Bill Kenny (singer)

Kenny was born William Francis Kenny Jr. in 1914 at Mercy Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Although Kenny was born in Philadelphia, he spent much of his young life in Baltimore, Maryland, with his twin brother Herb Kenny, who later on would also become a member of The Ink Spots. The boys' father, William Francis Kenny Sr., died of influenza in 1919 when the boys were five years old. That same year, their widowed mother, Jennie Kenny (1894–1958) moved the boys to Washington D.C and then to Baltimore, where the family attended St. Peter Claver Church and lived at 1151 Carey Street. Mrs. Kenny worked as a dressmaker and made drapery for department stores to support the boys. It was in the third grade that young Bill walked out on stage at his school, St. Peter's Parochial, to sing his first song in public. It was "The Japanese Sandman". Kenny demonstrated early on his high Tenor singing abilities, singing C over high C and participating in various school operettas at Booker T. Washington Junior High School and later at Douglass High School where he graduated. It was in high school that Kenny began to focus on singing more than before and often appeared singing solo in his school assemblies. After graduation, Kenny attended an art school in Washington, D.C., but would on occasion, appear as a soloist in amateur contests in theaters throughout the metropolitan area of Washington, D.C. and in his hometown of Baltimore. ==Career==

While Kenny was on vacation in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the young singer competed in 22 amateur night club contests, winning 21 of them. Bill Kenny's first professional booking was in Atlantic City, New Jersey, at the Ritz-Carlton Gardens. After Milton Berle's brother, Phil Berle, heard Kenny singing ballads, he signed him to a contract. Because jobs were too difficult to get in New York City, Berle decided to release Kenny from the contract after a short time. It was around this time that Kenny sang "Trees" in an amateur contest at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem, and won first place, and a position singing with a group known as "The Ink Spots". In 1971 Presley recorded Kenny's composition "There Is No God But God". In the book "Group Harmony: The Black Urban Roots of Rhythm and Blues" by Stuart L. Goosman, Bill Kenny's immense influence on other vocal group singers is expressed in this excerpt: Some of Kenny's favorite vocalists over the years included Ella Fitzgerald, Vic Damone, Lena Horne, Paul Robeson, John Gary, Roland Hayes and Nat King Cole. The Ink Spots In 1936 The Ink Spots 1st Tenor Jerry Daniels left the group and was replaced by Bill Kenny. Kenny made his first recordings with The Ink Spots "It Ain't Nobody's Biz'ness What I Do" and the swing tune "Your Feet's Too Big" on May 12 of that year. Kenny had a brief solo on "Your Feet's Too Big". Kenny's first known solo feature came in February 1938 on a radio broadcast for radio station WEAF. The song was "Tune In On My Heart" from the 1929 Broadway musical "Remote Control", lyrics and music by Buddy Valentine and Gene Johnston. Kenny's first recorded solo feature to be recorded in a studio came in 1938 for Decca records on the ballad "I Wish You The Best Of Everything". In 1939 The Ink Spots were scheduled for a recording session at Decca recording studio in NYC. Songwriter Jack Lawrence brought with him his latest composition "If I Didn't Care" for The Ink Spots to record. Bill Kenny was featured throughout except for the middle "talking Bass" part done by Orville "Hoppy" Jones. Each member was paid only $37.50 for the recording, however, once the record sold 200,000 Decca destroyed the original contract and The Ink Spots were paid an additional $3,750. The record went on to sell more than 19 million copies and was Bill Kenny's first top hit feature. The year 1939 was the start of a new format for The Ink Spots that would feature Charlie Fuqua's trademark Guitar intro, Bill Kenny's Tenor lead, and Hoppy Jones "talking bass". Other Bill Kenny features such as "Address Unknown", "My Prayer", "Memories of You", "I'm Gettin' Sentimental Over You", and "Bless You (For Being An Angel)" all reach the top of the U.S Pop charts in 1939. It was around this time that The Ink Spots signed an additional five-year recording contract with Decca. 1940s From 1940 to 1949 Bill Kenny was featured lead singer on 40 of 45 Ink Spots recordings that reached the top of the U.S Pop charts. During the 1940s Kenny was featured in two major motion pictures: The Great American Broadcast (1941) and the Abbott and Costello film Pardon My Sarong (1942). In 1944 Ella Fitzgerald joined The Ink Spots at Decca studios where she and Kenny were to be featured on a song entitled "Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall". That song reached #1 on the U.S Pop charts and #1 on the R&B charts. The flip side of that recording "I'm Making Believe" reached #1 on the U.S Pop charts and #2 on the R&B charts. In February 1945 Fitzgerald teamed up with The Ink Spots and was featured again with Kenny on a recording of "I'm Beginning To See The Light" and "That's The Way It Is". "I'm Beginning To See The Light" reached #5 on the U.S Pop charts. That same year, The Ink Spots manager Moe Gale, began trying to advertise the quartet as "The Ink Spots (Featuring Bill Kenny)" due to Kenny's increasing leadership role. In 1948 The Ink Spots featuring Bill Kenny appeared on the first-ever Ed Sullivan Television show. In 1949 Bill Kenny made his first solo recordings "Echoes" and "Land of Love" without The Ink Spots on Decca records. Although these were Kenny solo recordings, Decca decided to label them as "The Ink Spots". Kenny's recording of "Echoes" reached #24 on the U.S Pop charts. From 1951 to 1952 all Decca recordings labeled "The Ink Spots" featured only the voice of Bill Kenny, therefore, making all Ink Spots recordings from '51 to '52 Bill Kenny solo recordings. From 1952 to 1953 Bill Kenny recorded 33 solos for Decca, some labeled as "The Ink Spots" and some as "Bill Kenny" or "Bill Kenny of The Ink Spots". Later on, Kenny recorded 14 sides for RCA's Vik label, four for the TEL label, two for the Warwick label, two for the AUB label, and two for RCA. These recordings featured arrangements by such prominent arrangers as Sy Oliver, Marty Gold, Leonard Joy, Morty Craft, Charles Shirley, and Leroy Kirkland. In 1966 Kenny recorded an album for DOT Records entitled Remember Me. The album contained songs featured on his CBC television program The Bill Kenny Show including "Me and My Shadow", "Danny Boy", "You're Nobody 'Till Somebody Loves You", "I Left My Heart in San Francisco", and "I'll Be Seeing You". In 1973 Kenny released his first album in seven years, With Love, for RCA Victor. This album featured songs composed by such songwriters as Irving Berlin, Lennon-McCartney, Kris Kristofferson, and George & Ira Gershwin. The album also features a version of Are You Lonesome Tonight which was released in 1973. The arrangements on this album were written by Doug Parker. 3 other albums, "Are You Lonesome Tonight?""Bill Kenny Sings"[https://www.discogs.com/Bill-Kenny-Bill-Kenny-Sings/release/3141691, and "The Ink Spots - If I Didn't Care" was recorded by Bill. "Are You Lonesome Tonight?" includes the same recordings as "With Love", and has an unknown release date. It might had been released in the late 1970s. "Bill Kenny Sings" included several new recordings, "No Summer Love", "Tomorrow Always Comes", and "Love Me Baby". All other recordings included in the album are from "With Love". Both Albums are assumed to be released in the coming years of his death, and most likely were released in 1977, one year before his death. "The Ink Spots - If I Didn't Care" was recorded in 1977, and released in 1979, and despite the name, it was a set of Bill Kenny recordings covering previously made Ink Spots' songs. It includes "Whispering Grass (Don't Tell The Trees), "Maybe", "The Gypsy", "To Each His Own", "I Don't Want To Set The World On Fire", "I'll Get By", "If I Didn't Care", "It's A Sin To Tell A Lie", "We Three (My Echo, My Shadow, and Me", and "When The Swallows Come Back To Capistrano". Compositions Throughout his life Kenny wrote and co-wrote many songs, including "There Is No God But God" (recorded by Elvis Presley), "When The Chimes Ring (At Evening)", "I Counted on You", "You Are Happiness", "A Soldiers Rosary", "I'm Heading Back To Paradise", "The Sweetest Dream", "Rose of Roses", "Don't Put It Off Til' Sunday", "Do You Feel That Way Too?", "Sorry You Said Goodbye", "My Lonesome Years", "Movita" and many more. Kenny's composition "I Can't Stand Losing You", which was written by Kenny in the early 1930s when he was in high school, was recorded by The Ink Spots for Decca Records in 1940. Although it was recorded in 1940, Decca decided to wait to release it until March 1943. Soon after its release, the song became a #1 hit on the R&B charts and was listed there for 7 weeks. Television appearances Throughout his career Kenny made dozens of television appearances both with The Ink Spots and as a solo act. In 1936 Kenny and The Ink Spots became the first African Americans to appear on Television. Kenny was later also featured with The Ink Spots on The Ed Sullivan Show multiple times. He also was featured with The Ink Spots on shows such as Songs for Sale three times, The Buick-Berle Show twice, Star of the Family, Wonderful Town, USA and more. In 1966 CBC Television aired a musical variety show called The Bill Kenny Show. Kenny hosted as well as performed on the program. ==Personal life==

. Kenny was married three times. His first marriage was to Zena Boyd in 1937. His second marriage came in 1947 to Marguerite Wendell, a model from Chicago introduced to Kenny by heavyweight champion boxer Joe Louis. Kenny's last marriage was to Audrey McBurney, a former model of Vancouver, British Columbia. The two were married in 1949 following McBurney's divorce from a man named Roy Norman Buchanan. Shortly after the Kenny-McBurney wedding, Buchanan charged that Kenny had lured away McBurney with gifts and promises of affection. Buchanan named Kenny as a co-respondent and asked for $50,000 "heart balm". The damage claim was dropped, however; and Kenny settled with Buchanan out of court for $1,300. Kenny first met McBurney after an Ink Spots performance in Vancouver at The Cave Supper Club where she was a member of the audience. Later on, Audrey became Bill's business manager. On July 4, 1969, Kenny was severely burnt when the gas tank of his sports car exploded in an underground parking garage in Vancouver as he lit a cigar while starting the vehicle; third-degree burns to his face and hands contributed to later respiratory problems, stemming from the fumes he inhaled. Kenny and McBurney remained married until Kenny's death in 1978. Bill Kenny was tall, standing at six feet, three inches. Activism and civil rights Throughout his life, Kenny was known for his actions against racism and his involvement in his community. In 1945, in an interview with the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper, he expressed his dislike of James Eastland, Theodore G. Bilbo and "all of the rest of the whites who reside in the South and North for that matter, that thrive daily on discriminatory practices against my race". Kenny went on to say: In 1949 Bill Kenny made headlines when he spoke out against racism and the "southern bugaboos of prejudice". Here is an excerpt from an article in the June 22, 1949, Miami Beach newspaper: Charity work In 1973, all of the proceeds from Bill Kenny's RCA album With Love and the proceeds from Kenny's book of poems Who Is He went to the establishment of a local foster home for needy children. Also in 1973, Kenny was awarded the Vancouver Interfaith Brotherhood award by Justice Angelo Branca, who said Kenny was "a man of outstanding human qualities". Throughout his career Kenny made appearances on numerous charity telethons particularly benefiting handicapped or homeless children. ==Death==

Kenny died from a respiratory illness on March 23, 1978, in New Westminster, Canada. His funeral service was held at the Unitarian Church of Vancouver. Although there were tears from some in the congregation and from the nine eulogists, Mrs. Audrey Kenny asked that the service be kept cheerful. About 200 people – family, friends, and a few fans – were in attendance. ==Trivia==

Kenny's voice has been featured in television shows such as The Walking Dead, The Simpsons, Fallout (TV series), The Visitor, The Singing Detective, Sanford, The Blacklist, Manhattan, Defiance, Arrested Development, The Wonder Years, Wayward Pines, Better Call Saul, Watchmen and more. Kenny's voice has been featured in such films as The Shawshank Redemption, Get Low, Radio Days, Raging Bull, Revolutionary Road, The Aviator, Iris, Sphere, ''Tree's Lounge, Malcolm X, Maria's Lovers, How to Make an American Quilt, Men Don't Leave, Twenty Bucks, Mr. Nobody, Hyde Park on Hudson and more. Kenny appeared as himself in Pardon My Sarong, and The Great American Broadcast''. Kenny's voice is featured in the video games Fallout, Fallout 3, Fallout 4, Fallout: New Vegas, L.A. Noire, BioShock and Mafia II. ==US Pop Hits on which Bill Kenny sang lead==