Charles (Chick) Bullock (September 16, 18981900 U.S. Federal Census, Township #5, Silver Bow, Montana, enumeration district 90, page 5. Bullock's birth date is confirmed by his entries in the Social Security Death Index and the California Death Index. – September 15, 1981) was an American

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, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

and dance band vocalist, most active in the 1930s. He recorded some 500 tunes over the course of his career. Bullock was mostly associated with the ARC group of labels ( Melotone,

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). Many of his records were issued under the name "Chick Bullock and his Levee Loungers". Bullock belonged to select group of mostly freelance vocalists who sang the vocal refrains on hundreds of New York sessions, which included Smith Ballew, Scrappy Lambert,

Irving Kaufman Irving Robert Kaufman (June 24, 1910 – February 1, 1992) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and a United States District Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern Dist ...

, Arthur Fields, and Dick Robertson. Some of these vocalists were also musicians, but their singing was more often featured. (All of the above had records also issued under their own name, and in case of Ballew, actually had a working orchestra for a couple of years.) Bullock, who rarely performed live because his face was disfigured due to an eye disease, was born in

Montana Montana () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West List of regions of the United States#Census Bureau-designated regions and divisions, division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North ...

to William and Emily Bullock, both of whom were immigrants from England. He began his career in

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and sang in movie palaces. His career as a studio musician took off in the late 1920s, and in the 1930s he sang with musicians such as

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, Bill Coleman,

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, and

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. Bullock's recordings proved so popular that he used

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

s for some recordings, including the name Sleepy Hall. In the early 1940s the recording ban by the

American Federation of Musicians The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM/AFofM) is a 501(c)(5) labor union representing professional instrumental musicians in the United States and Canada. The AFM, which has its headquarters in New York City, ...

essentially ended Bullock's career, and he quit the music business in 1942. He moved to

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in 1946 and took up

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, opening his own company.

Death

He died on September 15, 1981, in California at the age of 82.

References

;Footnotes ;General references * Chick Bullockat

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bullock, Chick 1898 births 1981 deaths American jazz singers Vocalion Records artists 20th-century American singers