished performer on the night-club circuit, where a stint at the Copacabana in 1964 attracted a “money” review from the New York Times. During 1964 she had a brief marriage to the actor Bob Paris, which was annulled in 1965. On August 8, that year, the Los Angeles Police Department found O'Connell unconscious in her car. United Press International reported: "Police said they found 12 capsule sleeping pills in the car." She was transported to Hollywood Receiving Hospital, where her stomach was pumped.

O'Connell co-hosted the Miss USA and Miss Universe pageants with Bob Barker from 1972 to 1980 and was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1976 for her coverage of the Miss Universe pageant. . She also sang the National Anthem for Super Bowl XV in 1981. O'Connell's 1942 recording of "Brazil" with the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra was a 2009 addition to the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 1977, O'Connell was invited to join the "4 Girls 4" show comprising Rosemary Clooney, Margaret Whiting and Rose Marie. The format was that each member performed solo for 30 minutes and finally they all joined up together to sing as a group for about ten minutes. The act was very successful for several years and toured all over the USA. Whiting and Rose Marie left the group and were replaced by Martha Raye and Kay Starr with the show being renamed The New 4 Girls. The group finally disbanded in 1989.

In 1992, O'Connell was featured along with The Andrews Sisters and Kay Starr in the KCET special Those Fabulous 40s. Her final performance was at the Valley Forge Music Festival in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, on August 14, 1993.

O'Connell was married to wealthy playboy Clifford Smith, Jr., from 1941 to 1951, and novelist Tom T. Chamales from 1957 to 1960, and had four daughters. Her third and final marriage was in 1991, to arranger-conductor-composer Frank De Vol. She died of cancer on September 9, 1993, in a  San Diego hospice, California. Her funeral was held at St. Paul's Catholic Church in Westwood, California, where she was a member.

(Edited from Wikipedia, Jazz Journal & IMDb) 

Tiny Topsy born 22 May 1930

Otha Lee Moore (May 22, 1930 – August 16, 1964), better known as Tiny Topsy, was an American R&B singer. Although she is fairly well-known, there's almost nothing about her life that is substantial. She only appeared in fewer than 20 shows in a six-year period, but was never the main attraction in any of them.

"Tiny in the same spirit you'd call a bald man curly, Tiny Topsy definitely had the lungpower to match her name", writes Mark Lamarr in the liner notes for the CD "Roc-King Up A Storm" (Westside WESA 801). She was one of those big-voiced R&B women of the mid to late 50s, with a style close to that of LaVern Baker, Big Maybelle and Big Mama Thornton.

Otha Lee Moore was born in Chicago, the daughter of Annabell and Casey Moore, and was raised in nearby Robbins, Illinois, United States. According to Mike Rowes book - Chicago Breakdown she began her singing career in the mid-1940s, fronting Al Smith's eight-piece jazz and rhythm and blues band in her home town. (This was later questioned as supposedly this was something Al Smith only told Rowes)

                                  

Tiny's first recording session was held in Cincinnati on July 9, 1957 and resulted in the bouncy "Aw! Shucks Baby", (Federal Records) with a great tenor solo by Ray Felder. The label credit reads "Tiny Topsy With The Five Chances". The flip was a cover of "Miss You So", a Top 10 R&B hit for Lillian Offitt. A third track from this session, "A Woman's Intuition", remained unissued until 1988. Her next two singles - both solid rockers - "Come On, Come On, Come On" and "You Shocked Me" both saw a UK release on the Parlophone label, quite surprising, considering the rarity of US R&B releases in Blighty at that time.

Tiny Topsy's fourth Federal single is a very interesting one. Written by the aforementioned Bernice Williams, it is called "Western Rock 'n' Roll" and incorporates snippets of then-current hits Lollipop, At the Hop, Get a Job, and Short Shorts. It opens with gunshots and probably for that reason, Dave Penny (yes, the same one) calls it a "Western Movies pastiche" in his 1988 liner notes for the LP "Aw! Shucks Baby". However, the recording date of "Western Rock 'n' Roll" (March 19, 1958) predates the release date of the Olympics hit by some three months. So it looks like the sound effects on "Western Movies" were inspired by "Western Rock 'n' Roll" instead of the other way round.

In 1959, she recorded "After Marriage Blues" (also known as "How You Changed") and "Working On Me Baby" which were released on Argo Records. Her next single, which proved to be her last with Federal, was "Just a Little Bit" (1959). Rosco Gordon had a number 2 US Billboard R&B chart hit with his version in 1960. An alternate recording of "Aw! Shucks Baby" with "Everybody Needs Some Loving" on the B-side was released by King Records in 1963, months prior to her death.

Topsy with her manager Richard E. Stamz

Most sources repeat the fact that she had married Samuel Hall, a Chicago night club owner and disc jockey, and was therefore sometimes known as Otha Lee Moore Hall, but again there is no proof, only that it was stated in an article by the magazine Jet after her death. Tiny Topsy died on August 16, 1964, in Cook County Hospital in Chicago, at the age of 34 of an intracerebral haemorrhage, following an evening of performing at the C&C Lounge Club. Eight pallbearers, nearly all members of the clubs band were required to lift the body. In 2016 the Killer Blues Project placed a headstone for her at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois.

(Edited from This Is My Story and Marv Goldberg's R&B Notebooks)

Henry Glover born 21 May 1921

Henry Bernard Glover (May 21, 1921 – April 7, 1991) was an American songwriter, arranger, record producer and trumpet player.

In the music industry of the time, Glover was one of the most successful and influential black executives. He gained eminence in the late 1940s, primarily working for the independent (and white-owned) King label. His duties included operating as a producer, arranger, songwriter (occasionally utilizing the alias of Henry Bernard), engineer, trumpet player, talent scout, A&R man, studio constructor, while later in his career he became the owner of his own label. Glover worked with country, blues, R&B, pop, rock, and jazz musicians, and he helped King Records to become one of the largest independent labels of its time. 

Thanks to the efforts of family, friends and fans, Glover's hometown of Hot Springs, Arkansas celebrated the 100th anniversary of his birth in 2021 by inducting him into the downtown "Walk of Fame," the Mayor's "Proclamation," "Key to the City," and named a parklet "Henry Glover Way," along Black Broadway after him. In 2018, Glover was recognized with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the King Records 75th Anniversary. In 2013, he was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.

Glover was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas. As a youngster, he listened to various genres of music on local radio, and learned to play the trumpet. Following high school and college, he joined Buddy Johnson's big band in 1944, and Lucky Millinder's orchestra the following year. In the latter capacity Glover met Syd Nathan, who hired Glover as an A&R man at King Records. As well as A&R duties, Glover helped to construct King's first recording studio.

He went on to produce sessions for the label's established roster of country musicians, including The Delmore Brothers, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Cowboy Copas, Moon Mullican, Grandpa Jones, and The York Brothers. Glover co-wrote "Blues Stay Away from Me" with the Delmore Brothers. Glover's work with Bull Moose Jackson's on his 1945 cover of Joe Liggins' "The Honeydripper" followed, opening up success with a black audience. Further releases produced by Glover appeared in the next couple of years on King's subsidiary label, Queen Records.

                                 

In 1947, Queen merged with King Records, heralding further racial integration. Glover's understanding of jump blues and rhythm and blues led to him signing Lucky Millinder plus Tiny Bradshaw, and he went on to produce both Bill Doggett and Wynonie Harris. Glover later produced or wrote music for Hank Ballard & The Midnighters ("Teardrops on Your Letter"), Little Willie John ("Fever"), James Brown, and The Swallows. Glover's own song "Drown in My Own Tears", originally recorded by Lula Reed, was later successfully covered by Ray Charles.

Lucky Millinder with Henry Glover

Glover split with King Records in 1958, and joined the Roulette label. He subsequently worked with Sarah Vaughan, Dinah Washington, Sonny Stitt and Ronnie Hawkins. Glover also encouraged the latter's backing band, the Hawks, to pursue their own ambitions. Glover later organised the release of an early single of theirs, when they were billed as The Canadian Squires, prior to their becoming known as The Band. In 1960, Billy Bland recorded his version of "Let the Little Girl Dance" with Glover, and it was released as a single. It was a hit in the US, peaking at No. 11 on the Black Singles chart and No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Glover conducting Orchestra

In early April 1961, Roulette Records president Morris Levy reactivated New York-based American record label Gee Records as a division of Roulette Records and appointed Glover artist and repertoire chief of Gee Records. Glover's first release was "Heart and Soul," a 1961 rhythm and blues rearrangement of the 1938 romantic-pop standard of the same name. "Heart and Soul" (1961) reached No. 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 popular chart in July of that year and appeared in the 1973 American comedy-drama film, American Graffiti. 

Glover had further success in 1961 in co-writing Joey Dee and the Starliters' number one "Peppermint Twist"; and two years later, The Rivieras recorded Glover's song "California Sun" resulting in a Top 5 hit. Glover worked with Louisiana Red during the early 1960s, and also created for a short period his own record label. On it Glover recorded both Larry Dale and Titus Turner. Glover also produced The Essex in 1963 and 1964. Glover later returned to King Records and briefly acted as label head until it was bought by Starday.

Henry Glover, Muddy Waters & Levon Helm

In 1975, Levon Helm and Glover co-founded a new label, RCO Productions, which released two of Helm's solo projects. The same year Glover produced The Muddy Waters Woodstock Album, which won a Grammy, and the following year Paul Butterfield's, Put It in Your Ear. Also in 1976 Glover partly arranged with Garth Hudson, Howard Johnson, Tom Malone, John Simon and Allen Toussaint the horn section on The Band's concert, The Last Waltz, and thus the subsequent album, The Last Waltz. In 1986 Glover was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame and also placed on the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) Honour Roll of A&R Producers.

Glover died of a heart attack in April 1991, in St. Albans, New York, at the age of 69. He was survived by his wife, Doris, and a son, Ware and two daughters, Sherry and Leslie.

(Edited from Wikipedia) 

Dino Saluzzi born 20 May 1935

Timoteo "Dino" Saluzzi (born 20 May 1935) is an Argentine bandoneon player, whose celebrated work resides at the intersection of tango, improvisation, folk music, jazz, and modern classical composition.

Saluzzi was born in 1935 in Campo Santo, in the Salta region of Argentina. He is the son of multi-instrumentalist and composer Cayetano Saluzzi, and spent his childhood in Buenos Aires; he was taught the fundamentals of the bandoneon by his father at age seven. By the time he was 14, he was accomplished enough to lead his own band, the Trio Carnival. Saluzzi began his professional career while studying in Buenos Aires. He successfully auditioned and became a member of the symphonic Orquesta Estable at Radio el Mundo, Argentina's first radio station. It was in Buenos Aires, to, that he met composer and bandoneonist Astor Piazzolla. 

He left his job with the radio orchestra in 1956 and returned to Salta to develop his own compositional style. Saluzzi was already consciously incorporating folk elements with popular forms, jazz, and classical music. Not interested in "common eclecticism," he sought a flexible form that was "vital and real beyond the conventions." That intention has continued to guide his work. In 1970, Saluzzi joined the prestigious Los Chalchaleros. Established during the '40s, they were among the country's premier folk ensembles. Saluzzi made his recording debut with them on 1971's La Cerrillana as a co-billed soloist. He recorded four more albums with them between 1972 and 1976. While working with the prestigious group, Saluzzi garnered recognition at radio and television as well as engendering interest from music critics across South America and Europe. 

                                 

In 1978, he signed to RCA and issued Dedicatoria, his leader debut. A revolutionary amalgam of jazz fusion, tango, and choral music, it won over European critics wholesale and led to Saluzzi performing on the festival circuit. Bermejo followed in 1980 and netted a regional hit with his version of "El Condor Pasa." By the early '80s, Saluzzi had already developed his unique bop-inflected, post-modern approach to the tango. It artfully straddled the musical past, present, and future with its intersection of several genres. ECM label boss Manfred Eicher heard Saluzzi's playing at a festival and signed him in 1982.

His debut for the label was 1983's prize-winning Kultrum, where he performed completely solo on several instruments. The album drew positive notice from U.S. critics at Downbeat and other publications. Between his final two fusion dates for RCA -- Vivencias (1984) and Vivencias II (1987) -- Saluzzi recorded Once Upon a Time: Far Away in the South on ECM, fronting a jazz quartet that included bassist Charlie Haden, trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg, and drummer Pierre Favre. A year later, he co-led a quintet with trumpeter Enrico Rava on Volver. He returned to solo recording for 1988's globally celebrated Andina. Swiss director Jean-Luc Godard was so taken with the album he responded by using its music in the films Nouvelle Vague and Histoire(s) du Cinéma.

Given that Saluzzi's deal with ECM was not exclusive, he cut the completely solo Argentina for Germany's West Wind Latina label in 1991, which proved to be a very busy year. In addition to playing with guitarist Al Di Meola on World Sinfonia, he added bandoneon to Rickie Lee Jones' Pop Pop. Saluzzi also founded the Dino Saluzzi Family Project (shortly thereafter renamed the Dino Saluzzi Group). Among its members were his brothers Celso and Felix and his son Jose Maria. They issued Mojotoro on ECM in 1992. That same year, Saluzzi played a prominent role on Mikkelborg's Columbia album Anything But Grey. In 1995 he, bassist Anthony Cox, and vibraphonist/marimbist David Friedman cut the global fusion outing Rios for Intuition. He also appeared on Kip Hanrahan's provocative All Roads Are Made of the Flesh. He made his final recorded appearance with Di Meola on 1996's Di Meola Plays Piazzolla.

In 1998, Saluzzi returned to fusing nuevo tango and contemporary jazz on Cite de la Musique in a trio that included his son Jose Maria on guitars and Marc Johnson on basses. The following year, Saluzzi released Kultrum: Music for Bandoneon & Strings, recorded in collaboration with the Rosamunde Quartett. A showcase for his chamber music, it erased demarcation lines between composition and improvisation, as well as between so-called "serious" and popular musics. After touring with his own groups Saluzzi resumed recording as a leader for 2001's Responsorium with Jose Maria and double bassist Palle Danielson. For 2005's European-charting Senderos, he stripped things down even further: The album was a collection of loosely composed, primarily improvised pieces recorded in a duo with Christensen. The Dino Saluzzi Group reassembled for 2006's Juan Condori; the acclaimed date saw the band tour South America, Europe, and Asia. He and cellist Anja Lechner issued the duo outing Ojos Negros the following year.

Saluzzi issued his first-ever live outing in 2010. El Encuentro was a concerto that featured four distinct compositions recorded in concert with the Metropole Orchestra under the direction of conductor Jules Buckley for NPS Radio in the Netherlands. He returned to the recording studio for 2011's Navidad de los Andes, an intimate trio offering with Felix and Lechner sans orchestra. The same year the bandoneonist, violinist Gidon Kremer, and vibraphonist Andrei Pushkarev co-led the tribute date Giya Kancheli: Themes from the Songbook. Saluzzi re-assembled his family group in a Buenos Aires studio during the summer of 2013. With José Maria on guitars, Felix on reed and winds, and nephew Matias on bass, he also brought in guitarist Nicolas "Colacho" Brizuela and percussionist Quintino Cinalli. The resulting El Valle de la Infancia appeared to universal acclaim during the summer of 2014.

For 2020's Albores, Saluzzi returned to recording completely solo for the first time in more than 30 years. Working in the Saluzzi Music Studio in Buenos Aires between February and June of 2019, the music on Albores showcased the bandoneonist's well-developed gift for subtle but masterful musical storytelling. His sonic soliloquies combine memories, biography, and creative meditations on the fleeting passage of time. In 2024, Norwegian guitarist and composer Jacob Young traveled to Argentina to collaborate with the nonagenarian bandoneon master and his classical guitarist son José Maria Saluzzi. Released in June 2025 by ECM, El Viejo Caminante included three compositions by Young, four by Saluzzi, one co-written composition between them, and one by José. They were buffeted by a cover of Karin Krog's "Northern Sun" and a pair of jazz standards.

(Edited From AllMusic) 

Flo Bennett born circa late 1930's early 1940's

 

Flo Bennett (born circa late 30's - early 40's) was/is a jazz and night club singer active in the late 50's and early 60's.

When researching obscure female jazz artists, you'll find the list is quite long regarding those that made just one or two albums or in some cases just a few singles, and yet there is hardly any information regarding these "unknown" singers. I was asked to profile Flo Bennett and came up with next to nothing other than her album liner notes, so here goes.

Flo Bennett was born in Denver, Colorado, and began her singing career in the schools she attended which were East High School and Colorado University, where she was presented in many of the activities of Colorado's social gatherings. Her first professional engagement was at the Fabulous Broadmoor Country Club of Denver, then she appeared in Jerry Herman's Parade, Off The Record and the Four To Go Show. She moved to Los Angeles where she became a first-call demo singer, making most of her living from studio work as well as preforming in local night clubs where she became one of the well known members of the local scene. I found out that according to Billboard, in December 1958 she had a single released on the Guild record label which included the songs You Turned The Tables On Me / Laugh at me. I cannot find any other information regarding this single anywhere else on the web, yet these two songs were also included four years later on her album.

                                  

Recorded in 1962 "Half Past Lonely"  on the tiny Gift label, for private distribution, was the only full album she ever recorded, and although she funded and helped to produce the session herself, she managed to reel in the likes of arranger Ernie Freeman, tenor saxophonist Plas Johnson, trumpeter John Anderson, and guitarist Irving Ashby to lend the record the sophistication and depth comparable to a major-label release. 

What further distinguishes the album is the quality and consistency of the tunes: Bennett (who at the time was a first-call demo singer) called on her songwriter friends to compose original material for the session, and melancholy contributions like "Laugh at Me," "Never Been So Lost," and the title cut perfectly complement her emotional, world-weary vocals,  despite a relatively young age. One single was released  from the album  Half Past Lonely b/w You Turned The Tables On Me . 

The album  was reissued on CD in 2008 as part of the Sinatra Society of Japan's One Shot Wonders series, and according to a Swing Journal review of the re-issue, Flo Bennett was still active in Palm Springs as a performer (although this needs to be confirmed). 

And that dear music lovers is all I can muster regarding Miss Bennett, unless of course you can add to this topic.

(Scant information edited from AllMusic, Dusty Groove, & liner notes)

Pernell Roberts born 18 May 1928

Pernell Elven Roberts Jr. (May 18, 1928 – January 24, 2010) was an American stage, film, and television actor, activist, and singer. In addition to guest-starring in over 60 television series, he was best known for his roles as Ben Cartwright's eldest son Adam Cartwright on the Western television series Bonanza (1959–1965), and as chief surgeon John McIntyre, the title character on Trapper John, M.D. (1979–1986).

Roberts was born in Waycross, Georgia, and showed an early singing talent while still at high school. He attended both Georgia Tech and the University of Maryland, but dropped out of both before joining the Marine Corps for two years. After a series of odd jobs, he started to get some stage work in the early 1950s. This gave Roberts a background in the classics, especially as a member of the Arena Stage Company in Washington, DC, where he played Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew, and appeared in The Playboy of the Western World, The Glass Menagerie, The Importance of Being Earnest and Twelfth Night.

Among his Broadway appearances were his reprise of Petruchio, opposite Nina Foch as Katarina (1957), and, in the same year, in a role that suited his serious nature, Daniel de Borsola, the murderous malcontented Gentleman of the Horse to Jacqueline Brookes in the title role of The Duchess of Malfi. Leaving the classics behind him, Roberts headed for Los Angeles in 1958, where he got supporting roles in three quality films, the first being a rather theatrical adaptation of Eugene O'Neill's Desire Under the Elms (1958). Ironically, in retrospect, Roberts portrayed one of three sons of Ephraim Cabot (Burl Ives), the unbending Puritan patriarch farmer. The "60 acres of dirt" farm was not exactly the Ponderosa, but there were echoes of Bonanza. Roberts, who lustily played the loutish Peter Cabot, unlike the more gentlemanly Adam Cartwright, had the temerity, on his first Hollywood film, to complain about the way Anthony Perkins, already a major star, kept holding up the shoot by continually asking Method-driven questions.

                                   

Roberts, who had no truck with the Method, then appeared in two westerns, The Sheepman (1958), as a villain who tangles with Glenn Ford, and Budd Boetticher's Ride Lonesome (1959), as Randolph Scott's outlaw sidekick. From there, he immediately went into Bonanza, joining "Hoss" (Dan Blocker) and "Little Joe" (Michael Landon) as sons of the thrice-widowed, cruel-to-be-kind Ben Cartwright (Lorne Greene, 13 years Roberts's senior). At one stage in the series, the all-male family was temporarily threatened by giving Adam a fiancée, but when the producers were overwhelmed with protests from (mostly) female fans, they dropped the idea of marriage. 

Roberts, played Adam Cartwright in Bonanza for 202 episodes from 1959 until 1965, but thought himself capable of far greater things and chafed at the limitations he felt his "Bonanza" character was given. Roberts agreed to fulfil his six-year contract but refused to extend it, and when he left the series in 1965, at the height of his, and the show's, popularity. his character was eliminated with the explanation that he had simply moved away.

In 1963, during his Bonanza years, he recorded Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies, a folk music album, which AllMusic calls "...the softer, lyrical side of folk music — pleasant and not challenging, but quite rewarding in its unassuming way." The album, was released by RCA Victor and arranged by Dick Rosmini. When Roberts left Bonanza, the general feeling in Hollywood was that he had foolishly doomed his career and turned his back on a fortune in "Bonanza" earnings. During the 60's Roberts was an outspoken supporter of civil rights – he took part in demonstrations and campaigned against racism and sexism, especially on television.

Pernell in Gunsmoke

Indeed, for the next 14 years, apart from a few minor feature films, Roberts spent much of the rest of his career in television, making dozens of guest appearances in series such as Gunsmoke, The Big Valley and Mission: Impossible. In between, he used his powerful singing voice in touring musicals including Camelot and The King and I, and starred opposite Ingrid Bergman on Broadway in the title role in Captain Brassbound's Conversion (1972). His TV credits during that time included "The Virginian," ''Hawaii Five-O," ''Mission Impossible," ''Marcus Welby, M.D.," ''Banacek," ''Ironside" and "Mannix."

Then, in 1979, he landed another series, "Trapper John, M.D.," in which he played the title role. In "Trapper John, M.D.," the Korean War was nearly 30 years past and Roberts' character was now a balding, middle-aged chief of surgery at San Francisco Memorial Hospital. He no longer fought the establishment, having learned how to deal with it with patience and wry humour. The series, praised for its serious treatment of the surgical world, aired until 1986. Rogers had left that series after just three seasons. Roberts' other venture into series TV was "FBI: The Untold Stories" (1991-1993), in which he acted as host and narrator. He made his last TV appearance in 1997 on an episode of Diagnosis: Murder, updating a Mannix character he had portrayed decades before.

Roberts married four times, first in 1951 to Vera Mowry — a professor of theatre history at Washington State University and subsequently Hunter College, as well as professor emerita of the PhD program in theatre at City University of New York, with whom he had his only child. Roberts and his first wife later divorced. His son died in a motorcycle accident in 1989. Roberts married Judith Anna LeBrecque on October 15, 1962; they divorced in 1971. He subsequently married Kara Knack in 1972, divorcing in 1996. At the time of his death Roberts was married to Eleanor Criswell.

When the 21st century arrived, Roberts appeared to retire altogether from screen acting. His name and image, however, were frequently referenced in tributes and reports on "Bonanza," which fixated with some degree on the fact that at the time he was the last surviving member of the original cast. Sadly, he passed away from pancreatic cancer at age 81 in Malibu, CA., on January 24, 2010.

(Edited from Wikipedia, Legacy, TV Insider & The Guardian)

Here's a clip of Pernell Roberts and Hoyt Axton singing Endless Road on Bonanza.

 

Pervis Jackson born 17 May 1938

Pervis Jackson (May 17, 1938 – August 18, 2008) was an American R&B singer, noted as the bass singer for The Spinners, and was one of the group's original members as well as their spokesman. He was a member of the Spinners from its formation in 1954 until his death in August 2008.

The fine art of blending vocals in a group is one that was beautifully exemplified by the line-up of the Detroit Spinners. The group's foundation was the bass singing of Pervis Jackson, to which was added Henry Fambrough's baritone and the tenor voices of Bobbie Smith and Billy Henderson. These four were the group's mainstays, but additional fifth members who came and went included Philippe Wynne, whose distinctive falsetto and high tenor graced several hits between 1972 and 1977. 

Known simply as the Spinners in the US, where there was little chance of their being mistaken for the Liverpudlian folk group of the same name, they spanned the doo-wop, rhythm'n'blues, soul, funk and disco eras and recorded both for Motown in Detroit in the 1960s and for Atlantic in the 1970s, working under the auspices of the producer Thom Bell at Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia. Jackson's distinctive deep tones came to the fore on "Working My Way Back To You", their 1980 UK chart-topper – he's the one booming "Been prayin' every day" – and on "They Just Can't Stop It (Games People Play)", one of the group's 10 US Top 20 hits.

                                     

Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, Jackson moved to Ferndale, a small town just outside Detroit, when he was seven and met most of the future Spinners at Lincoln High School. Originally called the Domingoes, they renamed themselves after a brand of hubcaps and were mentored by Harvey Fuqua of the Moonglows, who sang on their first US hit, the doo-wop ballad "That's What Girls are Made For", and its soulful follow-up, "Love (I'm So Glad) I Found You" in 1961. Fuqua was dating and subsequently married Gwen Gordy, sister of the Motown founder Berry Gordy, and brought his Tri-Phi label under the company's umbrella. Still, the Spinners languished in development hell, only releasing half a dozen singles on Motown and its V.I.P. subsidiary over the next six years. Jackson often worked in the office of the Detroit company, sending out records to stores and DJs. In 1970, the group finally scored another US hit with "It's A Shame", written and produced by Stevie Wonder, and made their chart début in the UK where they were briefly known as the Motown Spinners.

On the advice of their friend Aretha Franklin, they finally left Motown for Atlantic, though they were no higher up the pecking order there until Bell, who had made his name producing the lush, symphonic Philly soul of the Delfonics and the Stylistics, opted to work with them and co-wrote "I'll Be Around" in 1972. Bell had been determined to showcase Jackson in 1975. "Basses are not usually designed to do anything but hold the root, in order to hold it all together. They're not really known for being soloists," recalled the producer. "So I said I'm going to come up with something for that guy. And from the moment I gave him that part, his whole personality changed. He's known for that one thing, but that one thing changed his life: 12.45," said Bell, refering to the lyric that became Jackson's nickname. Indeed, Jackson singing that signature line – "12.45" – on "They Just Can't Stop It (The Games People Play)" always brought the house down wherever the Spinners performed.

Between "Could It Be I'm Falling In Love" in 1973 and the "Cupid/I've Loved You For A Long Time" medley in 1980, the Spinners were a constant fixture on the US and British charts and regulars on Top of the Pops and Soul Train, their matching suits and dance routines on "The Rubberband Man" (1976) and "Working My Way Back To You" as endearing as their vocal harmonies have proved enduring. The group's cover of the Four Seasons' "Working My Way Back To You" held a special meaning for Jackson who was married for 40 years but had long spells away from his wife and family. The Spinners also toured with Dionne Warwick and duetted with her on "Then Came You", a US number one in 1974.

By the mid-1980s, Jackson and the group were playing "oldies" concerts with such groups as the Four Seasons and the Righteous Brothers. The final album for Atlantic was Cross Fire, in 1984, although the group was featured in the record company's 40th anniversary concert in New York in 1988. A big man with a big heart, who took special care of his autistic son, Jackson never considered retirement. He appeared with the Spinners as recently as July 2008 and was diagnosed with brain and liver cancer only a few days before his death at the age of 70, in Detroit, Michigan, on August 18, 2008.He is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery on the city's North side. He was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2023 as a member of the Spinners.

(Edited from obit by Pierre Perrone @ The Independent, Wikipedia & The Guardian)