{{Short description|American singer (1917–1990)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2020}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Bonnie Baker | birth_name = Evelyn Underhill<br>(or Evelyn Nelson) | image = File:Bonnie Baker 1940.jpg | caption = Baker in 1940 | alias = Wee Bonnie Baker<br>Evelyn Reyo Lakey | birth_date = {{birth date|1917|4|1}} | birth_place = [[Orange, Texas]], United States | death_date = {{death date and age|1990|8|11|1917|4|1}} | death_place = [[Fort Lauderdale, Florida]], United States | origin = | genre = [[Popular music]] | occupation = Singer | years_active = 1936–1965 | label = [[Columbia Records]], [[Warner Bros. Records]] | website = }} '''Bonnie Baker''' (''née'' '''Evelyn Underhill''' or '''Nelson''', April 1, 1917 &ndash; August 11, 1990) was an American singer of jazz and popular music and was known from 1936 to the end of her performing career as '''Wee Bonnie Baker'''. Her biggest hit was "[[Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh!]]," recorded with the [[Orrin Tucker]] Orchestra in 1939.

== Early life == She was born in [[Orange, Texas]]; at the time of her death, her family gave her birth name as '''Evelyn Underhill''',<ref name=sunsentinel>{{Cite web |url=http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1990-08-14/news/9002090074_1_band-sharon-mcfarland-bill-gailey |title=Seth Borenstein, Obituary: ''"Wee" Bonnie Baker Gailey, 73, Band Singer Of "Oh Johnny" Hit'', Sun-Sentinel, August 14, 1990 |access-date=October 12, 2011 |archive-date=June 11, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150611084741/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1990-08-14/news/9002090074_1_band-sharon-mcfarland-bill-gailey |url-status=dead }}</ref> although other sources give it as '''Evelyn Nelson'''. She attended school in [[Galveston]] and [[Houston]].<ref>''The Sport Scene,'' [[Dallas Morning News]], May 21, 1949, Sect I, pg. 8</ref> At age 16, during the 1932–1933 school year, she was a day student at [[Mount de Sales Academy (Georgia)|Mount de Sales Academy]], in [[Macon, Georgia]],<ref>''Class Role Books,'' Mount de Sales Academy Archives, Macon, Georgia</ref> which at that time was a Roman Catholic boarding school for girls.<ref>''[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1368&dat=19400211&id=ZWYcAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zk4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=2818,1925525 Tucker, Bonnie Baker at Variety Ball],'' [[Milwaukee Sentinel]], February 11, 1940, pg. 13</ref>

== Career == She then moved back to Houston where she sang in night clubs.<ref>''[http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2019/Albany%20NY%20Knickerbocker%20News/Albany%20NY%20Knickerbocker%20News%201940/Albany%20NY%20Knickerbocker%20News%201940%20-%206730.pdf 'Oh, Johnny's' Bonnie Baker Becomes Towhead for Film Role in 'You're the One'], ''The Knickerbocker (Albany, New York), November 18, 1940, pg. 10A</ref> She joined Orrin Tucker's band as a vocalist in 1936, after [[Louis Armstrong]] suggested that Tucker recruit her.<ref name=solid>[http://www.parabrisas.com/d_bakerb.php Bonnie Baker at Solid!] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110913010548/http://www.parabrisas.com/d_bakerb.php |date=September 13, 2011 }}</ref> Tucker gave her the stage name "Wee" Bonnie Baker on account of her height, about 4-foot 11&nbsp;inches. She had only local fame before joining Tucker's orchestra – wider notability did not occur until she performed at the Empire Room of the [[Palmer House Hilton|Palmer House]] in Chicago in 1939, when she began to flourish in the South and Pacific Coast.

Her girlish voice, described as "like a tiny silver bell, soft but tonally true", was used on a version of the 1917 song "[[Oh Johnny, Oh!]]", written by [[Abe Olman]] and Ed Rose. It was recorded with the Orrin Tucker Orchestra on August 20, 1939, in Los Angeles. Released on [[Columbia Records]], it became popular in 1940, reaching no. 2 on the ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' pop chart,<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.parabrisas.com/d_tuckero.php |title=Orrin Tucker at Solid! |access-date=October 12, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927090912/http://www.parabrisas.com/d_tuckero.php |archive-date=September 27, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> remaining on the chart for 14 weeks, and selling 1.5&nbsp;million copies.<ref name=sunsentinel/> It was also Orrin Tucker's biggest hit. She also had success with the songs "[[You'd Be Surprised]]", "[[Billy (Kathy Linden song)|Billy]]", "Would Ja Mind?", and "Especially for You".<ref name=sunsentinel/>

She left the Tucker orchestra in 1942, and legally adopted her stage name, Bonnie Baker, on October 9, 1943, in Circuit Court, Chicago, Illinois.<ref name=billboard161043>''Bonnie Adopts Name Legally'', ''Billboard'', pg. 16, October 16, 1943</ref> She then continued with a solo career, singing with the [[USO]] (United Service Organizations) during [[World War II]], and appearing regularly on the radio show ''[[Your Hit Parade]]''. She also sang with other bands. In 1948, she recorded a [[novelty song]], "[[That's All Folks!]]," as a duet with [[Mel Blanc]] playing the character [[Porky Pig]]. She also voiced the [[Animated cartoon|cartoon]] character [[Chilly Willy]] in the 1950s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tv.com/people/bonnie-baker/|title=Bonnie Baker|publisher=TV.com|access-date=October 12, 2011|archive-date=August 8, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808045128/http://www.tv.com/people/bonnie-baker/|url-status=dead}}</ref> She released an album, ''Oh Johnny!'', with orchestra conducted by [[Wilbur Hatch]], on [[Warner Bros. Records]] in 1956. After moving to Florida in 1958, she continued to sing in clubs with her husband Bill Gailey, who performed as Billy Rogers; the two often performed with [[Chuck Cabot]] and His Orchestra.

She gave up performing after suffering a heart attack in 1965.<ref name=sunsentinel/> In 1976, she was a switchboard operator at a Ft. Lauderdale medical center.<ref>''It's a Dog's Tale – Hollywood Style,'' [[Dallas Morning News]], April 15, 1976, Sect D, pg. 3</ref>

== Personal life and death ==

===Marriages=== Baker was married four times:

:1. Around 1935, she married [[Claude Roger Lakey#Directors|Claude R. Lakey]] (1910–1990), who then was a saxophonist with [[Harry James]]. They divorced December 1936 in Houston.<ref>''Sixty-First District Court,'' Daily Court Review (Houston), December 21, 1936, pg. 4, col. 2 (bottom)</ref> She was named as Evelyn Reyo Lakey at the time she legally adopted her stage name of Bonnie Baker in 1943.<ref name=billboard161043/> :2. On December 9, 1943, she married [[Hollingsworth Morse|John Hollingsworth Morse]] (1910–1988) — then an Army [[US First Lieutenant|first lieutenant]] based in Los Angeles who later became a film and TV director – at the [[The Peninsula New York|Gotham Hotel]] in New York.<ref>''Bonnie Baker Married Here,'' [[The New York Times]], December 10, 1943</ref> :3. On March 16, 1948 in [[Leesburg, Georgia]],<ref>''[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=950&dat=19480319&id=VQBQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=jVUDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5826,1205060 Wee Bonnie Baker, Manager Are Married],'' [[The Evening Independent]], March 19, 1948, pg. 16</ref> Baker married Frank E. Taylor, her manager, while their automobile was being serviced on a trip from Chicago to Miami. Baker met Taylor in Detroit in 1944, and Taylor became her manager in late 1946.<ref>''Singer Weds Manager,'' March 18, 1948, [[Rockford Register Star|Rockford Morning Star]] (Illinois), March 18, 1948, pg. 2</ref> They divorced October 8, 1949.<ref>''Bonnie Baker vs. Frank Taylor,'' [[Superior Court of Cook County|Cook County Superior Court]], State of Illinois, The Hon. Judge Joseph A. Sabath, Judge, presiding (1949)</ref> Together, they had a daughter, Sharon Taylor (1948–2003), who married Joel G. McFarland (born 1936). :4. In late spring 1950, giving her maiden name as Underhill, she married William (Bill) Henry Gailey (1914–1990), a jazz guitarist and stage-act writer, also known as Billy Rogers, with whom she had been performing, and continued to perform with until her heart attack in 1965.<ref>''[https://books.google.com/books?id=5x0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA18&lpg=PA18&dq Chicago],'' [[Billboard Magazine]], November 18, 1950, pg. 18, col. 4</ref>

===Death=== She died in [[Fort Lauderdale, Florida]] in 1990 at the age of 73.

== Discography == * [[Orrin Tucker]] and His Orchestra ([[Columbia Records|Columbia]], 1939) {{OCLC|62469659}} : ''[[Oh Johnny, Oh Johnny, Oh!]]'' lyrics by [[Ed Rose (lyricist)|Ed Rose]], music by [[Abe Olman]]

* Bonnie Baker, ''Oh Johnny!'' [[Warner Bros. Records|Warner Bros.]], 1958) {{OCLC|9695884}} : Orchestra conducted by [[Wilbur Hatch]], music arranged by [[Carl Brandt (composer)|Carl Brandt]]

== Filmography == * ''[[You're the One (1941 film)|You're the One]]'' (1941) * ''[[Spotlight Scandals]]'' (1943) * ''[[NBC Presents]]'' (1949, TV series) * ''[[Armstrong Circle Theatre]]'' (1951, TV series)

==References== {{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Bonnie}} [[Category:1917 births]] [[Category:1990 deaths]] [[Category:Jazz musicians from Houston]] [[Category:Jazz musicians from Texas]] [[Category:People from Orange, Texas]] [[Category:20th-century American singers]] [[Category:20th-century American women singers]] [[Category:American women jazz singers]] [[Category:American jazz singers]] [[Category:Music of Texas]]