Bud Johnson, God rest his soul of fame, a tenor saxophonist. Bud was always a big, big, big booster of mine and he always when I first met Bud in Pittsburgh when he came through there, he heard me sing and he wanted me to come to Chicago.

He had to fight the system so things never quite fell into place. B as an idol.

Eckstine's recording of "I Apologize" (MGM Pop Single 1948) was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1999. William Clarence Eckstine (July 8 1914 – March 8 1993) was an American singer of ballads and a bandleader of the swing era.