Al Hibbler
b. 16 August 1915, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA. After singing for several years in relative obscurity, Hibbler joined Jay McShann in 1942 and the following year was hired by Duke Ellington, proving to be one of the best singers he had ever employed. Hibbler subsequently recorded with several well-known jazz musicians in his backing groups, among them Harry Carney, Billy Kyle, Count Basie and Gerald Wilson. In the '50s his recordings of songs such as It Shouldn't Happen To A Dream, which he had recorded with Ellington, The Very Thought Of You and Stardust proved popular, while his version of Unchained Melody was outstanding. A powerful, rich-toned baritone, Hibbler cannot be regarded as a jazz singer but as an exceptionally good singer of 20th-century popular song who happened to work with some of the best jazz musicians of the time.