| Summary: | Musician Evelyn Freeman Roberts, born on February 13, 1919, grew up in Cleveland, Ohio in a musical family. In high school, Roberts saw Duke Ellington perform and decided to become a bandleader. She formed a group in high school and led it through her tenure as a student of the Cleveland Institute of Music. The Evelyn Freeman Swing Band played with great success throughout Cleveland in the 1940s. During World War II, the band was drafted as a unit, making it the first all-black band in the U.S. Navy. After the war ended, Freeman met and married bandleader Tommy Roberts. Moving to New York, Freeman continued to work in music, composing and arranging for television and for notable recording artists. In the 1970s, she moved to California, forming the Young Saints, who would perform at the White House. With her husband, she co-founded and administered the Young Saints Scholarship Foundation.
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