Dolly Dawn

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Dolly Dawn (actually Theresa Maria Stabile , born February 3, 1916 in Newark (New Jersey) , † December 11, 2002 in Englewood (New Jersey) ) was an American singer of the swing era , the Champagne of Big-Band Singers was called and influenced Ella Fitzgerald .

Live and act

Dawn grew up in Montclair, New Jersey ; her father ran a restaurant. As a teenager, she appeared on a local radio show under the pseudonym Billie Starr and won first place in an amateur talent competition in Newark, directed by George Hall . A few years later she became a band vocalist under the pseudonym Dolly Dawn in his Taft Hotel Orchestra , whose performances in New York's Taft Hotel were broadcast on the CBS radio station. Dawn and Hall's best-known songs for RCA Bluebird included "It's a Sin to Tell a Lie", "Every Minute of the Hour", "Robins and Roses", "Says My Heart", "My Own" and "Little Yellow Basket" . In 1937 Dawn appeared with the Hall Orchestra in a musical short film in which she a. a. sang her hit "When a Lady Meets a Gentleman Down South".

In the late 1930s, Hall put the singer out with a smaller accompanying ensemble that operated under the Dolly Dawn and Her Dawn Patrol from 1940 to 1942 . In the following years she recorded titles such as "I Promise You" / "Beethoven Wrote It But It Swings" ( Vocalion 4682) under her own name and also under Dolly Dawn and her Dawn Patrol for Regal Records ("Peter Piper" / "When a Lady meets a Gentleman ", S4948) and Bluebird Records (" Marcheta "/" Are You Faithful? ", B-11268). One of their arrangers was George Paxton . In July 1941 she took over the direction of the Hall Orchestra with a guest performance in New York's Roseland Ballroom , but had to give up the orchestra the following year when most of the band members were drafted into military service. Dawn recorded records until the 1950s; she had her last hit with "The Same Old Cry", accompanied by the Danny Mendelsohn Orchestra. Their success waned in the early 1950s.

After Dawn became a member of ASCAP in 1962 , she worked as a songwriter , a. a. in collaboration with Johnny Guarnieri ; her best known song was "The Little Birdies". It wasn't until 1975 that RCA put on a double album of their original recordings with the George Hall Orchestra, while Dawn was performing in New York jazz clubs and cabarets during this time. In the 1980s she made appearances a. a. in the Metropolitan Museum of Art ; her accompanists included Phil Bodner , Bucky Pizzarelli , Gene Bertoncini , George Duvivier , Milt Hinton and Butch Miles . The recordings from this time appeared on the albums Smooth as Silk and Memories of You (Audiophile). The latter was recognized by Leonard Feather : " One of the pleasant surprises of the season is Dawn's reemergence as a first-rate, jazz-influenced singer ". In 1998 she was inducted into the Big Band Hall of Fame .

Discographic notes

  • You're a Sweetheart (Collector's Choice, 2001)
  • Smooth As Silk (Audiophile, 1999)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ According to the Internet Movie database, she is three years younger.
  2. ↑ a b c Obituary in Los Angeles Times
  3. ↑ a b Tom Lord The Jazz Discography (online, accessed November 12, 2014)
personal data
SURNAME Dawn, Dolly
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Stabile, Theresa Maria (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American singer of the swing era
DATE OF BIRTH February 3, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH Newark (New Jersey)
DATE OF DEATH December 11, 2002
Place of death Englewood, New Jersey