Marilyn Duke

Photo of Marilyn Duke

  • Birth Name

    Manfrey Marylin Lecta Duke

  • Born

    October 3, 1916
    Jackson, Georgia

  • Died

    August 7, 1995 (age 78)
    Clayton County, Georgia

  • Orchestras

    Jolly Coburn
    Shep Fields
     Mannie Gates
    Vaughn Monroe
     Will Osborne

Singer Marilyn Duke is best remembered today as vocalist for Vaughn Monroe’s orchestra in the early 1940s. Duke sang with a number of bands in the late 1930s before joining Monroe in 1941, where she found her greatest success. She married and retired to the domestic life in 1945 but returned to show business in the mid-1950s.

Duke grew up in Atlanta, where her father worked as a streetcar conductor and later a watchman for the city’s public utilities. Her mother ran a laundry business in their home. By 1935, Duke had made her way to New York, where she appeared as a singer on her own fifteen-minute radio program on the Mutual network in 1935 and 1936. She sang with both Shep Fields and Jolly Coburn in 1937 and with Mannie Gates in 1938 before joining Monroe in January 1941, where she helped shape the band’s early sound. When she left Monroe in May 1943, her press agent sent out notices that she had joined the Women’s Army Air Corps, which many newspapers printed. Duke was actually in New York, trying her hand as a single.

In August 1943, Duke joined Will Osborne, where she remained until June 1944 when she started a ten-week solo appearance in Boston.[1] That same year, she also co-wrote the song “I’ll Love You Forever” with Teri Josefovits. She was back with Monroe in July, and in November she provided vocals on Monroe’s first number one hit, “The Trolley Song,” which was also the first song recorded by Victor after the end of the American Federation of Musicians’ recording ban that month.

In September 1944, Duke married Boston amusement park owner Ernest J. O’Brien. She was gone from Monroe’s orchestra at the first of 1945, retiring from show business and settling in Boston with her husband. The couple had two sons, Patrick in 1948 and Michael in 1950. She and O’Brien later divorced, likely by 1955 when she turns up on the stage again as a performer in Las Vegas.

In 1964, Duke remarried to a man named Bowker and eventually returned to Georgia, where she passed away in 1995 at age 78. Marilyn Duke was buried in Atlanta.

Notes

  1. Duke was active on the Boston music scene throughout much of her career. ↩︎

Sources

  1. Simon, George T. The Big Bands. 4th ed. New York: Schirmer, 1981.
  2. The Online Discographical Project. Accessed 10 Aug. 2016.
  3. “Radio Programs.” Chester Times [Chester, Pennsylvania] 9 Aug. 1935: 7.
  4. “Radio News and Programs.” The Findlay Republican-Courier [Findlay, Ohio] 29 Jul. 1936: 4.
  5. Callahan, Robert. “Tabloid.” The Boston College Heights 23 Apr. 1937: 2.
  6. “Night Club Reviews: Royal Palm Club, Miami.” Billboard 7 Aug. 1938: 12.
  7. “Vaughn Monroe Adds New Girl Vocalist.” Down Beat 1 Feb. 1941: 10.
  8. “In the Middle of 6 Sides.” Down Beat 15 Mar. 1941: 15.
  9. “Orchestra Personnels: Vaughn Monroe.” Down Beat 15 Mar. 1941: 17.
  10. Gum, Coburn. “On the Records.” St. Petersburg Times 11 May 1941: 10.
  11. “Strictly Ad Lib.” Down Beat 15 Jul. 1943: 11.
  12. “Phyllis Lynne with Vaughn Monroe Ork.” Billboard 7 Aug. 1943: 12.
  13. “New Osborne Chirp.” Down Beat 15 Aug. 1943: 6.
  14. Bliss, Helen. “Here's News Capsule of Highlighted Happenings Of Music World In 1943.” Down Beat 1 Jan. 1944: 3.
  15. “Music Grapevine.” Billboard 3 Jun. 1944: 13.
  16. “Marilyn Duke as Single.” Down Beat 15 Jun. 1944: 5.
  17. “Music Grapevine.” Billboard 22 Jul. 1944: 23.
  18. “Strictly Ad Lib.” Down Beat 1 Aug. 1944: 5.
  19. “Music Grapevine.” Billboard 9 Sep. 1944: 17.
  20. Winchell, Walter. “Walter Winchell.” The Sunday Spartansburg Herald-Journal [Spartansburg, South Carolina] 1 Oct. 1944: 4.
  21. “Trolley Song No. 1.” Billboard 18 Nov. 1944: 63.
  22. Mitchell, Jay Florian. Film negative portraits of Marilyn Duke at the Moulin Rouge, June 5, 1955. 1955, photograph, University of Las Vegas Nevada, Digital Collection, Las Vegas.
  23. “United States Census, 1920,” FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MJD6-8PZ : Fri Mar 08 08:19:52 UTC 2024), Entry for William F Duke and Gussie Duke, 1920.
  24. “United States Census, 1930,” FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:3QPJ-W2M : Sat Mar 09 23:11:59 UTC 2024), Entry for William F Duke and Gussie Duke, 1930.
  25. “United States Census, 1950,” FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6F3W-9M29 : Fri Oct 06 04:36:08 UTC 2023), Entry for Ernest J O'Brien and Marylin O'Brien, April 4, 1950.
  26. “United States, Social Security Numerical Identification Files (NUMIDENT), 1936-2007,” database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6KMQ-YK25 : 10 February 2023), Manfrey Lecta Duke.
  27. “Georgia Death Index, 1933-1998,” FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V43P-1W2 : 24 December 2014), Marylin L Bowker, 07 Aug 1995; from “Georgia Deaths, 1919-98,” database, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 2001); citing Clayton, Georgia, certificate number 032891, Georgia Health Department, Office of Vital Records, Atlanta.
  28. “Find a Grave Index,” database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:4K8Q-822M : 25 May 2022), Manfrey Marilyn Lecta Duke Bowker; Burial, Atlanta, Fulton, Georgia, United States of America, Crest Lawn Cemetery; citing record ID 203614521, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com.