Post by Kaz ~;~ on Mar 12, 2011 14:54:26 GMT -5
Della Reese
Date of Birth
6 July 1931, Detroit, Michigan, USA
Birth Name
Delloreese Patricia Early
Biography::
Della began singing in her hometown of Detroit when she was 6 years old. As a teenager, she toured with gospel great Mahalia Jackson and, at the age of 18, she formed the Meditation Singers and became the first performer to take gospel music to the casinos of Las Vegas. She was a vocalist with the Erskine Hawkins Orchestra and began making her own records. She was nominated for a Grammy Award as Best Female Soloist in Gospel music in 1987. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, producer Franklin Lett.
Spouse::
Franklin Lett (12 January 1983 - her death)
Leroy Gray (28 December 1959 - 1961) (divorced)
Vermont Taliaferro (July 1951 - 1958) (divorced)
Trade Mark
Her sly smile.
Her self-effacing humor.
Trivia::
Her children: Deloreese, James, Franklin, and Dominique.
She is also an ordained minister. She was the minister at the wedding of her "Touched by an Angel" (1994) co-star, Roma Downey. She is the godmother of Roma Downey's daughter, Reilly Marie.
Della is Rt.Reverend of the Church "Understanding Principals for a Better Living" in Los Angeles, CA
Has Cherokee ancestry.
Suffered a stroke on the set of "The Tonight Show" (1962). [3 October 1980].
Best known by the public for her starring role as Tess on "Touched by an Angel" (1994).
Earned $50,000 a week, upped from $40,000, an episode of "Touched by an Angel" (1994) in 1997.
Before she was an actress, she was also a successful jazz and gospel singer.
Remained good friends with Roma Downey, before and after "Touched by an Angel" (1994).
Her mother, Nellie, had children many years before young Delloreese was born, none of them lived with her, afterwards.
As a young girl of the 1940s, she and her mother would go to the movies to watch: Joan Crawford, Lena Horne and Bette Davis, portraying glamorous lives on-screen.
Her father, Richard Early, died in 1959.
At age 22, she was the youngest performer ever to have the highest singing voice than anybody in jazz music, next to: Ella Fitzgerald, Carmen McRae and Sarah Vaughan.
She has 7 hobbies: singing, watching movies, spending time with her family, reading the Bible, swimming, cooking and playing games.
Had walked into the plate glass door and underwent surgery for her severe laceration. This was after she went swimming, when she struggled to her feet, while avoiding a large piece of glass. [1969].
Television personality, Ed Sullivan helped her get her bookings in Las Vegas, which was rare for an African-American singer, back in the early 1950s.
Had dropped and shortened her name from Early to Reese knowing it was too big for one club's marquee.
Met Vermont Taliaferro in church for years until she married him in 1951, but was divorced in 1953.
Began her contact singing career with Jubilee Records in 1953.
Was/is best/good friends with: Redd Foxx, Nipsey Russell, Marla Gibbs, Tim Reid, Dick Gregory and Eddie Murphy.
At her church, Mahalia Jackson sang there where she dazzled the congregation one day and was impressed with her voice in 1944.
Gospel legend Mahalia Jackson was so impressed with her singing that she invited her on a Southern Tour, Della was only 13.
Her mother, Nellie, died in 1949, of a cerebral hemorrhage.
Had feuded with her father, after her mother's passing, which led to moving out of the house, at age 18.
Graduated from Cass Technical High School in Detroit, Michigan, in 1947, at only 15 yrs. old. She became the first in her family to graduate early.
For the second time, she was an ordained minister to her ex-"Touched by an Angel" (1994)'s, co-star, Roma Downey's wedding, where she married reality television show producer, Mark Burnett in 2007.
Composed the "Touched by an Angel" (1994) theme song, "Walk With You".
Is one of the 2 actresses to appear in all the episodes of "Touched by an Angel" (1994), with the exception of 2, during the final season.
Adoptive daughter, Deloreese Daniels Owens, died on March 14, 2002.
Is an ordained minister at the Understanding Principles for Better Living Church in Los Angeles, California.
Had a recording contract with RCA Records in 1957.
Has type 2 diabetes.
Had traveled with Mahalia Jackson, for 3 summers, and went on tour with her.
On one of the tapings of "The Royal Family" (1991), she found out about one of Redd Foxx's rituals he had done, years after he was doing "Sanford and Son" (1972), assuming all of this was a joke. In fact, she actually heard it, for real, Foxx collapsed on the set and had a heart attack, where he was taken to a hospital and died in 1991. She attended his funeral later in the year.
As a teenager, she was often chosen as a featured singer on radio.
Her parents were, Richard Early, who was a steel worker, ladies' man and a gambler and Nellie Mitchelle Early, a Cherokee cook.
She formed a choir in Detroit called The Meditation Singers.
She intended to major in Psychiatry at Wayne State University, but a personal setback ended her plans.
Was the lead singer for the Erskine Hawkins Band.
Had purchased a home in Beverly Hills, California, in 1969.
Began singing at age 6.
Attended the same high school as future actress Ellen Burstyn, also known as: Edna Rae Gillooly.
Future talk show host and friend Larry King said he enjoyed listening to her music, as a young adult.
With bad ratings, her series "Touched by an Angel" (1994), was canceled at the end of the ninth season, because the show was using God in every episode and the liberal media did not like religious messages on mainstream television.
Before she was a successful actress, she did everything from a very young age from directing a young people's choir in church, to being a truck driver, to being a dental receptionist, to that of a switchboard girl.
Was a Democrat.
Personal Quotes::
I was black when they hired me. They knew how old I was when they hired me.
The Lord has planned my life. I'm not a great planner but I have been open to what God has in store for me, and it's worked.
[On being the first black woman, to host a talk show of the 1960s, long before Oprah Winfrey would]: I've had so many different chapters in my career, so many different audiences, but it always comes back to me talking to God.
[Of her parents]: He was the toastmaster in our neighborhood. My father was a man who knew how to walk the walk and talk the talk. My mother was the kind of woman who when she looked you in the eyes, you stood at attention.
[In 1998]: I had done what I set out to do: I had the money, the gowns, the jewelry and I was happy to have them, but they did not make me happy. My daughter filled that void: she saved my life.
[On being a talk show hostess]: I was tired of the road, and doing TV meant I could stay home. It was very obvious to me I was the first black woman with her own show when one executive told me they had a hard time finding sponsors because my gums were blue.
[Of Ed Sullivan]: Ed helped a lot of people.
[When she was ticking off Duke Ellington and Carmen McRae]: We were all just trying to make a living. Nobody had any attitude. We were all 'getting up,' as we used to say.
[When she didn't want to do another TV series]: But it always comes down to me in my bed talking to God, and he said, 'Do this for me for 10 years and you can retire.' Since I am a devout coward, I cannot go against the will of the Lord.
[In 2003]: We were taping Touched by an Angel, and I was coming down the stairs of my house in Salt Lake City, and it felt like someone split my head in half and I blacked out. I don't know how long I was there, but when I came to I didn't feel anything so I just went on to work.
[On being a spokesperson]: It's such a simple thing. You find people who need help, and you find people who can give help, and you put the two together. Just simply people helping people.
I'm hoping that there is a correlation between all the work that I do. 'Touched by an Angel' gave me a chance to speak on the things that I espouse, and Faith in Action also gives me a chance to do that."
[When she was starring on "Touched by an Angel" (1994)]: They called Roma and me in to meet Martha Williamson. The conversation is going really nice, and Martha stands up and tells me, 'It's not that I don't respect you, but I go to church and I'm a Christian and this show will have God in it.'
[In 1996]: I don't ever remember not singing. My agent said 'Touched by an Angel' probably wouldn't go to series, but I'd get a lot of money to make the pilot. I knew it wouldn't work because the two angels didn't like each other. But how could that be? How could angels have hate? I was always saying something smart to Roma Downey's character and vice versa. CBS spent $2 million on it, and you'll never see it. The only thing they liked was the rapport between Roma and me.
I use February 14 as the day to remember all the men in my life. Not just boyfriends, but business associates too. I show them I care by sending floral arrangements. [Why are they only sent to women? Men enjoy flowers too!] My beau gets gardenias and my colleagues get plants. When they receive them, they know I really do care.
[Who said she was offered substantially less than the 100% raise that co-star Roma Downey got in 1997]: It was twelve and a half percent they offered me. But for year number one and number two and number three, whatever Roma received, I received equal parts. This year, I did not.
[In 1997]: It's tough to be an angel in Hollywood when you're underpaid.
[In 2001]: But what people must realize is that time is of the essence. You must know the warning signs of a stroke, and you must seek emergency assistance immediately.
[Who moved to three different hospitals before diagnosing her condition]: At first, doctors were looking in everywhere but the right place. I suppose because I'm an actress and entertainer, they initially presumed I was suffering from some sort of alcohol or drug problem. That was more than insulting, it was a potentially fatal misperception.
[Of her 1980 stroke]: I was in the middle of the song when my body began to twitch uncontrollably. Before I knew it, I fell to my knees in front of everyone and was suddenly unconscious.
[In 1993]: I never intended to become a minister, I wanted to teach these principles. But I had so many requests for people wanting me to officiate weddings and funerals and such that I finally asked God and he told me to do it.
[Of Roma Downey]: Roma and I have only grown closer and more fond of each other as time has gone on ... Roma Downey is an angel in my life. It is no accident that our paths have crossed.
[Of her struggle in show business]: We had no rights or privileges, I was told that there was no need to go to school, because we'd never have jobs that we'd need schooling for. I didn't really like that idea.
Anything is possible with God. People told me, there are just some things you can't do. But I saw no reason why I couldn't have everything I wanted, and frankly, the reasons they gave about why I couldn't have things didn't impress me.
[In 2005]: Diabetes doesn't necessarily hurt, you see. You wake up and say, 'I'm not in pain, I won't take this (medicine) today,'
[On the cancellation of "Touched by an Angel" (1994)]: This is a business of ratings. When the show was on Sunday, we were a program that people came home and extended their Sunday services with. People are out on Saturday nights. It changed our audience base.
[When Doc Severinsen and Richard Dawson both rescued her, while the doctor appeared onstage from the audience, before attendants who carried her to the paramedics, heard her praying]: I never lost consciousness, but I wasn't in control. Lord, help me. God, help me.
What was so upsetting was I didn't really know anything about diabetes except that Ella Fitzgerald lost her legs and later died from it. So I all knew was you lost your limbs and you died from it. I was scared silly.
[When questioned if she had any recollections]: No, my life doesn't seem remarkable to me. I assume once I have prayed, the answer is on its way.
[In 2009]: But I was doing a talk show. I love to say this. I was before Oprah.
[In 2010]: If somebody hits you upside your head long enough, enough times, they'll tell you they will hit you, you believe it. Why couldn't you believe it? The last lick you had almost killed you, so you see, why would you, not believe that they would do that?