Pearl Bailey Burial Set in Philadelphia

Jazz and blues singer Pearl Bailey will be buried in Philadelphia, where she spent much of her early career, her road manager said.

“Her husband felt it was best since her family is here and she was raised up in Philadelphia. That’s why we’re having it here,” said E. B. Smith, Bailey’s manager for 23 years.

The funeral service will be held at 1 p.m. Thursday at the Deliverence Evangelistic Church in Philadelphia, followed by burial at the Rolling Green Memorial Park, where Bailey’s mother and brother are buried.

Smith said that it would be a “regular, plain funeral” but that people from as far away as California had already booked their flights to Philadelphia. He said he did not know how many people would turn out to say goodby to “Pearlie Mae.”

Song-and-dance man Cab Calloway had asked to be one of the six pallbearers, Smith said. And at least three of her managers, including Smith, also planned to help carry the coffin.

Bailey, who at 72 had a history of heart trouble, collapsed Friday night at a Holiday Inn in Philadelphia’s historic district, where she was recuperating from knee surgery performed last month.