Biography
Born on 14 July 1911 in Oklahoma, USA, and deceased on 12 January 1977 in Hollywood, California, USA, Cotton earned acclaim as a smooth tenor vocalist with leading big bands of the 1930s and 1940s. His professional path opened in the early 1930s when he spent several years as a singer with clarinettist Jimmy Grier’s ensemble and took part in the recording of ‘I’m Keeping Those Keepsakes You Gave Me’. Toward the end of the decade he became a member of Horace Heidt And His Musical Knights, performing regularly on the bandleader’s American radio program Pot O’ Gold (1938-41)—one of the first “giveaway” shows on the air—and also appearing in its 1941 motion-picture adaptation that featured James Stewart and Paulette Goddard. Cotton took featured roles on numerous hit discs by the orchestra, among them ‘Gone With The Wind’ (a US number 1), ‘Once In A While’, ‘There’s A Gold Mine In the Sky’, ‘Sweet Someone’, ‘Sweet As A Song’, ‘Ti-Pi-Pia’ and ‘Tu-Li Tulip Time’ (both with Lysbeth Hughes), ‘Little Sir Echo’ (with Emily Stevenson), ‘Lovelight In The Starlight’, ‘I Don’t Want To Set The World On Fire’ (with Donna Wood and Don Juans), ‘Shepherd Serenade’ (with Gordon MacRae and Fred Lowery), and ‘Penny Serenade’. Following wartime service in the US Forces during World War II, his professional momentum declined.