Erskine hawkins biography of williams
Erskine Ramsay Hawkins was born on July 26, 1914, in Birmingham, Alabama.
Erskine Hawkins (1914-1993) was a prominent African American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer during the Big Band era of the 1930s and 1940s.!
Born Erskine Ramsey Hawkins, July 26, 1914, in Birmingham, Alabama; died November 12, 1993, in Willingboro, New Jersey; son of Edward and Cary (a teacher) Hawkins; married Florence Browning, 1935 (marriage ended); second wife's name, Gloria Dumas.
Education: Attended Alabama State Teachers' College.
At the peak of his popularity during the golden age of swing, Erskine Hawkins's trumpet mastery earned him the nickname "The Twentieth Century Gabriel." The group of musicians that made up his orchestra produced some of the big band era's finest and most influential music.
Ironically, it took another artist, Glen Miller, to make a true smash hit out of Hawkins's most famous composition, "Tuxedo Junction." Nevertheless, while swing was king, Erskine Hawkins and His Orchestra was among the handful of big bands that defined the sound of the era, and its popularity approached that of bands led by giants like Duke Ellington and Count Basie.
Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, Hawkins