Bette McLaurin (born December 6, 1929) is an American singer best known for her

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

-influenced

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

and R&B performances in the 1950s. Two of her recordings, "I May Hate Myself In The Morning" (1952) and "Only A Rose" (1953) reached the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' pop charts. McLaurin was born in

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

on December 6, 1929. She studied classical music and aspired to become a concert singer, before her mother persuaded her to start a career in

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...

. Bette had one sister and no brothers "Bette McLaurin Wins Hit Parade Status", ''Jet'' magazine, June 19, 1952, reprinted at ''Chocolate Skin Curly Hair''
Retrieved August 1, 2014 In 1950 she made her first recording, "Crying My Heart Out Over You", with the

Claude Hopkins Claude Driskett Hopkins (August 24, 1903 – February 19, 1984) was an American jazz stride pianist and bandleader. Biography Claude Hopkins was born in Alexandria, Virginia, United States. Historians differ in respect of the actual date of his ...

Orchestra for Big Nickel Records, a small R&B label. J. C. Marion, "Bette McLaurin", 1999
. Retrieved August 1, 2014 By 1952, the company had folded and she recorded the first of six singles for Derby Records in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Her first recording for the label was "I May Hate Myself In The Morning", written by

Bennie Benjamin Claude August "Bennie" Benjamin (November 4, 1907 – May 2, 1989) was a Virgin Islands-born American songwriter. He had particularly successful songwriting partnerships with Sol Marcus, with whom he wrote " I Don't Want To Set The World On ...

and George Weiss, and recorded with the Rex Kearney Orchestra. The song rapidly became a hit, reaching no.23 on the national pop chart, a remarkable achievement at the time for an "R&B-tinged" record on an

independent label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represente ...

. She toured in the US and Canada with

The Ink Spots The Ink Spots were an American vocal pop group who gained international fame in the 1930s and 1940s. Their unique musical style predated the rhythm and blues and rock and roll musical genres, and the subgenre doo-wop. The Ink Spots were widely ...

, and her follow-up record, "

My Heart Belongs to Only You "My Heart Belongs to Only You" is a song written by Frank Daniels & Dorothy Daniels. Bette McLaurin and June Christy both released versions of the song in 1952. In 1953, the song reached No. 27 on ''Cash Box''s chart of "The Nation's Top 50 Best ...

", with vocal group the Striders, was also a success. By the end of 1952 she signed with the

Coral Corals are colonial marine invertebrates within the subphylum Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact Colony (biology), colonies of many identical individual polyp (zoology), polyps. Coral species include the important Coral ...

label, a subsidiary of

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...

, and appeared at the

Apollo Theater The Apollo Theater (formerly the Hurtig & Seamon's New Theatre; also Apollo Theatre or 125th Street Apollo Theatre) is a multi-use Theater (structure), theater at 253 125th Street (Manhattan), West 125th Street in the Harlem neighborhood of U ...

. The following year she had her second chart hit, "Only A Rose", backed by the

Sy Oliver Melvin James "Sy" Oliver (December 17, 1910 – May 28, 1988) was an American jazz arranger, trumpeter, composer, singer and bandleader. Life Sy Oliver was born in Battle Creek, Michigan, United States. His mother was a piano teacher, and his f ...

Orchestra; the record reached no.25 on the ''Billboard'' pop chart. She also toured with R&B stars

Illinois Jacquet Jean-Baptiste Illinois Jacquet (October 30, 1922 – July 22, 2004) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, best remembered for his solo on " Flying Home", critically recognized as the first R&B saxophone solo. He is also known as one of the w ...

and

Willie Mabon Willie James Mabon (October 24, 1925 – April 19, 1985) was an American Rhythm and blues, R&B singer, songwriter, pianist, and harmonica player. He had two number one hits on the ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' R&B chart, "I Don't Know (Will ...

, and had residencies in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, although she claimed in 1953 to prefer singing

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

to the

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

. Early in 1954 she appeared with

Dizzy Gillespie John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie ( ; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improvisation, improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy El ...

Dusty Fletcher Clinton "Dusty" Fletcher (July 8, 1900 – March 15, 1954) was an African-American vaudeville performer and comedian, who was best known for the comedy routine which became a hit record in 1947, "Open the Door, Richard". Routine "Open the Door ...

and

George Kirby George Kirby (June 8, 1923 – September 30, 1995) was an American comedian, singer, and actor. Career Born in Chicago, Kirby broke into show business in the 1940s at the Club DeLisa, a South Side establishment that employed a variety-sho ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, and toured with vocal group the Dew Droppers. She left Coral, and Derby issued some unreleased tracks by her on their subsidiary Central label, but she did not record again until later in the year when she joined the

Jubilee A jubilee is often used to refer to the celebration of a particular anniversary of an event, usually denoting the 25th, 40th, 50th, 60th, and the 70th anniversary. The term comes from the Hebrew Bible (see, "Old Testament"), initially concerning ...

label, who marketed her as a pop rather than R&B performer. However, her recordings were unsuccessful and she recorded for her manager Phil Rose's Glory label, backed by vocal group the Four Fellows, featuring Larry Banks. Although changing musical tastes meant that she was increasingly relegated to occasional performances, she recorded "What A Night For Love" for

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in 1957, and "Zip" for Capitol in early 1960, before retiring from the music business due to

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

. She attempted a comeback in 1964 with "You're the Greatest", a tribute to boxer Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) on the Almont label and "As Long As You're Mine" on the Pulse label in 1965. In 1969 she released another single, "The Masquerade Is Over", on the Conclave label. MacLaurin's later life seems to be unreported. According to music historian Marv Goldberg, McLaurin moved to

Jamaica, Queens Jamaica is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It has a popular large commercial and retail area, though part of the neighborhood is also residential. Jamaica is bordered by Hollis, St Albans, and Cambria Heights to the ea ...

during her youth; public records show that she still lived there as late as 2001, but no subsequent documentation appears to exist. A compilation of some of her recordings, ''The Masquerade Is Over'', was released as an LP in 1989 and on CD in 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McLaurin, Bette 1929 births Possibly living people 20th-century African-American women singers 20th-century American women singers 20th-century American singers American jazz singers American rhythm and blues singers Jazz musicians from North Carolina Musicians from Queens, New York People from Jamaica, Queens Singers from New York City Singers from North Carolina