Leslie Arthur Julien Hutchinson, known as "Hutch"
(born Gouyave, Grenada, 7 March, 1900 – died London, England, 18 August, 1969)
was one of the biggest cabaret stars in the world during the 1920s and 1930s.
Born in Grenada in 1900 to George Hutchinson and Marianne
(née Turnbull) he took piano lessons as a child. He moved to New York City in
his teens, originally to take a degree in medicine as he won a place due to his
high aptitude, and began playing the piano and singing in bars. He then joined
a black band led by Henry "Broadway" Jones, who often played for
white millionaires such as the Vanderbilts, attracting the wrath of the Ku Klux
Klan. In 1924 he left America for Paris, where he had a residency in Joe
Zelli's club and became a friend and lover of Cole Porter. He was for some time
the highest paid star in Britain and was one of the biggest stars during the
twenties and thirties in the UK.
His rise to fame and social notoriety was extraordinary. Along
the way he worked for the Spanish royal family and Ataturk, the Turkish
president; befriended Josephine Baker as well as the future Edward VIII; taught
dance to the Aga Khan and slept with just about everyone of repute in the
period, including Tallulah Bankhead, Cole Porter, Merle Oberon and Edwina
Mountbatten.
In the process Hutch launched an enormously successful
recording career, appearing at the most exclusive clubs throughout Europe,
Africa and the Far East, developing an inimitably elegant style, which seduced
all who saw him perform. Breeze stresses that
"Hutch's charm and talent for being what people wanted him to be caused many prejudices to be set aside, and many social barriers to melt."
Hutch; Spike Hughes & Al Bowlly 1933
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"Hutch's charm and talent for being what people wanted him to be caused many prejudices to be set aside, and many social barriers to melt."
Encouraged by his lover Edwina Mountbatten, he came to
England in 1927 to perform in a Rodgers and Hart musical, and soon became the
darling of society and the population in general. "Hutch" was a
favourite singer of the then Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII). He was
regularly heard on air with the BBC. One of his greatest hits was "These
Foolish Things". He was a much-loved wartime entertainer.
As well as being a friend and lover of Cole Porter, he
recorded several of his songs, including "Begin the Beguine" and
Porter's list song "Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love)", to which he
supposedly
made up some 70 new verses.
made up some 70 new verses.
Yet his chameleon-like personae had its darker side; a
disowned wife and heavy drinking took their toll after the Second World War,
and Hutch was increasingly forced onto the road and into insalubrious bookings
as his crooning fell out of fashion and his health began to fail. He became
"a diffident ambassador from a golden era, gamely seeking to brighten an
increasingly grey world."
He married Ella Byrd in 1923 or 1924. Their daughter Leslie
Bagley Yvonne was born on 9 April 1926. Hutch would go on to sire six further
children to five different mothers. Gordon was born in August 1928, Gabrielle
in Sept 1930, Gerald and Chris in 1948, and Graham (Chris' full brother) in
1953 and Emma in April 1964.
For all his glamour, Hutch was a profoundly insecure man in
thrall to insatiable appetites for sex, drink, gambling and social status which
precipitated his fall from stardom and fame to a squalid, hand-to-mouth
existence by the late 1960s.By 1967, with his bloated, heavily made-up face and
dyed hair, Hutchinson was a caricature of the once beautiful black Adonis that
conquered the heights of British society and stardom. He died in 1969 of 'overwhelming pneumonia'
and virtually penniless. Only 42 people
attended his funeral yet notably, Lord Mountbatten paid for the cost of his
funeral. (Info edited mainly from Wikipedia & Amazon)
8 comments:
For “Hutch The Ultimate Collection” go here:
http://www43.zippyshare.com/v/FViKEb46/file.html
1. These Foolish Things
2. Night and Day
3. Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love)
4. They Say
5. The Nearness of You
6. Anything Goes
7. I Can Dream, Can't I?
8. You Keep Coming Back Like a Song
9. The London I Love
10. No Regrets
11. Till Then
12. Carelessly
13. It's De-Lovely
14. You Go to My Head
15. September in the Rain
16. People Will Say We're in Love
17. Nice to Know You Care
18. Once in a While
19. All I Do Is Dream of You
20. Two Little Babes in the Wood
21. Red Sails in the Sunset
22. I've Got You Under My Skin
23. What Is This Thing Called Love?
24. Begin the Beguine
Hey Boppinbob, is there any possibility of this link being re-upped please. Thanks for a really great blog
Hi Terry, Sorry for the delay. If you still want a re-up let me know.
Hello Boppin' Bob. Could you re-up this yet again?
Sure thing Muddy
Here's Hutch
https://www.upload.ee/files/13165680/Hutch_-_Ultimate_Collection.rar.html
Thanks so much!
Could you please indulge someone who missed earlier - and re up please?
Thanks in anticipation
Hello Neil, Here's Hutch....
https://www.upload.ee/files/14993882/Leslie_Hutch_Hutchinson_-_Ultimate.rar.html
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