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Will Osborne, who was a Canadian, and as the son of Lord Oliphant, was the heir to the Barony of Gask, Scotland. During his career, he had several orchestras. In the very early '30's, he had an easy going swing band, staffed with some fine musicians. In mid 1935, he formed a rather interesting orchestra that featured Slide Trumpets and glissing trombones blowing into cardboard megaphones. Here's "Will Osborne And His Orchestra" (with Osborne on vocal) in 1937, playing "Listen To The Glissin', (694kb - Decca 1915-B matrix 63117). A few years after that band, he came up with still another orchestra featuring Dick "Stinky" Rogers mugging it up on vocals. Rogers took over the leadership of this band when Will left it. Will formed yet another orchestra a few years later that featured a girl singer with just a single name, - Marianne.
Will Osborne formed his first band in 1924 and continued to lead one for over thrity years. Through that time his bands played different musical styles. Originally a dance band, Osborne switched to swing music during World War II and then back to dance music in 1947. In 1935 he developed a "sound" by having four trombones played into cardboard megaphones. The band that played this style was known as 'Will Osborne & His Slide Music'. The late 1940's saw Osborne move from New York to California where his band was featured on the Abbott and Costello radio show. He led a large band which gradually was reduced to an seven man outfit before he disbanded in 1957 to become entertainment director at Harvey's, a casino in Lake Tahoe.
Originally based in New York, Osborne handled most of the vocal numbers and became known for his "soft" singing style. This 'crooning' - for which Osborne is perhaps best remembered today - eventually became the object of a well publicized 'feud' with Rudy Vallee. In 1929, when Rudy Vallee's Orchestra left the Heigh-Ho Club in New York City to perform in a Hollywood film, it was the Will Osborne band that succeeded him at the club. The job gave the band nationwide exposure through the club's radio broadcasts. Vallee's fans claimed Osborne's 'soft' singing style mimicked Vallee. They felt Osborne was getting the credit for creating "crooning" while Vallee's fans thought he deserved the credit.
An interesting note on the origination of the word 'crooning':
Back in Vaudeville days, a performer had to have perfect diction and a voice that could really "Belt" out a tune. For if the man in the back row of the theater couldn't hear the tune, he just might start throwing tomatoes at the performer. Accordingly, all the great stars, such as Sophie Tucker, Cantor, Jolson, etc., had perfect diction and powerful voices and so were able to get a song over to everyone in the theater. The advent of electronics changed all that forever. Now, it became possible for a performer to 'whisper' into the 'mic' and the amplifiers would carry his voice to everyone in the house, -at high decibel levels. A new breed of singer could now take the stage - men who would "Croon" softly into the microphone. Slowly, the 'belters' disappeared and men like Crosby, Osborne, Vallee, Como, Bowlly, and other 'Crooners' took center stage.
Osborne also wrote music. His most famous compostions are:
"Between 18th and 19th On Chestnut Street", ...a hit record for Bing Crosby & Connee Boswell
"Pompton Turnpike", ...a Charlie Barnet Orch. hit recording
"Wouldst Could I But Kiss Thy Hand, Oh Babe" Played here in 1940 by "Will Osborne And His Slide Music", with "Doghouse" Dale Jones doing the vocal. (Varsity 8143 - matrix US1158) (Curiously, the tune was a hit for another band, -'Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orch.')
"On A Blue And Moonless Night", Wayne King Orch. hit recording.
The first three songs were co-written by Dick "Stinky" Rogers, who also sang with (and later led) the band.
Among the girl vocalists that appeared with the band were Lynn Davis, Joan Whitney, Dorothy Rogers and Eileen Wilson, who later in her career sang with Les Brown's band, and 'Marianne'.
Will appeared in several Hollywood films including:
1941 Blues In The Night, (as bandleader Guy Heiser; also Bonita Granville and Richard Whorf)
1944 (Abbott and Costello) In Society, as the orchestra leader.
1946 Swing Parade, as himself.
The band recorded for the ARC labels (Melotone, Perfect, Banner, Oriole), Columbia, Decca and Varsity.
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