Herb Jeffries
Known best among African-American audiences early in his career, Herb Jeffries
was a singer and actor who starred as a singing cowboy in a series of Western
movies in the 1930s and performed with major jazz artists in the 1940s. Lauded
for clearing a path against segregation in Hollywood, he received a Golden Boot
award from the Motion Picture & Television Fund in 1996 and a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2004.
Born in Detroit, he sang locally and as a teenager moved to Chicago where he
sang in clubs until he signed on with the Earl Hines Orchestra in 1933. He
toured ...
