Marcy Lutes
- Actress
- Music Department
- Producer
Marcella 'Marcy' Love Lutes was born in the town of Edinburg, Indiana, to John Ralph Lutes, an insurance salesman, and Verna Essa Jones, a homemaker. She had three brothers, all of whom have predeceased her, Lyman Curtis, Wendell Ralph, and Marvin Lee Lutes.
She is a former American big band and jazz singer, and radio and television personality, who began her career in 1945 as a singer and radio host of W.A.K.E. radio at Wakeman Hospital in the U.S. Army's Camp Atterbury in Indiana. She got her first big break in 1947 when she joined Ray McKinley and his orchestra. They achieved their first commercially successful recording together with, "A Man Could Be A Wonderful Thing," in December of that year. She would continue to tour with McKinley's orchestra on and off throughout her brief career, when she wasn't attached to another orchestra or project.
She left Ray McKinley's orchestra in 1949 to pursue a television career alongside Artie Malvin, the two going on to produce a show for New York City's Mutual Broadcasting System, which broadcast its first episode in October of 1949. However, her television opportunities vanished by the mid 1950s, and so, she once again began to tour as 'Vocal Stylist' with the likes of Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Tex Beneke, and later smaller groups such as the Jack Keller Trio and Herbie Fields and his Sextet.
In early 1952, her father died of a heart attack while on a train just outside of Jacksonville, Florida. The tragic year was tempered, however, by her marriage to Joseph Barrett 'Barry' Galbraith on July 23rd of that year in Greenwich, Fairfield, Connecticut, and the couple settled into their new home in New York state. Barry Galbraith was a freelance, session guitarist with bands and for radio and television shows, and at the time of his marriage to Marcy Lutes was working with the Perry Como Show's band. Unfortunately, the marriage didn't last long and the couple divorced in 1955.
Marcy Lutes brought out only one solo album in her lifetime entitled, "Debut," which 'debuted' in 1956 on Decca Records. The album was arranged by Gil and Marion Evans (no relation to each other), and the twelve-track project was overseen by Ralph Burns. It received lukewarm response in the newspapers, and a search online now, will still offer mixed reviews about her vocal abilities. By late 1956, Lutes was again touring with Ray McKinley and his orchestra.
She would marry one last time, in November of 1961, to Lloyd Carville Nickerson, an executive with General Electric's Corporate Communications Division, a widower with two children. Nickerson would be put in charge of General Electric's pavilion at the 1964 New York World's Fair, collaborating with Walt Disney in designing an 'animatronic' theatre telling the history of electricity. This marriage too, would end in divorce in late 1964.
One of Lutes' last advertised performances was at the Commodore Club in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, in February of 1960, as mentioned in "The Windsor Star," on the 29th of February.
Marcy Lutes was one of the brightest and most promising new voices of the late 1940s and early 1950s, sought after by band leaders, and radio and television shows alike. However, by the early 1960s her star was fading quickly as evidenced by her lack of appearances on television and radio programs, and her name being visibly absent from the newspapers. It is unknown why her career made such a sharp fall, but contrary to what some current music critics believe, she is still alive and living quietly in New York City (A.T.O.W. - April 2024).
She is a former American big band and jazz singer, and radio and television personality, who began her career in 1945 as a singer and radio host of W.A.K.E. radio at Wakeman Hospital in the U.S. Army's Camp Atterbury in Indiana. She got her first big break in 1947 when she joined Ray McKinley and his orchestra. They achieved their first commercially successful recording together with, "A Man Could Be A Wonderful Thing," in December of that year. She would continue to tour with McKinley's orchestra on and off throughout her brief career, when she wasn't attached to another orchestra or project.
She left Ray McKinley's orchestra in 1949 to pursue a television career alongside Artie Malvin, the two going on to produce a show for New York City's Mutual Broadcasting System, which broadcast its first episode in October of 1949. However, her television opportunities vanished by the mid 1950s, and so, she once again began to tour as 'Vocal Stylist' with the likes of Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Tex Beneke, and later smaller groups such as the Jack Keller Trio and Herbie Fields and his Sextet.
In early 1952, her father died of a heart attack while on a train just outside of Jacksonville, Florida. The tragic year was tempered, however, by her marriage to Joseph Barrett 'Barry' Galbraith on July 23rd of that year in Greenwich, Fairfield, Connecticut, and the couple settled into their new home in New York state. Barry Galbraith was a freelance, session guitarist with bands and for radio and television shows, and at the time of his marriage to Marcy Lutes was working with the Perry Como Show's band. Unfortunately, the marriage didn't last long and the couple divorced in 1955.
Marcy Lutes brought out only one solo album in her lifetime entitled, "Debut," which 'debuted' in 1956 on Decca Records. The album was arranged by Gil and Marion Evans (no relation to each other), and the twelve-track project was overseen by Ralph Burns. It received lukewarm response in the newspapers, and a search online now, will still offer mixed reviews about her vocal abilities. By late 1956, Lutes was again touring with Ray McKinley and his orchestra.
She would marry one last time, in November of 1961, to Lloyd Carville Nickerson, an executive with General Electric's Corporate Communications Division, a widower with two children. Nickerson would be put in charge of General Electric's pavilion at the 1964 New York World's Fair, collaborating with Walt Disney in designing an 'animatronic' theatre telling the history of electricity. This marriage too, would end in divorce in late 1964.
One of Lutes' last advertised performances was at the Commodore Club in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, in February of 1960, as mentioned in "The Windsor Star," on the 29th of February.
Marcy Lutes was one of the brightest and most promising new voices of the late 1940s and early 1950s, sought after by band leaders, and radio and television shows alike. However, by the early 1960s her star was fading quickly as evidenced by her lack of appearances on television and radio programs, and her name being visibly absent from the newspapers. It is unknown why her career made such a sharp fall, but contrary to what some current music critics believe, she is still alive and living quietly in New York City (A.T.O.W. - April 2024).