Biography Dick Vance

There are two artists who go under this name. 1.) An American jazz trumpeter. 2.) An American rockabilly singer.

1.) Dick Vance was born November 28, 1915 in Mayfield, Kentucky. He grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. He learned to play the violin before focusing his attention more as a trumpet player. He played in Cleveland with J. Frank Terry. Then he joined Lil Armstrong's band in 1934. He moved to New York City and played with Willie Bryant, Kaiser Marshall and Fletcher Henderson. He was the lead trumpeter in Henderson's band and he occasionally sang. He joined Chick Webb's orchestra in 1939. He remained with them when Ella Fitzgerald took over leadership.

As time went by, he worked with Charlie Barnet, Don Redman, Eddie Heywood (1944–45), and Ben Webster. Around 1944-1947, he studied at Julliard. He was a pit orchestra musician and an arranger. Vance was an arranger for Duke Ellington, Harry James, Cab Calloway and Earl Hines. In 1950, he joined Henderson's sextet band. In 1951-1952, he joined Duke Ellington's band. He toured with Don Redman in 1953. He was a regular at Savoy Ballroom in the 1950's. Vance released two albums under his own name in the 1960's and he toured with Eddie Barefield in 1969.

Vance died in 1985 on July 31, 1985 in New York City. He was 69 years old.

2.) Dick Vance is an obscure rockabilly artist. He did record one single at an unknown point in time. There is not too much information about him.

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