WILLIAMS, JOE

WILLIAMS, JOE (née JOSEPH GOREED). Jazz singer (12 December 1918 in Cordele, Georgia). His mother moved to Chicago, Illinois, when he was three years old. There he was widely exposed to church music; his mother and aunt sang in church choirs. He obtained his musical training in Chicago's public schools. At seventeen he began singing professionally with a local group, Johnny Long's orchestra. Thereafter he sang with various groups, including Lionel Hampton (1943), William (Count) Basie...