RAY McKINLEY drummer singer bandleader ORIG AGENCY PHOTO big band jazz musician

Description

This is an 8x10 inch original publicity photo of
Ray McKinley (1910 – 1995)
an American jazz drummer, singer, and bandleader. He played drums and later led the Major Glenn Miller Army Air Forces Orchestra in Europe. He also led the new Glenn Miller Orchestra in 1956.
His first substantial professional engagement came in 1934 with the Dorsey Brothers' Orchestra. It was with the Smith Ballew band in 1929 that McKinley met Glenn Miller. The two formed a friendship that lasted from 1929 until Miller's death in 1944. McKinley and Miller joined the Dorsey Brothers in 1934. Miller left for Ray Noble in December 1934, while McKinley remained.
The Dorsey brothers split in 1935, with McKinley remaining with Jimmy Dorsey until 1939, when he joined Will Bradley, becoming co-leader. McKinley's biggest hit with Bradley, as a singer, was "Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar", which he recorded early in the year1940 (and for which he got partial songwriting credit under his wife's maiden name Eleanore Sheehy).
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