By John "Jack" Behrens (website)
You can order an autographed copy of Jack’s new book by sending a check for $15 to Jack Behrens, 57 Stebbins Drive, Clinton, NY 13323. Make sure you send a return address. US postal takes approximately three to five days from the date of the order.
Singing Bandleader Scores Billboard Hits; Dies Young
Eddy Howard made his career choice early. He was attending San Jose State College and he was enrolled in Stanford Medical School when his voice won him an audition at a Los Angeles radio station. It wasn’t a fulltime gig which was typical of a time when musicians, singers were considered a “dime a dozen.”
Imagine a young man giving up a medical scholarship and professional life to become a big band singer.
It probably wouldn’t happen today but during the Depression about anything could and did happen. Howard became popular soon after joining the west coast’s favorite band, the Dick Jurgens Orchestra. His songs were aimed at a pre-war crowd with soft love melodies that offered those heart-to-heart songs that audiences, especially women, were clamoring to hear.
His hits with Jurgens were My Last Goodbye, and Careless. Careless later became Eddy’s theme song. He also sang with the Ben Bernie Band.
A mere two years later, Eddy had started his own band and was a regular vocalist on the Edgar A. Guest radio show It Can Be Done in 1941 on the Blue Network Wednesdays and Fridays which boosted his popularity and gave him good exposure.
His first major hit was with his own band and a number one single called To Each His Own. The number stayed on top of the charts through 1940s. It was connected directly to Paramount’s hit film of the same name. The movie gave Olivia de Havilland and screenwriter Charles Brackett Academy Awards.
The song stayed on the Billboard charts for 19 weeks and peaked at number one.
A year later, NBC created a program called The Sheaffer Parade for the Sheaffer Pen Company and the Howard Orchestra provide music from September 14, 1947 to September 5, 1948.
His successes kept coming too. In 1949, Eddy signed with Mercury Records and recorded two more hits Maybe It’s Because and Sin (It’s No Sin). Sin was a money maker for Howard, it became a number one title on Billboard and gave him a gold disc when it sold over one million copies.
The Four Aces had their own success with Sin and scored a million sales, also. In 1955, Eddy saw his star finally start to fade when he recorded a number called Teen-Ager’s Waltz. The single struggled unlike his other successes and peaked at number 90 on the Billboard Hot 100.
In 1953, Eddy and his band were on CBS radio Thursday nights. The rock stars flooded the networks in the next few years and Howard’s popularity could never overtake their popularity.
He had a brief moment of a comeback in the early 1960s with the interest in big band music and old-time radio. Eddy Howard died a young man at 48 in 1963 of a cerebral hemorrhage. Yet, he was still working at his death; he had become a fixture on the growing casino circult on the west coast.
Do you remember Eddy? Write me at jbehrens@roadrunner.com.
Big Bands and Great Ballrooms: America Is Dancing...Again
Available now!
You’ll enjoy a nostalgic look back at bands and dance halls and get an up close view of today leaders and bands in this new book. Now available via AuthorHouse at 1-888-519-5121 ext. 5253 or www.authorhouse.com
My previous book "The Big Band Days: A Memoir and Source Book":
