Ray
Ellington
Background information
Birth name
Harry Pitts Brown
Born
17
March 1916
Origin
England
Died
28
February 1985
age 68
England
Genre(s)
Jazz, blues
Occupation(s)
singer, drummer, bandleader
Instrument(s)
drums
Years active
1950s-?
Ray Ellington (born Harry Pitts
Brown 17
March 1916,
died 28
February 1985)
was a popular English
singer, drummer and
bandleader. He is best known for his appearances on The
Goon Show from 1951 to 1960. The Ray Ellington Quartet had a regular
musical segment on the show, and Ellington also had a small speaking
role in many episodes, often as a parodic African, Native
American or Arab
chieftain
(but also often, with no attempt to change his normal Black accent,
as a female secretary
or a Scotsman).
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Contents
- 1 Early
life
- 2 Musical
style
- 3 References
- 4 External
links
|
Early life
Ellington was born at 155 Kennington Road, Kennington, London,
the youngest of four children. His father was Harry Pitts Brown
(c.1877–1920), an African American music-hall comedian and entertainer,
and his mother was Eva Stenkell Rosenthal (b. c.1879), a Russian Jew.
His father died when Brown was four years old. He was brought up as a
strictly Orthodox Jew. He attended South London Jewish School
(1924–30), before entering show business at the age of twelve, when he
appeared in an acting role on the London stage.
Musical style
Ellington specialised in jazz but experimented with many other genres
throughout the show's history and his musical style was heavily
influenced by the comedic jump blues of Louis
Jordan. Ellington's band was one of the first in the UK to feature the
stripped-back guitar/bass/drums/piano format that became the basis of rock'n'roll,
as well as being one of the first groups in Britain to prominently
feature the electric guitar. They were also
reputedly the very first jazz band in the UK to use an amplified
bass.
Early in the show's run, there were many jokes linking
Ellington to the African
nation of Ghana,
thus leading Ellington to say that he came from Ghana. In truth,
Ellington was born to a Russian Jewish mother and an African-American
father in England.
Ray's son Lance Ellington is a singer who has
recorded several jazz orientated albums. Lance has also appeared in
tributes to Peter Sellers and in the movie The Life and
Death of Peter Sellers, where he played his
father. In May, 2001, Lance took part in "Goon Again", a 50th anniversary
celebration of the Goon Show.
References
-
Ray
Ellington. The Goon Characters. Goon Show
Preservation Society (2006). Retrieved on 2007-03-18.
- Oxford Dictionary of
National Biography
External links
|
The Goons |
| Michael
Bentine • Spike Milligan • Harry
Secombe • Peter Sellers |
| Other
Contributors |
Dick Emery
• Kenneth
Connor • Valentine Dyall • George Chisholm • Ray Ellington • Max
Geldray • Wallace Greenslade • Dennis
Main Wilson • Charlotte Mitchell • Larry Stephens • Wally
Stott • Eric Sykes • Andrew
Timothy |
| Radio
and TV Series |
The
Goon Show • The
Telegoons |
| Films |
Let's
Go Crazy • Penny Points to Paradise
• Down Among the Z Men
• The Case of
the Mukkinese Battle Horn • The
Running Jumping & Standing Still Film |
| Characters |
Cast
members and their Characters • Major Bloodnok • Bluebottle • Henry Crun and
Minnie Bannister • Eccles • Hercules Grytpype-Thynne • Count
Jim Moriarty • Neddie Seagoon |
| General
information |
Episodes and
archiving • Running Jokes |