Dorsey, Tommy

Dorsey, (Thomas) Tommy

(1905–56) musician; born in Shenandoah, Pa. He was a Swing Era bandleader who began with local dance bands in Scranton, Pa. He moved to New York City in 1925 and engaged in free-lance radio and recording work as a trombonist and trumpeter. In 1927–28, he was a sideman with Paul Whiteman. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, he and his brother Jimmy Dorsey (1904–57), a saxophonist, coled a succession of recording bands. In 1934, they launched a full-time orchestra which played a long residency at the Glen Island Casino (New Rochelle, N.Y.). After a dispute with Jimmy in 1935, Tommy split and took over Joe Haymes' orchestra, building it into one of the most popular and versatile Swing bands. He led this orchestra, which featured Frank Sinatra in 1940–42, until the early 1950s. He appeared with Jimmy in the 1947 Hollywood feature film The Fabulous Dorseys, and in 1953 they formed a new band together. In 1955–56, they cohosted their own television program, Stage Show, on CBS. His premature death was caused by strangulation on food particles.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.