Della Griffin, a legendary jazz singer and one of the first female drummers, was born the 19th child out of 20 on June 12, 1925 in Newbury, South Carolina to William and Mary Gilliam. Though born in the south, Della Griffin grew up in Jamaica, Queens, NY.
As a child, Della Griffin took an early interest in entertainment. She devoutly listened to big band singers and jazz tunes each day on the radio. She began dance lessons when she was 8 and took up singing, which became her ultimate love, three years later, after her brother-in-law, a trumpeter gave her a Billie Holiday (1915-1959) (whom later with her husband, became a close friend) record. Upon receiving the Billie Holiday record, Della “immediately reallocated her weekly allowance from paying for movies to buying all of Holiday’s records as well as records by William “Count” Basie (1904-1984), Charlie Barnet (1913-1991) and other swinging big bands of the day.”[1]
In addition, because of her passion for singing, Della Griffin frequently sang the latest songs around the house. She especially loved to sing in front of company and guests. It was a habit she carried into old age. As a result, her foster children were blessed to hear special renditions of “Today Is Your Birthday,” the title song of her first release, each birthday.
Tragically when Della Griffin was 12, her younger sister, Nancy, the family’s 20th child, contracted pneumonia and died. Yet Della persevered. Her love for music and dreams of becoming a performer remained undiminished.
Within a few years, after graduating with the Class of ‘43 from Jamaica High School (JHS) in Queens, NY, Griffin began singing professionally. She performed in local clubs and dance halls in South Carolina. Upon discovering the enthusiastic interest her performances commanded in the segregated south, Della in search of an even bigger audience, returned to New York where she and Frances Kelly decided to create a group in 1950. Per Della Griffin, “I always liked show business. I liked Billie Holiday. I was working with another girl [in a factory that manufactured shoulder pads.”[2]] and we decided to put a group together and sing. Any place they would let us sing, we would sing.”[3]
Afterwards, they recruited three additional members, Chris Towns, a mutual friend of theirs who was a pianist and songwriter, Pearl Brice, a childhood friend of Della’s, and Rachel Gist, “a Harlem club soloist.” They named their group the Enchanters, which in 1951 became one of the first female R&B groups “paving the way for [such famous female groups as] the Hearts, the Bobbettes, the Chantels and the Shirelles.”[4]
With the group in place, Della Griffin performed as the lead singer, Francis Kelly sang bass, Pearl Brice alto, and Rachel Gist, the youngest at 17, soprano, while Chris Towns played the piano and produced many of their songs. During their existence, the Enchanters “booked themselves into every venue available to them”[5] impressing one club so much that it even invited them to hold rehearsals in their building during off-hours.
As the Enchanters’ success grew, Della took a bold step in inviting Jerry Blaine (1910-1973), owner of Jubilee Records and label of “the Orioles,”[6] a male music group, to attend one of their performances in November 1951. “Intrigued at the thought of a female group,” Blaine agreed and attended their concert at Showman’s club (next to the famed Apollo theater on 125th Street in Harlem, NY) where he listened to them perform “I’ve Lost.” He was immediately impressed and invited the group to sign a contract the following day. Recording began within a week with “Today Is Your Birthday,” a sentimental love song which had been given to them by Blaine and had been previously performed by the Sugartones (Onyx label), “How Could You Break My Heart,” “I’ve Lost,” “Housewife Blues,” and “You Don’t Know I’m Not In Love With You.” Della Griffin was the lead singer in all five songs, with bandleader Buddy Lucas providing male vocals in “Today Is Your Birthday.”
With the recordings completed in one session on November 28, 1951, Jubilee Records included “the Enchanters’ as ‘Something New & Different!’”[7] in their 1951 Christmas trade ad that included its list of performers, most notably the Orioles, Buddy Lucas, Edna McGriff, and Earlington Carl Tilghman (1928-1981) known as “Sonny Til,” who became a good friend of Della’s. This was even before Jubilee Records introduced the Enchanters and announced who they were just after New Year’s Day in 1952 when they released the group’s first record featuring “Today Is Your Birthday” and “How Could You [Break My Heart],” a blues/rock song.
Fueled by the positive critical acclaim and success of their single, the Enchanters began touring the country. They performed at theaters “on The Chitlin Circuit”[8] and at the Apollo in New York City, The Howard in Washington, D.C., and The Royal in Baltimore, MD. Everywhere the Enchanters went they received an enthusiastic positive response. As a result, Shaw Artists Corporation signed on to represent them in March 1952.
Jubilee Records released the Enchanters’ second record in April 1952 that consisted of “I’ve Lost” and “Housewife Blues.” It was met with “a comparable reception.”[9]
With their success, Della Griffin and the Enchanters performed as part of the Amsterdam News’ 15th Annual Midnight Benefit Show (for the newspaper’s charitable fund) on December 12, 1952, appearing with “Milton Berle (1908-2002), Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996), Aaron ‘Red Buttons’ Chwatt (1919-2006), ‘Duke’ Ellington (1899-1974), Arnett Cobb (1918-1989), Billy Eckstine (1914-1993), Vito ‘Vic’ Damone (b. 1928),”[10] etc. In addition, the Enchanters’ who felt that they “were not receiving the attention afforded [to Jubilee’s] male groups like The Orioles [and] The Marylanders”[11] left the label.
Then to compound matters, Rachel Gist who had entered into a troubled marriage that bore her two children, and Pearl Brice, also married, decided to quit the group, with the latter choosing to become a housewife. By this time, Della Griffin was married to her first of three husbands, Jimmy Simpson, who had been managing her group.
Despite the adversity, Della Griffin and Frances Kelly were determined to continue. They chose Gloria Alleyne (b. 1931) and Sherry Gary of the Dorsey Sisters, a relatively new female group, to replace Gist and Brice, respectively. They then renamed their group the Dell-Tones after Della Griffin their lead singer and drummer, the first female with such a role in a well-known group.
Following this, Della’s husband, Jimmy Simpson got them a record deal with Brunswick Records where they recorded “My Heart’s On Fire” and “Yours Alone” that prominently featured Griffin as the lead vocalist and Gloria Alleyne as the second lead and bridge, respectively on June 3, 1953. The record was released a month later.
The Dell-Tones then performed for a week at Harlem’s Baby Grand (near the Apollo) in December 1953, working with comedian Julius “Nipsey” Russell (1918-2005), a resident act dubbed “The Playboy of Harlem.”[12] Shortly afterwards, dissatisfied with their lack of releases, the Dell-Tones left Brunswick Records and signed on with Eddie Heller’s Rainbow records, where they recorded “I’m Not In Love With You” (released in April 1954) and “Little Short Daddy.” As usual, Della Griffin was the lead singer on both tracks while background music was provided by the Kelly Owens Orchestra.
Afterwards Della Griffin and the Dell-Tones embarked on a 43-day tour with Jimmy Forrest (1920-1980) on the “Night Train Tour,” which also included R&B “luminaries Granville ‘Stick’ McGhee (1917-1961) known as ‘Spo-Dee-O-Dee’ and Jimmy Smith (1928-2005).”[13] They also sang for performances by the Kangaroos, a dance troupe, alongside Arnett Cobb and Jean-Baptiste “Illinois” Jacquet (1922-2004), renowned jazz saxophonists, and performed at the Apollo, The Howard, The Royal, and made appearances in Lexington, KY, Little Rock, AK, Mobile, AL, New Orleans, LA (a legendary R&B and jazz city), as well as in the Canadian cities of Toronto and Quebec City, the latter where they also sang in French.
By this time, Gloria Alleyne who became known as Gloria Lynne, had aspirations for her own stardom. She left the Dell-Tones during the summer and signed on with a management team led by DJ Stan Pat of WTTM in Trenton, NJ and Jubilee Records. Subsequently, Gloria Alleyne had several successes including her hit song, “I Wish You Love,” which peaked at #28 on the charts in 1964. She was replaced by Shirley “Bunny” Foy.
More turmoil followed when Sherry Gary who had come with Gloria Alleyne from the Dorsey Sisters, also decided to leave. Yet the Dell-Tones went on, replacing Gary with Renée Stewart, who had been a gospel singer since she was five (having sung with the 3 Chimes, with her sister Beverly and Lily Mae Belle while attending P.S. 99 in the Bronx, NY) and a member of a “short-lived female group, The Solirettes.”[14] It should be noted that Renée Stewart had decided to audition at the last minute while accompanying a friend, Vicki Burgess, to the group’s trials.
By the summer of 1955, Della Griffin’s original partner, Frances Kelly also left with family taking priority over music. She was replaced by Algie Willie. The Dell-Tones then signed with Sol Rabinowitz’s Baton records, one of the first labels to put out a full-length R&B album, where they recorded four singles – “Don’t Be Long,” “Baby Say You Love Me,” “My Special Love,” and “Believe It” with Della performing as lead vocalist accompanied by Maurice Simon’s tenor sax.
Shortly after the release of their first Baton Records single that featured “Don’t Be Long” and “Baby Say You Love Me,” the Dell-Tones were invited to The Godfrey Show in Philadelphia, PA, where they anticipated performing “Baby Say You Love Me.” Instead, the Dell-Tones were told they couldn’t sing any of their songs because “they sounded too white.” Having been assigned a song they were not interested in, “their hearts weren’t into it… [and thus] they didn’t give it their all.” “That’s not what we were about, so of course we didn’t win,” Della Griffin later recounted.[15]
In December 1955, Gloria Alleyne Lynne’s new manager, Stan Pat signed the Dell-Tones and brought them back under the fold of Shaw Artists Corporation for bookings. The Dell-Tones then began a weeklong tour on December 30, 1955 at the Apollo, performing alongside Sonny Til and the Orioles, before returning to The Royal along with saxophonist Illinois Jacquet on February 3, 1956. This was followed by Baton’s release of “My Special Love” and “Believe It” in March 1956.
A month later, the Dell-Tones toured Canada where they performed at the Flamingo Club in Hamilton and the Esquire Show Bar in Montreal. In addition to her singing, Della Griffin also played the drums while Chris Town, the pianist also sang. At the same time, the group also added a second saxophonist, Frank Henderson, to assist Illinois Jacquet. Yet Della Griffin remained “the only lead.” “The others were lazy… When I got sick before an appearance and couldn’t sing, no one else would do it,” she reflected back to the time when the Dell-Tones had to cancel a show. “We had to come home without appearing.” [16]
The Dell-Tones next appeared for the opening of Club Basin Street in Miami’s Hotel Sir John for a four week engagement starting May 16, 1956 where they replaced Frank Henderson with Gloria Bell, who had played for “Duke” Ellington, as bassist. This proved to be the group’s last gig since a scheduled 11-week summer engagement at Club Harlem in Atlantic City was cancelled after Gloria Bell and Renée Stewart (the latter who eventually wrote “the celebrated R&B street anthem ‘I Call To You’[17]) left “to get married and settle down,”[18] followed by Chris Town who went on to work as a Broadway producer. It also did not help that their latest release, the “My Special Love/Believe It” single floundered after showing early promise in Philadelphia, PA and Virginia.
Afterwards, because of Della’s close friendship with Sonny Til, whom she took in and cared for, for the last two years of his life, the remnants of the Dell-Tones and his Orioles merged. The new group consisting of Della Griffin, Sonny Til, pianist Paul Griffin who became Della’s second husband, Diz Russell, Jerry Holeman, Aaron “Tex” Cornelius, Billy Adams, Shirley “Bunny” Foy, Renée Stewart who returned, and Algie Willie, produced two singles, “Voices Of Love” and “I’m So Lonely” in June 1957 and made several appearances in New York City clubs.
However, by the end of 1957, this group, The Kings And Queens, had also fallen apart. Della Griffin then went out on her own performing with an organist and saxophonist. At times she shared the stage with singer Etta Jones (1928-2001), a Grammy® nominee who went on to her own success following her hit single, “Don’t Go To Strangers.”
Della’s music career came to a decade-long hiatus starting in 1961 when she married Paul Griffin who wanted her to devote time to family matters. “When I married Paul, he wanted me to take time off,” Della Griffin stated during an interview. However the hiatus was not permanent since Della’s second marriage did not endure. “After we broke up, I started making the rounds again. I was scheduled to sing at The Blue Book on 146th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue (in New York City), for two weeks and wound up staying for years,” she added.[19]
~Continued in Part 2~
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[1] Della Griffin. Musicmatch®, Inc. 2004. 3 August 2006. [http://www.mmguide.musicmatch.com/artist.cgi?ARTISTID=886881&TMPL=LONG]
[2] Marv Goldberg. Marv Goldberg’s R&B Notebooks: The Enchanters/Delltones. 2004. 4 August 2006. [http://home.att.net/~marvart/Enchanters/enchanters.html]
[3] John Clemente. Girl Groups. (Krause Publications. Iola, WI., USA. 2000) 86.
[4] Marv Goldberg. Marv Goldberg’s R&B Notebooks: The Enchanters/Delltones. 2004. 4 August 2006. [http://home.att.net/~marvart/Enchanters/enchanters.html]
[5] John Clemente. Girl Groups. (Krause Publications. Iola, WI., USA. 2000) 86.
[6] Marv Goldberg. Marv Goldberg’s R&B Notebooks: The Enchanters/Delltones. 2004. 4 August 2006. [http://home.att.net/~marvart/Enchanters/enchanters.html]
[7] Marv Goldberg. Marv Goldberg’s R&B Notebooks: The Enchanters/Delltones. 2004. 4 August 2006. [http://home.att.net/~marvart/Enchanters/enchanters.html]
[8] John Clemente. Girl Groups. (Krause Publications. Iola, WI., USA. 2000) 88.
[9] John Clemente. Girl Groups. (Krause Publications. Iola, WI., USA. 2000) 88.
[10] Marv Goldberg. Marv Goldberg’s R&B Notebooks: The Enchanters/Delltones. 2004. 4 August 2006. [http://home.att.net/~marvart/Enchanters/enchanters.html]
[11] John Clemente. Girl Groups. (Krause Publications. Iola, WI., USA. 2000) 88.
[12] Marv Goldberg. Marv Goldberg’s R&B Notebooks: The Enchanters/Delltones. 2004. 4 August 2006. [http://home.att.net/~marvart/Enchanters/enchanters.html]
[13] John Clemente. Girl Groups. (Krause Publications. Iola, WI., USA. 2000) 89.
[14] John Clemente. Girl Groups. (Krause Publications. Iola, WI., USA. 2000) 89.
[15] John Clemente. Girl Groups. (Krause Publications. Iola, WI., USA. 2000) 89.
[16] Marv Goldberg. Marv Goldberg’s R&B Notebooks: The Enchanters/Delltones. 2004. 4 August 2006. [http://home.att.net/~marvart/Enchanters/enchanters.html]
[17] John Clemente. Girl Groups. (Krause Publications. Iola, WI., USA. 2000) 89.
[18] Marv Goldberg. Marv Goldberg’s R&B Notebooks: The Enchanters/Delltones. 2004. 4 August 2006. [http://home.att.net/~marvart/Enchanters/enchanters.html]
[19] John Clemente. Girl Groups. (Krause Publications. Iola, WI., USA. 2000) 89.
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