HUSL Today Salutes

Della Reese

Della Reese was born Deloreese Patricia Early in Detroit, Michigan on July 6, 1931. At only six years old, she began singing in church. From this experience, she became an avid Gospel singer. At the age of thirteen, she was hired to sing with Mahalia Jackson's Gospel group. Afterwards, she formed her own gospel group called the Meditation Singers. However, due in part to the death of her mother, and her father's serious illness, Reese had to interrupt her schooling at Wayne State University to help support her family.

Reese was discovered by the Gospel great Mahalia Jackson. Reese's big break came when she won a contest, which gave her a week to sing at Detroit's well-known and talked-about Flame Show bar. Reese remained there for eight weeks. Although her roots were in Gospel music, she now was being exposed to and influenced by such great jazz artists as Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Billie Holiday. In 1953, she signed a recording contract with Jubilee Records, for which she recorded six albums. Later that same year, she also joined the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra. Her first recordings for Jubilee were songs such as "In the Still of the Night," "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" and "Time After Time." Although the EP didn't enter the charts, it sold 500,000 copies, and the songs were later included on the 1959 album "And That Reminds Me."

In 1957, Reese released a single called "And That Reminds Me". After years of performing, Reese gained chart success with the song. It became a Top Twenty Pop hit and a million-seller record. That year, Reese was voted by Billboard, Cashbox, and various other magazines as The Most Promising Singer.

In 1959, Reese moved to a new record company, RCA Records, and released her first RCA single called "Don't You Know", which was adapted from Puccini's La Bohème (the aria Musetta's Waltz). It became her biggest hit to date, reaching the #2 spot on the Pop charts, and topping the R&B charts that same year (which was then called the "Black Singles Chart"). Today, the song is widely considered the signature song of her early career.

Reese received a Grammy nomination for her 1960 album, Della. Also in 1960, she released a successful follow-up single called "Not One Minute More" (#16), and she remained on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with the songs "And Now" (#69), "Someday (You'll Want Me to Want You)" (#56) and "The Most Beautiful Words" (#67).

Reese recorded regularly throughout the 1960s, releasing singles and several albums. Two of the most significant were The Classic Della (1962), and Waltz with Me, Della (1963), which broadened her fan base internationally. She recorded several jazz-focused albums including Della Reese Live (1966), On Strings of Blue (1967), and One of a Kind (1978). She also performed in Las Vegas for nine years, as well as touring across the country.

She subsequently became an actress, best known as playing Tess, the leading role on the television show Touched by an Angel. In the late 1960s, she hosted her own talk show, Della, which ran for 297 performances.

Here is the intro Touched by an Angel:

Reese continued to record albums in the following decades, and received two more Grammy nominations in the Gospel category for the album Della Reese and Brilliance (1991), and for the live recorded album, My Soul Feels Better Right Now (1999).

Check out Reese singing Hush (somebody's calling my name) from My soul feels better right now:

Today, she is an ordained New Thought minister in the Understanding Principles for Better Living Church in Los Angeles, California.

HUSL Today Salutes Della Reese!!!