Billy Eckstine

Billy Eckstine was an American jazz and pop singer and bandleader from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who began his professional career in the 1930s and formed his own big band in the mid-1940s. With a deep baritone voice and an emphasis on arranged orchestration, his work transitioned from big-band swing with early bebop influences to a solo career of jazz-inflected popular ballads, and he played a role in bringing modern jazz elements to wider popular audiences.