Shepperd (Feldman) Fields (1910 - 1981)

Born 12 Sep 1910 in Brooklyn, Kings County (Brooklyn), New York, USA

Died 26 Feb 1981 at age 70 in Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, USA

Biography

Jazz Bandleader.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, he played saxophone and clarinet, but was most noted for being a popular bandleader during the big band swing era.

Performing with various groups on radio shows, his first big break came when he was invited to become conductor for the Veloz and Yolanda dance team in 1932. They toured though the US eastern seaboard also in Canada and Argentina, when he was offered his own NBC coast-to-coast radio broadcast in 1935. In 1936, he signed with Bluebird Records as the Fields' Band and with his group's distinctive sound known as "Rippling Rhythm", his recordings soon became a hit on the Billboard charts. His band was featured in the film "The Big Broadcast of 1938" and he conducted his orchestra at the Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles in 1939. In 1941, his group billed as "Shep Fields and His New Music", continued to record for Bluebird and made a USO tour to Europe towards the end of World War II.

Through the 1950s, he occasionally led his band for various venues, made recordings for MGM, Golden Crest, Jubilee and Dot, plus was a disc jockey in Houston, Texas.

He officially retired from bandleading in August 1963 and became an talent agent with his brother. He died in Los Angeles, California, from a heart attack at age 70.

Sources

• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6844852

• https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0276350/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shep_Fields