Betty Bradley
Betty Bradley (* 1920 in New York City; † 1989 in New York City) was an US American singer who made quite the impression during the swing era in the 1940s. She celebrated her biggest successes in the years working together with Bob Chester and his orchestra. Thanks to the biography of her daughter, sociologist Donna Gaines‘, the following details about her life have come to light.
Career
Betty Bradley's career began in 1932 with an appearance on Major Bowes' Original Amateur Hour, a talent show that launched the careers of stars such as Frank Sinatra and Fred Astaire. She made her professional debut in 1939 with Gray Gordon and His TicToc Orchestra. But the contract didn't last long. After she started pulling faces during performances, she was fired on the spot. In any case, she found his music too sentimental for her taste and switched to Bob Chester‘s orchestra that same year, which was more in line with her jazz and swing aspirations. Over the next few years, she was constantly on concert tours, performing at nightclubs and dance halls such as New York’s Latin Quarter, the Chicago Theater, and the Earle in Philadelphia, and receiving positive reviews in industry magazines such as Billboard magazine. In addition to numerous radio appearances, such as on Rudy Vallée's radio shows, she also made a few forays into the film industry.
Much to her sponsor Milton Berle's regret, she ended her career after 12 years as a professional singer at a point in which her rise to fame in television was within striking distance. Through her work with the comedian and showallrounder and during their performances together she had showed convincing qualities far beyond her striking talent as a singer. According to her daughter Donna Gaines, she could have possibly become as famous as Rosemary Clooney or even Doris Day. After her retreat from the public, she appeared once more on the Joe Franklin Show in the 90s.
Private Life
In 1949 Betty Bradley married Herbert Denmark who she already knew as a teenager. Before this second marriage, she had a short relationship with an unknown roadie from Bob Chester in 1946. Sadly her happiness did not last long, for her husband died in 1951 in the same hospital in which she had given birth to their daughter Donna Gaines only a month before. Betty Bradley remarried twice after that, but lost the love of her life, Herbert Denmark. In 1954, she married Arthur Gaines, who passed away ten years later. In 1965, she found new happiness in her third marriage to musician Murray ‘Dom’ Gottesman. He lovingly cared for her until her death. In the 1970s, Betty Bradley was diagnosed with breast cancer. She initially overcame the disease and, in the years that followed, became deeply committed to supporting women who suffered from the stigma of breast cancer. In the late 1980s, the cancer returned. She succumbed to the disease in 1989 in New York.
For the sake of her marriage with Herbert Denmark she ended her professional singing career in 1951, but never quit singing. She sang privately, at charity events as well as on her last day.
Films
- 1940: Der Auslandskorrespondent
- 1944: Trocadero
- 1945: The Moon of Mona Koora
Vinyls (selection)
- 1939: Why Don't You Try Your Love On Me (Victor 26253-B)
- 1941: Clap Your Hands On the After Beat (Bluebird B-11172-A)
- 1941: Feed The Kitty (Bluebird B-11100-B)
- 1941: My Ship (Bluebird B-11043-A)
- 1941: This Love Of Mine (Bluebird B-11316-B)
- 1941: Winter Weather (Bluebird B-11405-A)
- 1941: There Goes That Song Again (Bluebird B-11227-B)
- 1942: (Nobody Knows Better Than I) He's My Guy (Bluebird B-11562-A)
- 1942: Who Do You Think You Are (Standard T-2048-B)
- 1944: Together (Hit 7089)
- 1944: Where You Are (Hit 7089)
- 1945: Summertime (Jewel J-1002)
- 1946: Welcome To My Dreams / The Gypsy (Jewel J-1003)
- 1947: Wait Till The Sun Shines Nellie (RCA Victor 20-2629-A)