Jimmy Dorsey (1904–1957) and Tommy Dorsey (1905–1956) were born in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania, to a music teacher and coal miner father who insisted his sons pursue music instead of following him into the mines. Jimmy took up clarinet and saxophone, while Tommy focused on trombone and trumpet, and both became prodigiously skilled at a young age, performing in their father's band before they were teenagers.
By the late 1920s, the brothers were established session musicians in New York, playing with top dance orchestras of the era. In 1934, they formed their own group, the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra, which quickly found success. But the brothers had notoriously volatile chemistry — hot-tempered and competitive with each other — and in 1935 an onstage argument (reportedly over the tempo of a song) led Tommy to storm off and split from the band for good.
Each brother went on to lead his own hugely successful orchestra. Tommy Dorsey, nicknamed "The Sentimental Gentleman of Swing" for his smooth trombone tone, built one of the most popular big bands of the swing era, launching or boosting the careers of stars like Frank Sinatra, Buddy Rich, and Gene Krupa. Jimmy Dorsey's band also thrived, blending sweet dance music with jazz, and scored major hits such as "Green Eyes" and "Tangerine."
The brothers reconciled in 1953, merging their bands into the Dorsey Brothers Orchestra once again and even hosting a television variety show together, Stage Show, which gave a young Elvis Presley one of his first national TV appearances in 1956.
Tommy died suddenly in November 1956, choking in his sleep. Jimmy, already ill with cancer, took over leadership of the combined band and lived just long enough to see one of their old recordings, "So Rare," become a surprise hit before he died in June 1957 — the two brothers dying within seven months of each other.
Together, the Dorsey Brothers left one of the most influential legacies in American big band and swing music.
