Willie Bryant

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Willie Bryant (August 30, 1908 – February 9, 1964) was an American jazz bandleader, singer, and radio DJ known as the Mayor of Harlem. He was born in Chicago and grew up learning trumpet, though he wasn’t very successful. He was a child tap dancer and his first show business job was dancing in the Whitman Sisters Show in 1926. He spent years in vaudeville and, in 1934, appeared in Chocolate Revue with Bessie Smith. His Broadway credits include Mamba's Daughters (1939) and its revival (1940), and Blue Holiday.

In 1934 Bryant formed his first big band. The group sometimes included top musicians and they recorded six times between 1935 and 1938; Bryant sang on most of the 26 sides. After the band broke up, he worked in acting and as a disc jockey. He recorded R&B in 1945 and led another big band from 1946 to 1948. He was MC on Night Life on CBS radio in 1946, and hosted Uptown Jubilee on CBS-TV in 1949.

Bryant later hosted Show Time at the Apollo, a NYC TV show that began in September 1963. He recorded for Apollo Records in the 1940s. In 1996 Delmark Records released Blues Around the Clock, a collection of 10 Apollo tracks Bryant recorded from 1945 to 1949. He was the emcee at the Apollo Theater in the 1950s.

Bryant was fired from WHOM radio in 1954 after refusing to pressure Harlem stores to buy more Knickerbocker Beer. He opened the Orchid Room, a club in the Red Mill, Bronx, on September 28, 1956, with partners Herman and Charlie Kaye; ABC radio broadcast from the club on Saturdays. He died of a heart attack in Los Angeles on February 9, 1964.