Solid!

Born

• December 20, 1907
• Tekoa, WA

Marriage

• Elizabeth Newburgher

Al Rinker

Brother of singer Mildred Bailey, Al Rinker was a member of the Rhythm Boys vocal trio with Bing Crosby and Harry Barris. Rinker first met Crosby when Bing joined the Musicaladers, a local Spokane orchestra which he managed. When the outfit broke up in 1925 Bing and Al headed to Los Angeles, where they sought the help of Rinker's sister to get into show business. They ended up in the vaudeville circuit, performing in theaters around California. Their big break came one night in 1926 when orchestra leader Paul Whiteman heard them sing and hired them.

Shortly after their debut with Whiteman problems arose during a performance at the Paramount Theatre in New York in January 1927. The theatre didn't have electronic amplification, and the audience had difficulty hearing Crosby and Rinker's vocals. To solve the problem they were teamed with a third vocalist, Harry Barris, and they returned to the orchestra in March as the Rhythm Boys. The result was a big hit, and they soon became Whiteman's star attraction.

By 1930 the trio's love for having a good time began to get in the way of their performances. When Bing was arrested for drunken driving during the filming of the movie The King of Jazz, featuring Whiteman and his orchestra, it was the last straw for the bandleader, who released the trio after the completion of the film. The group soon found a job with Gus Arnheim's band at the Cocoanut Grove in Los Angeles. Arnheim began pushing Bing to the forefront as a soloist, and in January 1931 Bing recorded his first solo hit.

Increasingly, crowds came to hear Bing, and the Rhythm Boys as a group receded to the background. As Bing's popularity soared he began to skip performances at the club. When the manager docked his pay Bing walked out in protest, taking the Rhythm Boys with him. The manager persuaded the local musicians' union to ban the trio for breach of contract, and the Rhythm Boys were forced to dissolve.

In the late 1930s Rinker worked as part of the vocal group Bea and the Bachelors, led by Bea Wain and also featuring Ken Lane and John Smedberg. The quartet performed on Fred Waring's radio program as part of the vocal group V-8, a combined effort with the Modernaires, before joining Kay Thompson in 1937, where they formed part of Thompson's Rhythm Singers. Later that same year, while the quartet was working on Kate Smith's program, bandleader Larry Clinton offered Wain a job in his newly-formed orchestra. After Wain left, the three Bachelors continued performing together as the Al Rinker Trio. They later joined a band led by pianist Frank Froeba.