Obituaries : Jack Leonard, 73; Big Band Singer
Big band signer Jack Leonard, who recorded more than 200 songs with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra beginning in the late 1930s, died Friday night at the Motion Picture & Television Country Home and Hospital in Woodland Hills, it was reported Saturday. He was 73.
According to Steve Bailey of KMPC-AM radio, Leonard, a tenor, was born in Brooklyn and joined the Dorsey group in 1937. He left the band for military service at the beginning of World War II and was replaced by another vocalist--Frank Sinatra.
After the war, Leonard served as Nat King Cole’s personal business manager for 15 years, and later worked in music publishing. He retired in the 1970s.
He is survived by a daughter and his wife, Marilyn, Bailey said.
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