Biography
Bonnie Baker (née Evelyn Nelson, April 1, 1917 Orange, Texas — August 11, 1990 Fort Lauderdale, Florida) was an American singer of jazz and popular music and was known from 1936 to the end of her performing career as Wee Bonnie Baker. Her biggest hit was Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh!, recorded with the Orrin Tucker Orchestra in 1939.
She was born in Orange, Texas; most sources give her birth name as Evelyn Nelson although, at the time of her death, her family gave it as Evelyn Underhill. She attended school in Galveston and Houston. At age 16, during the 1932–1933 school year, she was a day student at Mount de Sales Academy, in Macon, Georgia, which at that time was a Roman Catholic boarding school for girls.
She then moved back to Houston where she sang in night clubs. She joined Orrin Tucker's band as a vocalist in 1936, after Louis Armstrong suggested that Tucker recruit her. Tucker gave her the stage name "Wee" Bonnie Baker on account of her height, about 4 foot 11 inches. She had only local fame before joining Tucker's orchestra — wider notability did not occur until she performed at the Empire Room of the Palmer House in Chicago in 1939, when she began to flourish in the South and Pacific Coast.
Her girlish voice, described as "like a tiny silver bell, soft but tonally true", was used on a version of the 1917 song "Oh Johnny, Oh!", written by Abe Olman and Ed Rose. It was recorded with the Orrin Tucker Orchestra on August 20, 1939, in Los Angeles. Released on Columbia Records, it became hugely popular in 1940, reaching no. 2 on the Billboard pop chart, remaining on the chart for 14 weeks, and selling 1.5 million copies. It was also Orrin Tucker's biggest hit. She also had success with the songs You'd Be Surprised, Billy, Would Ja Mind?, and Especially For You.
She left the Tucker orchestra in 1942, and legally adopted her stage name, Bonnie Baker, on October 9, 1943, in Circuit Court, Chicago, Illinois. She then continued with a solo career, singing with the USO (United Service Organizations) during World War II, and appearing regularly on the radio show Your Hit Parade. She also sang with other bands. In 1948, she recorded a novelty song, That's All Folks!, as a duet with Mel Blanc playing the character Porky Pig. She also voiced the cartoon character Chilly Willy in the 1950s. She released an album, Oh Johnny!, with orchestra conducted by Wilbur Hatch, on Warner Bros. Records in 1956. After moving to Florida in 1958, she continued to sing in clubs with her husband Bill Gailey, who performed as Billy Rogers; the two often performed with Chuck Cabot and His Orchestra.
She gave up performing after suffering a heart attack in 1965. In 1976, she was a switchboard operator at a Ft. Lauderdale medical center.
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