Talk:Herb Jeffries

"not African-American"?

I removed a claim in the article that Jeffries was/is "not African-American". The article indicates elsewhere that his father was of partial African-American ancestry. --Metropolitan90 (talk) 07:57, 4 July 2010 (UTC)

Moving Comment Text from Article

The text below was commented out in the body of the article; it was viewable only in edit mode:

<!-- ==Early life== Born in [[Detroit, Michigan]] as '''Herbert Jeffrey''', he is a son of Umberto Balentino,<ref>There would seem to be some controversy about this. The Duke Ellington Music Society[DEMS] suggests, "In September 1989, Ellington authority Patricia Willard conducted an extensive oral history interview with Herb Jeffries, as a part of the Smithsonian Institution's oral history project. In the interview, Jeffries stated that he was born on September 24, 1913. His "real" name is Umberto Alesandro Valentino. His great grandfather, who was stationed in Ethiopia by the Italian government, married an Ethiopian. His (Jeffries') father was a Valentino, his mother, who was Irish, was named O'Dell. During his "Bronze Buckaroo" days (ca. 1937-1939), he was known as Herbert Jeffrey." Certainly Balentino is a very unusual Italian name. DEMS 05/3/27 continues, "His name and date of birth have been discussed several times in DEMS Bulletin: 00/1-11/3; 00/2-19p1472 (quote from same oral history); 00/3-6/2 (showing Herb's own hand-written signature: Umberto Alexandro Balentino); 03/2-29p1472; 03/3-20 (testimony by Steven Lasker who asked Herb: Balentino!). "I believe that Herb, who also gave several different dates for his birth (24Sep11; Nov11; 24Sep13; 24Sep16) couldn't resist giving us different names as well. The most important thing however is that we know who we are talking about and I quote one of his daughters who wrote to DEMS (00/1-11/3), "Throughout his long and illustrious career, my Dad has had a few acceptable variations to his name, most especially in his earlier years. However, as long as I've known him….. and that would be 52 years….. "Herb Jeffries" has been his name. # 1 Daughter, Ferne.</ref> a pianist of [[African-American]] and Sicilian descent and his Irish-American wife Mildred.<ref name='1920-USCensus'>{{cite web|url=http://www.ancestry.com|title=Fourteenth Census of the United States (1920) [database on-line], Detroit (3rd Ward), Wayne County, Michigan, Enumeration District: 99, Page: 2A, Lines: 13-18, household of Howard Jeffrey|publisher=The Generations Network|location=[[United States]]|date=1920-01-06|accessdate=2009-12-12}}</ref> -->

From the Career Section:

<!-- Jeffries is noted for being the first black<ref>This, too, has been questioned. See "Jeffries began his entertainment career at a time when black and white worlds rarely overlapped. Though born of an Irish mother and Sicilian father, at the age of 19 he spontaneously declared himself to be “Creole” in order to get a singing gig with an all-black jazz band; in that moment he also committed himself to life as a “colored” man during one of the worst times in civil rights history. Yet his bronze complexion, good looks and 4½ octave range afforded him opportunities in black entertainment that might not have been available to him in white Hollywood. His remarkable talents and ambition drove him to success in a world not his own, but in which he felt at home."</ref> -->

Mox La Push (talk) 03:33, 22 March 2013 (UTC)

Jeffries is still alive

At least as of July 2013. http://www.vvdailypress.com/articles/jeffries-41326-herb-honored.html — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.98.2.132 (talk) 05:26, 13 August 2013 (UTC)

External links modified

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External links modified

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