Della Reese, R&B Singer, Dies at 86

[catfancie]

Della Reese, who segued from pop and jazz singing stardom in the '50s and '60s to a long career as a popular TV actress on "Touched By an Angel" and other shows, died Sunday night at her home in California. She was 86.

"She was an incredible wife, mother, grandmother, friend, and pastor, as well as an award-winning actress and singer. Through her life and work she touched and inspired the lives of millions of people," Reese's family said in a statement. "She was a mother to me and I had the privilege of working with her side by side for so many years on 'Touched By An Angel.' I know heaven has a brand new angel this day. Della Reese will be forever in our hearts."

Reared in gospel, Reese became a seductive, big-voiced secular music star with her No. 1 R&B and No. 2 pop hit "Don't You Know" in 1959. The 45, her first single on RCA Records, was a ballad drawn from an aria from Puccini's opera "La Boheme."
She ranged through a series of releases that showed off her mastery of standards, jazz and contemporary pop through the early '70s, and over the course of her career she received four Grammy Award nominations.

By 1969 she had launched her TV show "Della" – the first talker hosted by an African-American woman – and had begun a move into an acting career that would take her to even greater national prominence.

Throughout her long career, Reese proved indomitable in the face of serious health crises. In 1979, she suffered a brain aneurysm during a taping of "The Tonight Show," and weathered two brain surgeries. She collapsed on the set of "Touched By An Angel" in 2002, and later announced she suffered from type 2 diabetes.

Reese's four marriages included a brief, annulled union with Mercer Ellington, son of jazz great Duke Ellington. She is survived by her husband Franklin Lett, a film producer and concert promoter.

[mycatownsme]

A real talent who worked so hard and had a great life.
She will be missed.