Louise Tobin born 11 November 1918

Mary Louise Tobin (born November 14, 1918 in Aubrey, Texas) is an American singer. She appeared with Benny Goodman, Bobby Hackett, Will Bradley, and Jack Jenney. Tobin introduced I Didn't Know What Time It Was with Benny Goodman’s band in 1939. Her biggest hit with Goodman was There'll Be Some Changes Made, which was number two on the Hit Parade in 1941 for 15 weeks. 

In 1932 Tobin won a CBS Radio Talent Contest and, after touring with society dance orchestras in Texas, joined Art Hicks and his Orchestra in 1934. At that time, Harry James played first trumpet for Hicks and a year later, on May 4, 1935, Tobin and James were married. They had two sons: Harry (born 1941) and Tim (née Jerin Timothyray James; born March 21, 1942). Tobin brought Frank Sinatra to James' attention in 1939 after hearing Sinatra sing on the radio. James subsequently signed Sinatra to a one-year contract at $75 a week. 

 

 

Tobin with Harry James

While Tobin was singing with trumpeter Bobby Hackett at Nick’s in the Village, jazz critic and producer John Hammond heard her and brought Benny Goodman to a performance. Tobin soon joined the Benny Goodman band and went on to record There'll Be Some Changes Made, Scatterbrain, Comes Love, Love Never Went to College, What's New?, and Blue Orchids, with Goodman. Johnny Mercer especially wrote Louise Tobin Blues for her while she was with Goodman. It was arranged by Fletcher Henderson. 

In 1940 Tobin recorded Deed I Do and Don’t Let It Get You Down, with Will Bradley and His Orchestra. Tobin and James were divorced May 1943 in Juárez, Mexico. 

 

In 1945 she recorded All through the Day with Tommy Jones and His Orchestra, and June Comes Every Year with Emil Coleman and His Orchestra. In 1946 she performed with Skippy Anderson’s Band at the Melodee Club in Los Angeles, and in 1950 she recorded Sunny Disposish with Ziggy Elman and His Orchestra. 


After a long hiatus spent raising her two boys, Tobin accepted an invitation from jazz critic and publisher George Simon to sing at the 1962 Newport Jazz Festival, where she met her future husband, clarinettist Peanuts Hucko. The Whitney Balliett review of the festival published in The New Yorker included the statement: "Louise Tobin sings like the young Ella Fitzgerald." Peanuts and Louise began to perform regularly
together, including at the Gibson-inspired Odessa Jazz Parties and a

Tobin with Peanuts Hucko

regular engagement at Blues Alley in Washington, D.C. They married in 1967 and moved to Denver, Colorado, where they were co-owners and the house band of the Navarre Club.

In 1974 Peanuts led the Glenn Miller Orchestra, touring worldwide with Louise singing various numbers with the band. In 1977, Louise recorded There'll Be Some Changes Made with Peanuts on an album titled, San Diego Jazz Club Plays the Sound of Jazz. There'll Be Some Changes Made became an oft requested fan favourite at concerts. In the 1980s they toured Europe, Australia, and Japan with the Pied Piper Quintet and recorded the tribute albums: Tribute to Louis Armstrong and Tribute to Benny Goodman, featuring Louise singing several numbers on both. In 1992 Starline Records issuedSwing That Music, including a vocal duet with Peanuts and Louise singing When You're Smiling. This would be their final recording made together. Peanuts Hucko died in 2003. 

In 2008 Tobin donated her extensive collection of original musical arrangements, press clippings, programs, recordings, playbills and photographs to create the Tobin-Hucko Jazz Collection at Texas A&M University-Commerce.

 

On 8/13/11 Texas A & M University recognized Louise with an Honorary Doctorate!  Louise  now lives with her son, Harry James, Jr., in a suburb of Dallas, Texas. (Info mainly Wikipedia) 

UPDATE - Tobin died at the home of her granddaughter in Carrollton, Texas on November 26, 2022, aged 104.