Michelle Knight’s article in the Acorn on the death of the great clarinetist Artie Shaw said that "Shaw is considered to be the first white bandleader to employ a black singer. In 1938, he hired songstress Billie Holiday . . . ."  I saw similar statements made in other (newspaper) articles on Shaw’s death. 

Unless Shaw hired some other black singer years before, the claim is fallacious.  Ethel Waters sang with the Dorsey Brothers in 1933, recording "Stormy Weather," "Love Is The Thing," "Don’t Blame Me" and "Shadows on the Swanee." 

My father, Fulton McGrath, who played and recorded with Artie Shaw in 1936, was the original pianist and arranger for the Dorsey Brothers, a band that included not only Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey but also Bunny Berigan, Dick McDonough, Larry Binyon, Joe Venuti, Artie Bernstein, Stan King and Chauncey Morehouse. 

Anyone listening to those recordings today will understand why jazz was the "popular" music of the era. 

Roger McGrath

Thousand Oaks