Martha Tilton R.I.P.

[Reza]

London Telegraph


Martha Tilton


Last Updated: 1:33am GMT 29/12/2006

Martha Tilton, who died on December 8 aged 91, was the vocalist with Benny Goodman's orchestra on January 16 1938, when it gave the first-ever non-classical concert at Carnegie Hall.

Although she was only 22 years old at the time, and still something of a novice, her name became permanently associated with this historic event and with the swing era it symbolised. She matured into an excellent popular singer in later years.

Martha Ellen Tilton was born on November 14 1915 at Corpus Christi, Texas, into a family of keen amateur musicians and singers. Her younger sister Liz also became a professional vocalist. The family moved to Los Angeles when the children were small and Martha began singing with the Sid Lippman band at the Ambassador Hotel's "Coconut Grove" while still at high school.
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She married for the first time at 18, giving birth to a son. The marriage broke down, but she continued her career with the Hal Grayson band and, later, with a four-part vocal group, Three Hits and a Miss. It appears briefly in the 1937 film Topper, starring Cary Grant and Constance Bennett.

In the same year Benny Goodman and his Orchestra came to Hollywood to appear in the film Hollywood Hotel. Goodman had recently lost his vocalist, Helen Ward, and was on the lookout for a replacement. Martha Tilton auditioned for the job, but Goodman characteristically walked out in the middle of her second song. Thinking that she had been rejected, she stopped singing and left in some distress.

The following morning Goodman's secretary called her to offer her $125 a week to join the band. Almost at once she found herself aboard the band bus. She worked 365 days a year for the next two years and did not get home all that time.

Martha Tilton recorded about 80 numbers with Goodman. In contrast to Helen Ward's sensuality, her style at this stage was pert and slightly juvenile. This partly reflected the songs she was required to sing. At the Carnegie concert, for instance, her featured pieces were a swing version of Loch Lomond and the Yiddish novelty number, Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen.

Among the songs she recorded with Goodman, by far the most successful was And The Angels Sing (1939). This scored a considerable hit, although most of the credit went to Goodman rather than to Martha Tilton.

Leaving Goodman in April 1939, Martha Tilton joined Paul Whiteman's NBC radio show, Hall Of Fame, and within a year had her own show on the same network, where she was billed as "Liltin' Martha Tilton". In 1940 she remarried; her new husband was Goodman's manager, Leonard Vannerson, with whom she had a son.

In 1942 she signed a recording contract with a new label, Capitol Records, launched by the songwriter Johnny Mercer and two associates. Her recordings for Capitol show a marked improvement on her work with Goodman, in particular A Stranger In Town, A Fine Romance and I'll Remember April. Throughout the war years she was promoted as much for her looks and personality as her singing. Her picture often appeared in fan magazines and publications aimed at the armed forces, although she made a point of appearing fully clothed, never clad in a bathing suit.

Throughout 1943 and 1944 she toured, under the auspices of the United Services Organisation, with Jack Benny's show for the troops, nicknamed the "Foxhole Follies", visiting Europe and the South Pacific.

She also appeared in a number of films in both singing and acting roles. Most of these are deservedly forgotten now, although an exception must be made for You'll Never Get Rich, starring Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth. After the war she continued performing on radio with both Jack Benny and Bob Hope.

Her second marriage collapsed in 1947. She later married Jim Brooks, a test pilot, with whom she had a daughter.

In 1955 Martha Tilton played herself in the film The Benny Goodman Story, after which she virtually retired into private life. Like many of her contemporaries she was tempted back to performing late in life, at the urging of the nostalgia industry. In the 1990s she undertook several tours of the United States and Australia with the veteran bandleader Horace Heidt.

She is survived by her third husband, a son and a daughter. One son predeceased her.