What is the last name of the male singer named Ray in the Glenn Miller Orchestra?

Answer 1

Ray Eberle.

He was the brother of Bob Eberly who sang with Jimmy Dorsey for several years. Ray changed the spelling of his last name to avoid confusion. Unlike Bob, Ray wasn't a well-trained singer and Miller was often criticized for hiring him. They eventually parted ways in mid-1942, shortly before the band broke up.

After the war Ray performed many of his earlier hits, sometimes as a single act but more often with his own band or with a reunion group led by fellow Miller alumnus Tex Beneke.

Ray was an admitted alcoholic, an illness that led to his relatively early death in 1979. His daughter Jan and nephew Bob Jr. continue the Eberle vocal tradition. Jan has in fact performed with an English band led by Glenn's nephew John Miller, so there are new Miller-Eberle recordings nearly 70 years later!

Answer 2

There were three Rays - Ray Eberle, Ray McKinley, and Ray Anthony

Ray Eberle was the male vocalist with the civilian band from 1938 to 1942. Glenn had somehow become convinced that Ray was more talented than he actually was, and stood by him despite many forced and less-than-stellar performances. They finally parted ways in 1942. After the war, Ray Eberle played off his association with the Miller band in his own career as a soloist, bandleader, and singer with Tex Beneke's Miller-themed orchestra of the 1960s and 1970s.

Ray Anthony was a teen-aged trumpeter who played for the civilian band for only a short time. He didn't live up to the promise of his audition and left after a few weeks. As he matured, though, he became a first-class musician and led a Miller-styled swing band from the early 1950s into the 1990s.

Ray McKinley was a drummer who co-led a band with Will Bradley, one of Miller's most respected fellow trombonists. Glenn asked him to join the AAF Orchestra in 1943 as principal drummer and leader of the Swing Shift jazz band within the larger concert orchestra. He also sang many of the up-tempo tunes in a mid-western twang that served much the same role as Tex Beneke's vocals had with the civilian band. When Glenn disappeared in December 1944, Ray McKinley became the band's de facto leader along with chief arranger Jerry Gray. He also led a revived version of the civilian band from 1956 to 1966.