Talkin Jazz with The Great "Little Jimmy Scott"

Exploring America's Classical Music with the Great "Little Jimmy Scott". Jimmy Scott (July 17, 1925 in Cleveland), aka "Little" Jimmy Scott, is an American jazz vocalist. Lionel Hampton gave him the stage name of "Little Jimmy Scott" because he looked so young, and was short and slight of build. However, it was his extraordinary phrasing and romantic feeling that made him a favorite singer of fellow artists like Billie Holiday, Ray Charles, Nancy Wilson, and Dinah Washington. Scott was born in Cleveland, Ohio to Authur and Justine Stanard Scott, third in a family of ten. As a child he got his first singing experience by his mother's side at the family piano, and later, in church choir. His father was absent most of the time as he was taken with drink, gambling, and other women. Jimmy worshipped his mother, and whatever money he could make doing odd-jobs, went to her to help the family. At thirteen, he was orphaned when his mother was killed by a drunk driver. Witnesses say that she pushed one of Jimmy's siblings out of the way of a speeding car but, in the process of saving her child's life, lost her own. Scott first rose to national prominence as "Little Jimmy Scott" in the Lionel Hampton Band when he sang lead on the late 1940s hit "Everybody's Somebody's Fool", recorded in December 1949 and which became a top ten R&B hit in 1950.