Billy Daniels' journey to stardom was a long and winding one, marked by years of toiling in obscurity before finally achieving success in 1950. His early years were spent singing in his native Jacksonville, Florida, before he made the move to Harlem in 1932, where he took on a variety of jobs, including dishwasher and singing waiter, at Dickie Wells' restaurant-club.
It was during this time that Daniels began to tour with the Erskine Hawkins band, circa 1935-36, and later returned to Harlem, where he became a staple on local radio shows and developed a reputation as a talented singer. In 1941, he had a small record hit on Bluebird with the songs "Diane" and "Penthouse Serenade", with "Diane" becoming his trademark song during this period.
As his career began to take off, Daniels starred in the 1947 film Sepia Cinderella, and in 1948, he began working permanently with pianist and backup singer Benny Payne, who also served as his musical director. It was around this time that Daniels began to make "That Old Black Magic", a song he had first sung in the summer of 1946 at the Club Harlem in Atlantic City.
A 1948 extended appearance at New York's posh Park Avenue Restaurant marked the beginning of Daniels' climb to fame, which culminated in 1950 with engagements at Hollywood's Mocambo and Bill Miller's Riviera in New Jersey, capped off by his sensational appearance in the film When You're Smiling. From this point on, Daniels was a star, and he went on to appear in three Broadway musicals: "Memphis Bound" (1945),"Golden Boy" (1964),and "Hello Dolly" (1975).
Throughout his career, Daniels worked with a variety of record labels, including Mercury, which was his main label, as well as Vocalion, Bluebird, Victor, Savoy, Decca, and Apollo. His film credits are sometimes confused with those of the dancer-choreographer-actor Billy Daniel, but Daniels' legacy as a singer and performer is well established.
