Della Reese

Della Reese was born Delloreese Patricia Early on July 6, 1931, in the Black Bottom neighborhood of Detroit, Michigan to Richard Thaddeus Early (a steelworker) and Nellie Mitchelle (a cook). Her mother was alleged to have Cherokee ancestry. She also had five older sisters and one brother. From a young age, Reese and her mother would attend cinemas to watch popular films of the era. She often returned from the films acting out scenes at home. Reese also enjoyed singing from an early age, often singing at a high volume into the skylight of their home's bathroom. According to Reese, her singing became so loud that her parents boarded up the skylight so she could not sing anymore. Reese joined her local church choir at age six. In her late teenage years, Reese joined a Detroit-based gospel group called the Meditation Singers. where she graduated at age 15, and then majored in psychology at Wayne State University in 1949. She then had a falling-out with her father, which caused her to move out of the family home and support herself by working odd jobs. This included working as a truck driver and taxi cab driver. At the same time, she continued touring and performing with the Meditation Singers. However, Reese left the group after becoming increasingly frustrated by the lack of money she was earning as a gospel performer. It was during this period that she changed her professional name to Della Reese. She then turned her attention towards secular music, eventually finding employment at Detroit's Oriel Bowling Alley, one of the first bowling alleys in the region to offer live entertainment. While working there, she entered a local talent show and won the program. As first-place-winner, Reese was given the opportunity to perform a one-week engagement at The Flame, a New York City nightclub known for elevating aspiring black performers. The one-week stint turned into an 18-week engagement that was heard by agent, Lee Magid. With Magid's help, Reese joined the Erskine Hawkins orchestra in 1953. ==Music career==

1954–1958: Early recordings and commercial success The first recordings Reese made were issued on the Great Lakes label, resulting in one 1954 single release: "Yes Indeed". "Years from Now" and "My Melancholy Baby". The latter served as the title tune to Reese's 1956 debut Jubilee LP of the same name. Reese then recorded "And That Reminds Me", an English adaptation of the Italian "Autumn Concerto" instrumental. It was her first charting single, reaching number 12 on the US Billboard Hot 100, number 15 in Australia and number five in Canada. It was also Reese's first song to sell over one million copies. Reese's music career was further elevated by Ed Sullivan who featured her on his television show multiple times and exposed her to a national audience. She remained with the Jubilee label through 1959, recording a total of 15 singles and six albums. Her second studio LP was 1958's Amen! a collection of gospel songs The label also issued her first live album titled ''A Date with Della Reese at Mr. Kelly's in Chicago (1958). A studio album of ballads was then released in 1959 titled What Do You Know About Love?'' Music publications of the era praised Reese's distinctive vocal enunciation and "emotional" delivery on her LP's. 1959–1970: "Don't You Know?" and peak commercial years Reese was signed in August 1959 to a long-term recording contract with the RCA Victor label and was paired with production team, Hugo & Luigi. Her first RCA release was the 1959 single "Don't You Know?", which was adapted from "Musetta's Waltz" in La bohème. Selling over one million copies, it became Reese's second disc to receive a gold certification. Her second RCA single, "Not One Minute More" (1960), rose to number 16 on the US Hot 100, Reese reached her peak commercial success during this period Her first label single was 1965's "After Loving You", which rose to number 95 on the US Hot 100 Reese's only other single to chart was a 1966 cover of "It Was a Very Good Year", which peaked at number 99 on the Hot 100. Her first Avco Embassy single was a cover of "Games People Play" (backed on the B-side with a cover of "Compared to What"). Both songs were Reese's final to make the US charts, both reaching the Bubbling Under Hot 100 in 1970. They appeared on her first-label studio LP titled Black Is Beautiful, which was her only one to make the US R&B albums chart. The label issued a second studio album in 1970 titled Right Now. 1971–2006: Later recordings and return to gospel music Reese's commercial success waned during the 1970s and she spent more time focused on an acting and television career. However, she continued performing clubs and toured regularly. Reese then collaborated with the Jazz a La Carte Players for the 1979 live album, One of a Kind. The album was considered a return to her jazz roots, according to Stereo Review. Reese joined Applause Records in 1982 and the label issued her next studio album called ''Sure Like Lovin' You. A one-time "jam session" with several musicians led Reese to return to gospel music and form a group called Brilliance. The group included O.C. Smith, Mary Clayton, Vermettya Royster, and Eric Strom. They signed a contract with Atlanta International Records and an album was issued in 1986 titled Della Reese and Brilliance. Co-produced by Reese herself, it was praised as "an absolutely stunning album" by Billboard'' in 1987 and a song from the collection ("You Gave Me Love") received a nomination by the Grammy Awards for Best Female Gospel Soul Performance. Reese continued recording into the 1990s, appearing with a live album on her husband's Lett label titled Some of My Best Friends Are the Blues in 1995. A second live album was issued in 1998 by Homeland called My Soul Feels Better Right Now. Artistry Reese's music has been classified into the genres of blues, jazz, gospel, pop and R&B. Reese cited Ethel Waters as her earliest musical influence Reese also cited Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald and Carmen McRae as influences on her singing as well. ==Television and acting career==

1959–1974: National television stardom and Della Reese's television career was launched by Ed Sullivan, who regularly featured her on his nationally-syndicated program, The Ed Sullivan Show. During tapings, Reese routinely performed "And That Reminds Me" because it was a personal favorite of Sullivan and his wife. According to Reese, she was the first black music artist to "sit down" on televised talk show. Reese was then approached by director Woody Fraser about hosting her own talk show on network television. The show ran for nearly 200 episodes through March 1970 and aired on national television five days a week. During the show's run, Reese performed songs herself and had guest performers on episodes. 1975–1993: Acting transition commercial, 1977 In addition to television roles, Reese also embarked on an acting career. "It was just like one thing flowing into another. It was finding another rhythm so you could take the music out," she recalled in an interview. Although her first speaking role was in The Mod Squad (1969), it took several years for Reese to gain acceptance as an actress rather than as a singer. She then had a recurring role in the television series Chico and the Man The film was unsuccessful at the box office and was given negative reviews by film critics. Yet, the comedic chemistry between Foxx and Reese on Harlem Nights inspired Murphy to write The Royal Family, One month later, Foxx suffered a heart attack during a filming of an episode. Reese thought Foxx was "doing pratfalls" and did not take it seriously until she saw him lying on the floor in pain. 1994–2014: Success with Touched by an Angel and final acting credits in 2009. Reese was about to embark on a vacation with her husband when her agent offered her a lead role in an upcoming series called Touched by an Angel. At first, Reese declined the offer because of the stress associated from The Royal Family cancelling. and decided to "talk to God", who ultimately told Reese to "do this for me". Reese then shot the pilot, Also starring Roma Downey, who was a young, unfamiliar actress, at the time, in the role of Monica (a guardian angel), with Reese, in the role of Tess (the supervising angel), the premise of each episode focused on the angels helping people cross over from life into death. Reese sang the theme song which appeared at the beginning of each episode and was titled "Walk with You". Despite negative critical reviews and CBS threatening to take it off the air, the series attracted roughly 25 million viewers weekly and was one of the CBS network's top rated shows for three seasons. "They wanted to give everybody else a raise, and they didn't want to give me a raise, and I couldn't accept that. Just that simple," she explained in an interview. She appeared in a film about a black-owned hair salon starring Queen Latifah called Beauty Shop (2005). She then was featured in a film about the upbringing of Markus Redmond titled If I Had Known I Was a Genius (2007) alongside Whoopi Goldberg, Sharon Stone and Tara Reid. She also appeared in several Christmas-themed television films such as Christmas Angel and Dear Secret Santa on the Lifetime network Her last acting credits were on two episodes of the show Signed, Sealed, Delivered and then Reese retired from acting in 2014. ==Books and ministry==

Reese was the author of several books in addition to her acting and singing careers. In 1999, Reese released a fictional children's book about spirituality called God Inside of Me. Her third book was released in 2001 titled What Is This Thing Called Love?, a series of passages and scriptures centered on love. A fourth book released the same year titled Strength Is the Energy of God! focused on discussing spiritual and inspirational strength. Her fifth and final book was released in 2012 titled Metaphysically Speaking: The Bible is the Greatest How-To Book Ever Written. Published by Reese's own company, it provided guidance on how to find one's own spirituality. Reese stopped attending church in her 20's after finding it did not agree with her spiritual beliefs. After a near-fatal accident in 1979, Reese became inspired by Reverend Johnnie Colemon, the founder of the non-denominational Universal Foundation for Better Living church. She started attending services and took theological course work at the Johnnie Colemon Institute. She then began hosting classes at her California home beginning in 1984. Reese officially became an ordained minister in 1987 and founded her own church called Understanding Principles for Better Living. The "Up Church" is under Colman's Universal Foundation for Better Living. In her ministerial work, she was known as the Rev. Dr. Della Reese Lett. ==Personal life==

Marriages and children , the son of Duke Ellington (pictured here in 1975.) Reese was married four times. Her first marriage was in 1952 to Vermont Taliaferro, a factory worker who was nineteen years older than her. The pair divorced in 1958. In the same 2004 interview, Reese stated that her brother and sister "had five children that they were having a terrible time feeding and abortion was not as easily come by". Reese offered to adopt the child which her sister-in-law first agreed to. However, after giving birth, her sister-in-law chose to keep the baby. Two years later when Reese was working a club in Chicago, they brought the baby to her and reportedly told her, "I should have given you the baby when I said I would." Reese then went on to officially adopt her. Health challenges In September 1970, Reese was with her daughter playing in the swimming pool of her California home when she slipped and fell on a piece of tile. She subsequently fell through a plate glass window. Reese's daughter found a neighbor (who also happened to be a doctor) to help her contact paramedics. According to the Tucson Daily Citizen, Reese had "severe body lacerations" when she arrived at the UCLA Medical Center. The newspaper also reported that she underwent a three-hour surgery to repair the injury and remained in the hospital for nearly one month. "[Doctors said] I was gonna die so many times, I may not die at all". Ultimately, she received one thousand stitches and made a full recovery with the help of physical therapy. According to Reese, she was taken to two Los Angeles hospitals, which assumed she had a drug "overdose" because she was "Black and an entertainer". Reese's son was a psychiatrist sent for her physician who "came immediately" to prove there were no drugs in Reese's system. Reese was also close friends with Touched by an Angel co-star, Roma Downey. In an interview following Reese's death, Downey said she "was like a mother to me". Downey considered her a "second mother" and made Reese the godmother to her daughter who was born in 1996. Reese also officiated Downey's wedding to Mark Burnett. Downey was quoted as saying, "I think I'll just always remember the feel of her neck against my cheek when she hugs me and the love I know that she has for me and the love that I feel for her and the love that she has for God. To know Della is to know that she loves God. Death Reese was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes after collapsing on the set of Touched by an Angel. It was initially controlled with medication and a calorie deficit. In 2016, shortly after her 85th birthday, Reese was said to be in poor health and had undergone multiple surgeries. She stated that she had neglected her health for years, which had contributed to the disease getting gradually worse over time. She was using a wheelchair at times on and off during the last ten years of her life. Reese died at her home in the Encino neighborhood of Los Angeles on November 19, 2017, at the age of 86. ==Discography==

Studio albums • Melancholy Baby (1956) • Amen! (1958) • The Story of the Blues (1959) • What Do You Know About Love? (1959) • Della (1960) • Della by Starlight (1960) • Della Della Cha-Cha-Cha (1960) • Special Delivery (1961) • The Classic Della (1962) • Waltz with Me, Della (1963) • Moody (1965) • ''C'mon and Hear Della Reese!'' (1965) • "i like it like dat!" (1966) • Della on Strings of Blue (1967) • I Gotta Be Me...This Trip Out (1968) • Black Is Beautiful (1970) • Right Now (1970) • Let Me in Your Life (1973) • ''Sure Like Lovin' You'' (1983) • Della Reese and Brilliance (1986) • Give It to God (2006) == Filmography ==

Films • Psychic Killer (1975) • Harlem Nights (1989) • '''' (1996) • Dinosaur (2000) • Beauty Shop (2005) • If I Had Known I Was a Genius (2007) • Expecting Mary (2010) • Meant to Be (2012) • Me Again (2012) ==Books==

• Angels Along the Way: My Life from Help Above (1997) • God Inside of Me (1999) • What Is This Thing Called Love? (2001) • Strength Is the Energy of God! (2001) • Metaphysically Speaking: The Bible is the Greatest How-To Book Ever Written (2012) ==Awards and nominations==