Lee Wiley ~ But Not for Me~1939 w/The Max Kaminsky Orch

Lee Wiley was born in Cherokee County, Oklahoma in 1908 She left home as a teen to sing with the Leo Reisman band. She was forced to take several years off to recover from a serious horse riding accident - the recovery included regaining her sight. She returned to Reismann's, still only 19 and soon moved up the ladder of success to sing with Paul Whiteman's Orchestra and later still, with the Casa Loma Orchestra.
Lee wrote several songs with the brilliant composer Victor Young(Around the World in 80 Days etc.) who worked with Brunswick Records in the 30s where he arranged classical and popular music. Lee performed as vocalist for Young's Orchestra and was involved with him {professionally and personally}. Lee followed Young to California in 1935 to remain near him, at great sacrifice to her own career, when Young moved west to become musical director for Paramount Studios. Lee recorded several Gershwin songs in 1939 on 78s for exclusive sale through Liberty Music Shops in New York. Liberty specialized in highly sophistcated music for its savvy customers. The Gershwin sets were successful and were followed by sets of music of Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hart, Harold Arlen, Vincent Youmans and Irving Berlin.
The musicians for these sets, besides the Kaminsky Orchestra, were Bud Freeman, Fats Waller, Bobby Hackett, Stan Freeman, Bunny Berrigan, and Jess Stacey to whom she was married. Lee also had an affair with Berrigan which was disastrous for both.
Lee opened the first Newport Jazz Festival with Bobby Hackett in 1954.
She recorded throughout the 50s and retired in 1960. Her final appearance was at Carnegie Hall in 1972 as part of the NY Jazz Festival She died in 1975 in New York.