Ina Ray Hutton

Happy Birthday Ina Ray Hutton (nee Odessa Cowan) 1916-1984...Hutton lead the Melodears, one of the first all-female swing bands to be recorded and filmed and headed up other bands as well from the 1930's to the 1960's. She passed as white throughout her musical career but when she was a child her family was listed as colored and mulatto by the U.S. Census Bureau when they were using those terms. Hutton was lauded by the local African-American newspaper of her South Side Chicago neighborhood for her dance performances but by the time she was in her teens mention of her disappeared. Some accounts point to the fact that at that time she was discovered by a white vaudeville producer and her career took a more professional turn.

In 1930, Hutton made her Broadway debut with Gus Edwards at the Palace Theater in N.Y. As Ina Ray at age 16, she was a featured singer and dancer in George White's "Melody" and at 17 she joined the Ziegfeld Follies. When she was just 18, the manager Irving Mills put together an all-female band and made her the leader. Mills changed her last name to Hutton at that time to take advantage of the popularity of millionairess Barbara Hutton. The band was called Ina Ray Hutton and her Melodears.

The band toured for five years and Hutton acquired the nickname "The Blonde Bombshell of Rhythm" for her sexy, energetic conducting style and her frequent costume changes (all of them slinky, strappy gowns). Hutton and her Melodears were subjects of several shorts filmed for Paramount including "Accent on Girls" and "Swing Hutton Swing" and also appeared in some feature length films. The group disbanded in 1939.

In 1940 Hutton went brunette and headed up an all-male band which also appeared in feature films and toured until 1946. In the 1950's the all-female format was still popular and Hutton put together another band for television, including her own Emmy award winning Ina Ray Hutton Show. The show aired on the West Coast for 4 years and for one summer season on NBC. She continued to sing and lead bands until her retirement in 1968.