Della Reese Wiki, Biography, Age, Spouse, Height, Net Worth, Fast Facts

Della Reese Wiki, Biography

Della Reese was born Delloreese Patricia Early on July 6, 1931, in the historic Black Bottom neighborhood of Detroit, Michigan, to Richard Thaddeus Early, an African-American steelworker, and Nellie (Mitchelle), a Native American cook of the Cherokee tribe.^[3][4][5] Her mother had had several children before Reese’s birth, none of whom lived with her; hence, Reese grew up as an only child. At six years old, Reese began singing in church; from this experience she became an avid gospel singer. On weekends in the 1940s, she and her mother would go to the movies independently to watch the likes of Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, and Lena Horne portray glamorous lives on screen. Afterward, Reese would act out scenes from the films. In 1944, she began her career directing the young people’s choir, after she had nurtured acting plus her obvious musical talent. She was often chosen, on radio, as a regular singer. At the age of 13, she was hired to sing with Mahalia Jackson’s gospel group. Reese entered Detroit’s Cass Technical High School (where she attended the same year as Edna Rae Gillooly, later known as Ellen Burstyn). She also continued with her touring with Jackson. With higher grades, she became in 1947 the first in her family to graduate from high school, aged 15.

After this she formed her own gospel group, the Meditation Singers. However, due in part to her father’s serious illness and the death of her mother, Reese had to interrupt her schooling at Wayne State University to help support her family. Faithful to the memory of her mother, Delloreese moved out of her father’s house when she disapproved of him taking up with a new girlfriend. She then took on odd jobs, such as truck driver, dental receptionist, and elevator operator, after 1949. Performing in clubs, Early soon decided to shorten her name from “Delloreese Early” to “Della Reese”

Personal life

Reese was the godmother of Roma Downey’s daughter Reilly Marie. Reese officiated at^[17] the marriage ceremony of Downey and Mark Burnett in the absence of Downey’s late mother.

Family

Reese’s mother, Nellie Mitchelle Early, died in 1949 of an intracerebral hemorrhage. Reese’s father, Richard Early, died ten years later. Reese had an adoptive daughter from a family member unable to care for her, named Delorese Daniels Owens, born in 1961. Owens died on March 14, 2002. She died from complications stemming from pituitary disease. Sharing her frustration with the lack of awareness and knowledge of pituitary disorders, Reese said:

When it happened, I thought, “It’s such an odd thing to die from,” because pituitary problems aren’t something you hear about. It makes it harder because you don’t understand what happened. It seemed so strange and hard to explain. It still is, to be honest.

Marriages

In 1952, Reese married factory worker Vermont Adolphus Bon Taliaferro, nineteen years her senior.^[19] She adopted the stage name Pat Ferro^[20] for a week, before introducing the stage name she used for the rest of her life—though sources differ as to whether this name change was after the failure of the marriage,^[19] or simply a show-business decision.^[21] A second marriage ceremony, on December 28, 1959, to accountant Leroy Basil Gray, who had two children by a previous marriage, was kept secret for some time.^[22] This marriage either ended in divorce^[23] or was annulled on the basis that Gray’s previous divorce was invalid.^[19] In 1961, Reese was briefly married to bandleader Mercer Ellington (who was then her manager), before their union was annulled later that year due to Ellington’s Mexican divorce from his wife Evelyn Walker being ruled invalid.^[19] In 1983, Reese married Franklin Thomas Lett, Jr., a concert producer and writer.

Ministry

In the 1980s, Reese was ordained a minister through the Christian New Thought branch known as Unity after serving as the senior minister and founder of her own church, Understanding Principles for Better Living.^[24] The “Up Church” is under Universal Foundation for Better Living, a denomination of Christian New Thought founded by Rev. Johnnie Colemon, a close friend of Rev. Reese-Lett.^[25] In her ministerial work, she was known as the Rev. Dr. Della Reese Lett.

Health and death

In 1979, during taping for a guest spot on The Tonight Show, Reese suffered a near-fatal brain aneurysm, but made a full recovery after two surgeries by neurosurgeon Charles Drake at University Hospital in London, Ontario.^[27] In 2016, shortly after her 85th birthday, Reese was said to be in poor health, and had undergone multiple surgeries. She stated that she had neglected her health for years, which had contributed to her developing type 2 diabetes.^[28] After her last appearance in Signed, Sealed, Delivered, she retired from acting. While Reese sometimes used a wheelchair, she avoided using one often, out of concern it would make her condition worse.

Reese died at her home in the Encino neighborhood of Los Angeles on November 19, 2017, at the age of 86.

Daily Habits

Facebook, Instagram & Twitter

Net Worth

The Estimated Net worth is $80K – USD $85k.