Recently I added to the Second Hand Songs database an early Bill Haley release which has not received very much attention in the numerous books and articles written about him. It is a 1951 single released on the Holiday label where he covers Memphis Slim on one side and Tampa Red on the other. They are duets credited to "Bill and Loretta with the Saddlemen." The only information I found in the Haley biographies about Loretta is that Glendenning is her last name.
After more extensive research I feel confident that I found Loretta. In 1943 when young Bill Haley lived in Booth's Corner, Pennsylvania, less than five miles away in Talleyville, Delaware there was a high school girl named Loretta Glendenning (about the same age as Haley). She had a leading role in a high school production of an operetta in 1943.
I believe eight years later Bill Haley made that Holiday recording with this Loretta.
Given Haley's importance in the history of rock and roll, it would be nice to know more about this early Haley cover of two blues artists and his singing partner. Does anyone know more about Loretta?
