Lost among the coverage in the papers recently of the passings of "national treasure" Likely Lad Rodney Bewes, and (of course) the death of the superstar David Cassidy, I didn't hear till today [thanks to the lovely Marc over at Deep Dish] that dear old Della Reese had also departed for Fabulon...
Emerging out of poverty and the melting-pot of gospel churches in the segregated US Mid-West, Miss Reese rose through musical success singing jazz, blues and pop to become a well-loved character on mainstream American television. Of course much of this small-screen output is a mystery to us Brits, and so it is for her music she is best known - despite never having had a hit record here.
Her genre-defining "cha-cha-cha" musical era has been a particular favourite of ours here at Dolores Delargo Towers for many years - not least this one:
But she had a mighty fine pair of tonsils, no matter the genre:
I often got her mixed-up with her even more revered predecessor Pearl Bailey - and indeed, given the cohort of her fellow stars in this sketch [possibly one of the most camp televisual moments in history!], I might hazard a guess that she may have been an acceptable substitution rather then the producers' first choice...
She held her own admirably, nonetheless!
So admired was Miss Reese that none other than Martha Reeves admitted that her entire act was a tribute - she named her group "The Vandellas" after Van Dyke Street in Detroit and Della Reese. Tribute indeed.
RIP Della Reese (born Delloreese Patricia Early, 6th July 1931 – 19th November 2017)
Read my previous tributes to Miss Reese here, here, and (especially) here.
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