Des Tooley
- Actress
- Soundtrack
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.