About Del Courtney
Hometown
Oakland, CA, United States
Born
September 24, 1910
Genre
Art & Architecture
b. 21 September 1910, Oakland, California, USA, d. 11 February 2006, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. Under the appropriate heading ‘The Old Smoothie’, Del Courtney’s dance band were a popular attraction at hotels throughout America in the pre and post-war period. Formed in 1933 in California, their first booking came at the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley. Courtney had formerly played alongside Al Hill, and used three different female vocalists; Dotty Dotson, Judith Blair and Gil Vester, to augment his strongly romantic compositions. Their professionalism was rewarded with shows at premier hotels such as the Roosevelt (New Orleans), the New Yorker and Ambassador (New York), the Edgewater and Stevens (Chicago), the Adolphus (Dallas) and the Royal Hawaiian (Honolulu). Courtney returned to his native California in the 50s, and his band were featured on one of the first telecasts for The Sylvania Programme. Made aware of the new possibilities offered by the medium, he subsequently gave up bandleading to take a television dealership in the Bay area of San Francisco. He would also work in radio, becoming a popular disc jockey on the KSFO radio station. In his spare time a new dance band was formed on a semi-professional basis, with local shows and a season in Lake Tahoe. When he left KSFO after several years he went on to direct the band for the Oakland Raiders football team. He was also a regular on The King Family Television Show in the 60s. In the new millennium Courtney was found performing with his band at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. He retired after his 94th birthday.
Similar to: Del Courtney
Discover more music and artists similar to Del Courtney, like Holana, BOXER, Octopus Tree
