Born in Detroit, Michigan as Herbert Jeffrey, he is the son of Umberto Balentino, a pianist of African-American and Sicilian descent and his wife, Mildred, who was of Irish descent.
A jazz and popular singer, Jeffries is noted for being the first black man to star in an American western. He starred as a singing cowboy in several all-black Western films (called "Race Films") in which he sang his own western compositions. Jeffries got financing for the first black western film and hired Spencer Williams to appear with him. In addition to starring in the film, Jeffries sang and performed his own stunts as the cowboy character, "Bob Blake.".
Jeffries started out working with Erskine Tate and his Vendome Orchestra when he first moved to Chicago from Detroit at the urging of Louis Armstrong. His break came during the 1933 Chicago World's Fair - Century of Progress Exposition singing with the Earl Hines Orchestra on Hines' national broadcasts live from the Grand Terrace Cafe. His first recordings were with Hines in 1934 -- including 'Just to be in Carolina'. As of 2011 - Herb Jeffries is the sole surviving member of that Earl Hines Orchestra. Jeffries then recorded widely with Duke Ellington from 1940 to 1942. His most famous song, "Flamingo", recorded in 1940 with Ellington, sold over 50 million copies. He was replaced in the Ellington band by Al Hibbler in 1943.
Then, through playing a singing cowboy in the low-budget films, he soon became known as the "Bronze Buckaroo" by fans who flocked to his films. In a time of American racial segregation these films played mostly in theaters catering to African American audiences. The films can be found on video and are titled "Harlem on the Prairie", "The Bronze Buckaroo", "Harlem Rides the Range" and "Two Gun Man from Harlem". Jeffries went on to make other films. He starred with Angie Dickinson in "Calypso Joe" (1957). He later directed and produced "Mundo Depravados," a cult classic starring his voluptuous wife, Tempest Storm, whom comedians Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin joked had "the two best props in show business."
In 1968, he appeared in the long running western TV series The Virginian playing a famous gunslinger who made everyone in town very nervous.
In 1995, aged 81, Herb Jeffries recorded a Nashville album of songs on the Warner Western label titled The Bronze Buckaroo (Rides Again).
(extract from Wikipedia 2011)
