Damita Jo
Damita Jo , full name Damita Jo DuBlanc (born August 5, 1930 in Austin , Texas , † December 25, 1998 in Baltimore , Maryland ), was an American singer who was mainly involved in rhythm-and-music in the 1950s and 1960s . Blues music was successful.
Life
Damita Jo grew up in Santa Barbara, California, and in 1949, through the mediation of disc jockey Joe Adams from Los Angeles , got a two-month engagement as a singer at the local Oasis club. Adams brokered her first record deal with the Discovery Records record company, which resulted in two single releases in 1950 . In 1951 Damita Jo joined the rhythm and blues group Red Caps, whose director Steve Gibson she married a little later. With the Red Caps she recorded more than 20 records with various record companies by 1960. Damita Jo also got a solo record deal with RCA Victor through Red Caps , where she had produced about seven singles by 1955. Apart from a 20th place for the Red Caps title I Went to Your Wedding , the RCA recordings were unsuccessful. After an equally unsuccessful two-year interlude at ABC-Paramount , Damita Jo joined the record label Mercury Records in 1959 . There she celebrated her first solo success a year later with the answer song to the title of Drifters Save the Last Dance for Me , which her name was I'll Save the Last Dance for You and number 16 on Billboard in the Rhythm-and-Blues- Charts and reached 22nd place on the Hot 100 . Her 1961 title I'll Be There was even better noted, it came in 12th (Hot 100) and 15 (R&B). The following Mercury singles could no longer assert themselves on the record market, and so the record company terminated the contract with Damita Jo in 1963 after a total of 14 singles and four long-playing records.
After brief stints at the Melic and Vee-Jay labels , Damita Jo received a new contract with the New York company Epic Records in 1965 . Nine singles were produced there by 1967, of which Billboard recorded three titles in the Hot 200 and four in the Adult Contemporary charts. The most successful Epic recording was If You Go Away , which reached # 68 in the Top 200 and # 10 on the AC Charts. Damita Jo ended her recording career in 1971 with the Ranwood record company, founded in 1968, where recordings by the orchestras of Lawrence Welk and Ray Anthony have appeared. Damita Jo has released eight singles and two LPs on Ranwood.
In the 1970s, Damita Jo made a name for herself on the comedy scene with appearances in nightclubs and the Redd Foxx TV comedy show. In the late 1970s she settled in Baltimore and devoted herself to gospel music . She also made trips to the jazz scene , where she appeared at the Atlantic City Jazz Festivals in 1979 and 1980. In 1985 she released an album of religious music. At Christmas 1998 she died of complications from a respiratory disease at the age of 68.
Billboard Quotes
| title | year | Label | pop | R&B | AC |
| I'll save the last dance for you | 1960 | Mercury | 22nd | 16. | |
| Keep Your Hands Off of Him | 1961 | Mercury | 75. | ||
| I'll be there | 1961 | Mercury | 12. | 15th | |
| Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out | 1965 | Epic | 30th | ||
| Tomorrow Night | 1965 | Epic | 124. | ||
| Gotta Travel On | 1965 | Epic | 119. | ||
| If you go away | 1966 | Epic | 68. | 10. | |
| Yellow Days | 1967 | Epic | 34. | ||
| Walk away | 1967 | Epic | 28. |
US discography
Solo singles
| published | From page | Cat.No. |
| Discovery | ||
| 1950 | Believe Me / Here I Am | 521 |
| 1950 | Until the Real Thing Comes Along / Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere | 523 |
| RCA Victor | ||
| 1952 | I Don't Care / I'd Do It Again | 47-5022 |
| 1953 | Go Way From My Window / Let Me Share Your Name | 47-5120 |
| 1953 | Missing (One Heart) / (Oh Jenny) The Window Walk | 47-5253 |
| 1953 | Do Me a Favor / Don't You Care | 47-5328 |
| 1953 | Face to Face / Sadie Thompson's Song | 47-5570 |
| 1955 | In My Heart / Abracadabara | 47-6185 |
| 1955 | Always / Free Hearted | 47-6281 |
| ABC paramount | ||
| 1957 | How will I know? / I'll Never Cry | 9822 |
| Mercury | ||
| 1959 | The Dance Was Over / Look at Yourself | 71493 |
| 1960 | What Would You Do / Window Talk | 71568 |
| 1960 | Little Things Mean A Lot / I Burned Your Letter | 71608 |
| 1960 | I'll Save the Last Dance for You / Forgive | 71690 |
| 1961 | Keep Your Hands Off of Him / Hush, Somebody's Calling My Name | 71760 |
| 1961 | Sweet Georgia Brown / Do What You Want | 71793 |
| 1962 | I'll Be There / Love Laid It's Hands On Me | 71840 |
| 1962 | Dance With a Dolly / You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You | 71871 |
| 1962 | I Didn't Know I Was Crying / I Built My World Around a Dream | 71929 |
| 1962 | You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You / Joey | 71946 |
| 1962 | Another Dancing Partner / Please Send Me Someone to Love | 71984 |
| 1962 | The Window Up Above / Tennessee Waltz | 72019 |
| 1963 | Drama of Love / Hobo Flats | 72121 |
| 1963 | In the Dark / Melancholy Baby | 72162 |
| Melic | ||
| 1964 | It Kills Me / Molly Dear Malone | 4146 |
| 1964 | Please Don't Use My Name / It's to Late to Be Sorry | 4154 |
| Vee-Jay | ||
| 1965 | I'm Waiting for Ships That Never Come In / Hurt a Fool | 661 |
| Epic | ||
| 1965 | Silver Dollar / Tomorrow Night | 5-9766 |
| 1965 | Gotta Travel On / Something You Got | 5-9797 |
| 1965 | Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out / Whispering Grass | 5-9821 |
| 1965 | Sweet Pussycat / Who Could Ask for More | 5-9860 |
| 1966 | That Special Way / Tossin 'and Turnin' | 5-9887 |
| 1966 | If You Go Away / If You Go Away | 5-10061 |
| 1966 | If You Go Away / When The Fog Rolls in to San Francisco | 5-10061 |
| 1967 | No Guilty Feelings / Yellow Days | 5-10176 |
| 1967 | Walk Away / Dinner for One Please James | 5-10235 |
| Ranwood | ||
| 1968 | Loving You / Reason to Believe | 820 |
| 1968 | Grown Up Games / Lonely Letters | 826 |
| 1969 | Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show / I'll Save the Last Dance for You | 844 |
| 1969 | Lonely Teardrops / Ain't Misbehavin ' | 857 |
| 1970 | Paint Me Loving You / Tomorrow is the First Day | 869 |
| 1970 | Mrs. Robinson / Two Worlds | 884 |
| 1971 | Hallelujah Baby / Two Worlds | 894 |
Vinyl LPs
| published | title | Cat.No. |
| 1961 | I'll save the last dance for you | Mercury 60642 |
| 1962 | Damita Jo at the Diplomat | Mercury 60703 |
| 1962 | Sing a country song | Mercury 60734 |
| 1963 | This One's for Me | Mercury 60818 |
| 1965 | Damita Jo Sings | Vee-jay 1137 |
| 1965 | This Is Damita Jo | Epic 24131 |
| 1965 | If you go away | Epic 26244 |
| 1968 | Miss Damita Jo | Ranwood 8037 |
| 1969 | I'll save the last dance for you | Ranwood 8057 |
| 1968 | The Irresistible | Sunset 5198 |
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Damita Jo |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | DuBlanc, Damita Jo (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American singer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 5th August 1930 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Austin , Texas |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 25, 1998 |
| Place of death | Baltimore , Maryland |