Mona Baptiste

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cover of the single There's Something in the Air , 1954

Mona Baptiste (born June 21, 1928 in Trinidad ; † June 25, 1993 in Krefeld ) was a blues and pop singer who was also active as an actress. She sang the hits There's Something in the Air and O Jackie-Joe .

Live and act

Baptiste sang in her home country as a child and left the Caribbean as an established blues singer with the MS Empire Windrush in May 1948 to continue her career in London . In 1949 she sang with Cab Kaye and his Cabinettes , then switched to Stéphane Grappelli's quintet . In Paris she performed with Yves Montand . After a guest performance in Belgium, she was committed to a number of gala appearances in Germany .

In 1953 the singer received her first recording contract from the Polydor in Germany, where she recorded titles such as Merci Beaucoup or Ich hab Such Angst with Werner Müller and the RIAS Dance Orchestra . At the same time, she was seen and heard in the music films Fräulein vom Amt (director: Carl-Heinz Schroth ), Tanz in der Sonne ( Géza von Cziffra ) and Every Finger Ten ( Erik Ode ). Together with Bully Buhlan , she sang the hit It is in the air (1954), which was a great success. Further titles with Buhlan (partly also with Paul Kuhn , Der Seeräuber-Johnny ) followed in the next few years. In Theo Lingen's film How do I become a movie star? , which came into cinemas in 1955, she played a bigger role, as did Buhlan. In 1956 she appeared in Franz Antel's music film Symphony in Gold .

She recorded other hits with the Bert Kaempfert and Kurt Edelhagen orchestras . She also recorded titles such as Rumbango or That Man at the Table Got Blues for the English market . In November 1956, she interpreted popular titles from her homeland for German television audiences in the show Karibische Romance . Their Calypso Blues with the Brute Force Steel Band was released in 1957. In 1958 she switched to Ariola and, accompanied by the Macky Kasper orchestra, recorded chanson d'amour , Mr Wonderful , see if the moon is still shining and other tracks. In 1959 she starred in the feature film Girls for the Mambo Bar ( Wolfgang Glück ), for which she also released a single with the theme melody. The GDR label Amiga brought out an EP in 1961; However, the collaboration ended with the construction of the wall. In the next few years she appeared repeatedly on television shows. She interrupted her career in the mid-1960s to attempt an international comeback in 1970 with titles like When Joey Comes Around . Allegedly she also appeared at jazz galas in the GDR .

Filmography (selection)

Discographic notes

  • There's Something in the Air (Bear Family BFX 15336)

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ Folkways . The title can also be found on London Is The Place For Me. Part Two: Calypso and Kwela , Highlife and Jazz from Young Black London
  2. ↑ artist profile on DDR-Tanzmusik.de. Retrieved July 15, 2015 .
  3. ↑ biography at steffi-line.de
personal data
SURNAME Baptiste, Mona
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Trinidadian pop singer and actress
DATE OF BIRTH June 21, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH in Trinidad
DATE OF DEATH June 25, 1993
Place of death Krefeld