Bea Wain

Beatrice Ruth Wain[1] (April 30, 1917 – August 19, 2017) was an American Big Band-era singer and radio personality born in the Bronx, New York City. She had several hits with Larry Clinton and His Orchestra, including "My Reverie", "Deep Purple", and "Heart and Soul". Wain and announcer Andre Baruch, her husband, co-hosted radio programs from the 1940s to the 1980s.

Bea Wain
Bea Wain in 1943
Born
Beatrice Ruth Wain[1]

(1917-04-30)April 30, 1917
The Bronx, New York, U.S.
DiedAugust 19, 2017(2017-08-19) (aged 100)
Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
Other namesBeatrice Wayne
Occupation(s)Singer, radio personality
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1938; died 1991)​
Children2

Career

Wain made her debut on radio at age 6 as a "featured performer" on the NBC Children's Hour.[2] As an adult, she sang regularly on The Larry Clinton Show (NBC 1938),[3] Monday Merry-Go-Round (NBC Blue 1941–1942),[3]: 238  Starlight Serenade (Mutual 1944),[3]: 314  and Your Hit Parade.[3]: 362 

She led the vocal group Bea and the Bachelors (with Al Rinker, Ken Lane, and John Smedberg).[4]

Her debut with Clinton was made in the summer of 1938 at the Glen Island Casino, New Rochelle, New York.[2]

Recordings

On a 1937 recording with Artie Shaw, she was credited as Beatrice Wayne, which led some to assume that was her real name. On record labels, her name was shortened (without her permission) to "Bea" by the record company, ostensibly for space considerations. As she explained, "They cut it to 'Bea' Wain. They cut the 'Beatrice' out to 'Bea'. I was just a little old girl singer, but that's the truth. So that's how my name became 'Bea Wain'."[5]

Wain's recording of My Reverie (Victor 26006) with the Clinton orchestra stayed at the top of the chart for eight weeks in 1938.[6] Her other popular recordings included "Deep Purple", "Heart and Soul", and "Martha".[7]

In 1939, Wain was voted by Billboard Magazine as ‘Female Band Vocalist of The Year’, beating superstars such as Ella Fitzgerald to the title.

Wain was the first artist to record the Harold Arlen-Yip Harburg classic "Over the Rainbow" (for RCA Victor on December 7, 1938, with Clinton's orchestra),[8] but Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer forbade the release of the record until The Wizard of Oz (1939) had opened and audiences heard Judy Garland perform it.[9]

Wain rarely made recordings after she left the Clinton orchestra in 1939, focusing primarily on her work on radio.[10]

"Mr. and Mrs. Music"

Following World War II, Wain worked with her husband, Andre Baruch, as a disc jockey team in New York on WMCA, where they were billed as "Mr. and Mrs. Music". An article in the May 1949 issue of Radio Best magazine noted, "In the trade she is looked upon as an accurate picker of hits and is a favorite song plugger of tunesmiths like Cole Porter, Johnny Mercer, Harold Arlen and Harry Warren."[11]

During the early 1980s, the pair hosted a syndicated radio recreation of Your Hit Parade.[12] Baruch died in 1991.[13]

In a 2004 interview with Christopher Popa, Wain reflected: "Actually, I've had a wonderful life, a wonderful career. And I'm still singing, and I'm still singing pretty good. This past December, I did a series of shows in Palm Springs, California, and the review said, 'Bea Wain is still a giant.' It's something called Musical Chairs. I did six shows in six different venues, and I was a smash. And I really got a kick out of it."[14]

Death

Wain died of congestive heart failure at an assisted living home on August 19, 2017, in Beverly Hills, California, at the age of 100.[15][16]

Listen to

References
  1. Some sources cite "Weinsier" as her surname at birth.
  2. Billboard, January 24, 1942
  3. Terrace, Vincent (1999). Radio Programs, 1924-1984: A Catalog of More Than 1800 Shows. McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 192. ISBN 978-0-7864-4513-4.
  4. Irvin, Sam (2011). Kay Thompson: From Funny Face to Eloise. Simon and Schuster. p. 50. ISBN 9781439176542. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  5. "Larry Clinton - True Confessions". Big Band Library. August 26, 2017. Retrieved August 26, 2017.
  6. Hoffmann, Frank (2016). Chronology of American Popular Music, 1900-2000. Routledge. p. 88. ISBN 9781135868864. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  7. "Bea Wain, One of the Last Big Band Singers, Dies at 100". Billboard. 2017-08-22. Retrieved 2021-01-13.
  8. Frisch, Walter (2017). Arlen and Harburg's Over the Rainbow. Oxford University Press. p. 43. ISBN 9780190467333. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  9. Barnes, Mike (August 22, 2017). "Bea Wain, One of the Last Big Band Singers, Dies at 100". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 25 August 2017. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  10. Friedwald, Will (1996). Jazz Singing: America's Great Voices From Bessie Smith To Bebop And Beyond. Da Capo Press. p. 98. ISBN 0306807122. Retrieved 10 September 2017. Bea Wain.
  11. "Andre Baruch" (PDF). Radio Best. May 1949. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  12. Riggs, Larry (August 21, 1982). "Airplay" (PDF). Cash Box. p. 17. Retrieved 10 September 2017.
  13. "Andre Baruch, 83, Famous Radio Voice". The New York Times. September 17, 1991. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  14. Popa, Christopher. "Larry Clinton, True Confession", bigbandlibrary.com; accessed March 16, 2015.
  15. "Bea Wain, 'girl singer' from big-band era who jammed with Pavarotti, dies at 100". The Washington Post. August 21, 2017. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
  16. "Bea Wain, big band singer whose career launched at age 6, dies at 100". Los Angeles Times. 22 August 2017. Retrieved 4 September 2017.

Sources
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