Des Tooley

Biography

Des was a popular and well-known jazz singer in Australia in the 1920s and 30's. Born Amy Ruwald and known as "The Lady Baritone". She performed and recorded with band leader Frank Coughlan amongst others. Although a star in her homeland, she is hardly known abroad. She was born in Sydney, and learned piano and also was a piano teacher later in her life. At the start of her career she formed a vaudeville duo with Sheila Desmond, but by 1927 she already had left stage for the radio studios. For her first recording session she took the artiste name Des Tooley (shortly before, she had married Lionel Tooley). She left us many radio transcription discs and around 50 sides of commercial disc recordings. Her radio work last well into the 40's till the end of the war. In the postwar period, due to her lifestyle her health gradually deteriorated, preventing her from performing.