This page contains Lee Wiley songs, albums and video links. Music profile for Lee Wiley with events, tracks, videos, pictures, lyrics and band information.
Lee Wiley (9 October 1908–11 December 1975) was an United States|American jazz singer popular in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. Although today less well-known than such singers of the same era as Billie Holiday, Wiley is nonetheless still appreciated by jazz aficionados and nearly all her recordings are in print. She possessed an attractive, slightly husky tone and delivered lyrics with warmth and intimacy.
Wiley was born in Fort Gibson, Oklahoma. While still in her early teens, Wiley left home to begin a career singing with the Leo Reisman band. Her career was temporarily interrupted by a fall while horse-riding and she suffered temporary blindness, but she recovered and at the age of 19 was back with Reisman again. She also sang with Paul Whiteman and later, the Casa Loma Orchestra. A collaboration with composer Victor Young resulted in several songs for which Wiley wrote the lyrics, including "Got The South In My Soul" and "Anytime, Anyday, Anywhere", the latter becoming an R&B hit in the 1950s.
In 1939, Wiley made a 78 album set of eight George Gershwin|Gershwin songs with a small group for Liberty Music Shops. The set sold well and was followed by 78 album sets dedicated to Cole Porter (1940) and Richard Rodgers & Lorenz Hart (1940 and 1954), Harold Arlen (1943), and Vincent Youmans and Irving Berlin (1951). The players on t... read all
