Roland Bernard "Bunny" Berigan (November 2, 1908 – June 2, 1942) was an American jazz trumpeter and bandleader who rose to fame during the swing era.

[3] Having learned the violin and trumpet, Berigan started his career playing with local bands as a teenager, including the University of Wisconsin's jazz ensemble (although he never actually went to college).

He also appeared as featured soloist with bands fronted by Rudy Vallee, Tommy Dorsey, Abe Lyman, Paul Whiteman and Benny Goodman.

[1] Shortly after the Kemp orchestra returned to the U.S. in late 1930, Berigan, like fellow trumpeter Mannie Klein, the Dorsey Brothers and Artie Shaw, became a sought-after studio musician in New York.

From late 1932 through early 1934, Berigan was a member of Paul Whiteman's orchestra,[1] before playing with Abe Lyman's band briefly in 1934.

With Berigan and Krupa both on board, the Goodman band made the tour that ended at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles,[1] the performance often credited with the launch of the swing era.

[5] Berigan recorded a number of solos while with Goodman, including "King Porter Stomp", "Sometimes I'm Happy", and "Blue Skies".

During this time (late 1935 and throughout 1936), he began to record regularly under his own name, and he continued to back singers such as Bing Crosby, Mildred Bailey, and Billie Holiday.

In 1937, Berigan assembled a band to record and tour under his name, picking the then-little known Ira Gershwin–Vernon Duke composition "I Can't Get Started" as his theme song.

Among the players who worked in the Berigan band were: drummers Buddy Rich, Dave Tough, George Wettling, Johnny Blowers and Jack Sperling; alto saxophonists and clarinetists Gus Bivona, Joe Dixon and Andy Fitzgerald; vocalists Danny Richards, Ruth Bradley and Kathleen Lane; pianist Joe Bushkin; trombonist and arranger Ray Conniff; trombonist Sonny Lee; bassists Hank Wayland and Morty Stulmaker; trumpeters Carl Warwick, Steve Lipkins and Les Elgart; tenor saxophonists Georgie Auld and Don Lodice; and pianist and arranger Joe Lipman.

In the late 1930s, Berigan's drinking and consequent health problems may have contributed to his band's chronic financial and booking difficulties.

[6][7] Berigan's business troubles drove him to declare bankruptcy in 1939, and shortly after to join Tommy Dorsey as a featured jazz soloist.

Berigan led moderately successful big bands from the fall of 1940 into early 1942, and was on the comeback trail when his health declined alarmingly.