Barney Rapp

Barney Rapp
Birth name Barney Rappaport
Born (1900-03-25)March 25, 1900
New Haven, Connecticut
Died October 12, 1970(1970-10-12) (aged 70)
Cincinnati, Ohio
Genres Jazz
Occupation(s) Bandleader, musician
Labels RCA Victor, Bluebird

Barney Rapp (March 25, 1900 – October 12, 1970) was an American orchestra leader and jazz musician from the 1920s to the 1940s.

Career

Born Barney Rappaport[1] in New Haven, Connecticut, Rapp organized a jazz orchestra in the 1920s. He moved to Ohio, becoming a regional attraction. Several albums were recorded for RCA Victor and Bluebird. Rapp, unlike most orchestra leaders of his day, normally played the band's drums. His band was active through the 1940s. Doris Kappelhoff replaced the band's singer, Rapp's wife Ruby, when she became pregnant. Rapp reportedly asked her name and on hearing it, said: "It's a very nice name but a little too long for the marquee outside." He suggested the name Doris Day after hearing her sing "Day After Day".

Another of his finds was the Clooney Sisters, Rosemary and Betty. After hearing teenagers sing on the radio in Cincinnati, he recommended them to Tony Pastor. Others who got their start with Rapp include Eddie Ryan, Buddy Welcome, Marty Quinto, Sy Quinto, and his (Barney Rapp's) younger brother, Barry Wood, who went on to perform with Buddy Rogers.

Rapp broadcast his music on the radio and owned a nightclub, the Sign of the Drum, in Cincinnati, where his band frequently played. It was located on Reading Road in Bond Hill. While in Ohio he briefly worked as musical entertainment director for the Beverly Hills Country Club in Northern Kentucky. His position was assistant to Frank Sennes, entertainment director of the venue in the late 1940s.

Personal life

Rapp married Ruby Wright in 1936. Wright had started her career with a couple of friends at Lake Manitou in Indiana. The trio, the Call Sisters, sang for $10 a week plus room and board.[2] After this was through, they joined the Charlie Davis orchestra in Milwaukee, then traveled to Chicago. Here the group broke up, and Wright sang for bands in Chicago and New York before she met Rapp. After their marriage, she toured with the orchestra all over the country until their nightclub opened. After Ruby became pregnant, she stayed at home for several years to raise four daughters.

In September 1956, the Rapps started the Reds' Rooters Fan Club. His wife became a member and trustee of the Rosie Reds, a women's nonprofit organization that is a Reds' fan club and fund-raising organization. After his death in 1970, Rapp's wife took over the leadership of the Barney Rapp Agency and the Reds' Rooters. In 1976, she created the Barney Rapp Travel agency and traveled with its tours. She retired from the agency in 1991.

Death

Rapp died on October 12, 1970, and is buried at Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio.

References

  1. ↑ Lee, William F.; Taylor, Billy (2005). "2". American Big Bands. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 73. ISBN 0-634-08054-7.
  2. ↑ Obituary in The Cincinnati Enquirer.
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