Biography
Larry Darnell entered the world as Leo Edward Donald in Columbus, Ohio, on December 21, 1928, and first drew notice in gospel circles by age eleven. At fifteen he departed for the road as a dancer in Irwin C. Miller’s Brownskin Models, a burlesque troupe whose erratic finances sometimes left performers short on pay and meals. When a reliable singing job surfaced at New Orleans’ Dew Drop Inn, he accepted without delay and remained for several years, adopting the stage name Larry Darnell while cultivating a stage presence that steadily built a loyal audience.
Edgar Blanchard’s Gondoliers, the club’s resident ensemble, supplied his usual backing. In 1949 Fred Mendelsohn, co-founder and A&R chief of the New Jersey–based Regal label, caught the act while scouting talent. Mendelsohn later recalled: “Darnell was doing a song called 'I'll Get Along Somehow' originally popularized by Andy Kirk. He added a recitation that sent the dames screaming and hollering.” Hired immediately, Darnell traveled to Newark and cut three titles in early September 1949 for Regal 78-rpm releases. Split across two sides, “I’ll Get Along Somehow” reached number two on the Billboard R&B chart shortly after “For You My Love” claimed the top spot for eight weeks. Additional successes included “I Love My Baby,” “Lost My Baby,” and a version of Louis Prima’s “Oh Babe!” Supported by accomplished jazz musicians, Darnell’s intense delivery helped spark the nationwide style soon branded rock & roll.
Following Regal’s 1951 collapse, he moved to OKeh and recorded with the Howard Biggs and Leroy Kirkland orchestras. By then widely billed as “Mr. Heart & Soul,” he appeared in the 1955 film Harlem Rock & Roll Revue and thereafter shuttled among Savoy in 1955, Deluxe in 1957, Warwick in 1959, and Argo in 1960. Accounts indicate he also cut a handful of now-lost sides for Motown while based in Detroit in the early 1960s. In 1968 he performed at a benefit for vocalist Roy Hamilton; the following year he made what is regarded as his final session, for the Instant label in New Orleans.
Retreating from commercial work, he continued singing at churches and benefit events. While traveling to a funeral in Akron, Ohio, in April 1979, he was assaulted and left near death. After emerging from a five-day coma, he learned that emergency surgery had revealed advanced lung cancer. Though one lung was removed in 1980, he granted a request to perform once more at a nightclub in 1981. Larry Darnell died at his mother’s home in Columbus on July 3, 1984, at the age of fifty-four.
Edgar Blanchard’s Gondoliers, the club’s resident ensemble, supplied his usual backing. In 1949 Fred Mendelsohn, co-founder and A&R chief of the New Jersey–based Regal label, caught the act while scouting talent. Mendelsohn later recalled: “Darnell was doing a song called 'I'll Get Along Somehow' originally popularized by Andy Kirk. He added a recitation that sent the dames screaming and hollering.” Hired immediately, Darnell traveled to Newark and cut three titles in early September 1949 for Regal 78-rpm releases. Split across two sides, “I’ll Get Along Somehow” reached number two on the Billboard R&B chart shortly after “For You My Love” claimed the top spot for eight weeks. Additional successes included “I Love My Baby,” “Lost My Baby,” and a version of Louis Prima’s “Oh Babe!” Supported by accomplished jazz musicians, Darnell’s intense delivery helped spark the nationwide style soon branded rock & roll.
Following Regal’s 1951 collapse, he moved to OKeh and recorded with the Howard Biggs and Leroy Kirkland orchestras. By then widely billed as “Mr. Heart & Soul,” he appeared in the 1955 film Harlem Rock & Roll Revue and thereafter shuttled among Savoy in 1955, Deluxe in 1957, Warwick in 1959, and Argo in 1960. Accounts indicate he also cut a handful of now-lost sides for Motown while based in Detroit in the early 1960s. In 1968 he performed at a benefit for vocalist Roy Hamilton; the following year he made what is regarded as his final session, for the Instant label in New Orleans.
Retreating from commercial work, he continued singing at churches and benefit events. While traveling to a funeral in Akron, Ohio, in April 1979, he was assaulted and left near death. After emerging from a five-day coma, he learned that emergency surgery had revealed advanced lung cancer. Though one lung was removed in 1980, he granted a request to perform once more at a nightclub in 1981. Larry Darnell died at his mother’s home in Columbus on July 3, 1984, at the age of fifty-four.
Albums
