Robert "Skinnay" Ennis was born on August 13, 1909 outside Salisbury, North Carolina. Ennis met Hal Kemp while attending the University of North Carolina in 1927. When Kemp started a local dance band, he induced the long and lanky Ennis to play drums.
As the band's success grew, Kemp urged Ennis to sing with the band. Ennis thought it was a gag, as he had no formal singing training. But, his breathless way of singing songs such as "Got A Date With An Angel" perfectly matched Kemp's orchestral style (staccato triple-tonguing brass phrases against unison clarinets, - backed by a solid, smooth, danceable rhythm), and before long Skinnay was the band's featured attraction. ("Got A Date With An Angel" became the Kemp's orch. theme.)
In 1938, Robert "Skinnay" Ennis left Kemp to form his own group to be the Orchestra on the Bob Hope Radio Show, based in Los Angeles. (John Scott Trotter, Kemp's arranger, also left at this time to become musical director for Bing Crosby.
Hal Kemp continued into the Swing Era, with Janet Blair as his girl vocalist. Janet left him to become a hollywood actress.) Ennis took a chance in leaving Kemp after 13 years to front his own band. During that time many vocalists failed when trying to succeed without the original band that made them popular. Hope made sure that Skinnay Ennis received a few key lines for laughs on every broadcast. With this kind of advertisement, he had no problems booking his band from coast to coast.
He was drafted into the military but returned to his band and the Hope program following his service and remained well into 1948. His band remained in demand and toured mostly in the West. Ennis also had a long running spot on the "Abbott and Costello Show." During the late 1940's his band played ballrooms and theaters and Ennis even appeared in a few Hollywood movies (including Follow The Band in 1943).
Skinnay Ennis worked with small groups in the Los Angeles area in the 1950's. Sadly, he died while choking on a bone at a Beverly Hills restaurant on June 3, 1963.
