Jo Stafford

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Jo Stafford, circa July 1946.
Photograph by William P. Gottlieb

Jo Elizabeth Stafford (* 12 November 1917 in Coalinga , California , † 16 July 2008 in Century City , Los Angeles ) was an American with the Grammy excellent Pop - and Jazz singer. Between 1944 and 1959 she got over 80 hits in the US singles charts. Including the two number one hits You Belong to Me (1952) and Make Love to Me (1954).

The early years

Jo was born to Grover Cleveland Stafford and Anna York Stafford, a distant cousin of Sergeant Alvin York . Since she originally wanted to be an opera singer , she took classical singing lessons and also learned to play the piano. During the Great Depression in 1929, however, she abandoned these plans and joined her sisters Christine and Pauline immediately after graduating from school. Together they were successful as a vocal group, had radio appearances and sang background music in films. Her first radio show was "Californian Melodies," directed by Davis Boekman; then the sisters had a fifteen-minute show on WHJ, where Jo Stafford was also the pianist. The Staffords were also involved in the music for the films "Damsel in Distress" and "Alexander's Ragtime Band" ; While working on this film, she met Chuck Lowry , John Huddleston and the guitarist Clark Yocum , with whom she later formed the vocal ensemble The Pied Pipers .

The Pied Pipers

After their sisters married, the group broke up and Jo joined a new band, the Pied Pipers . The group quickly became popular ( Let's Get Away from It All ) and worked on local radio stations and on feature film soundtracks . It was here that Axel Stordahl and Paul Weston , two Tommy Dorsey producers, became aware of the band. In 1938 Weston persuaded Dorsey to sign The Pied Pipers for his New York radio show . Dorsey gave them a ten week contract. However, after the second program was broadcast, the radio station's sponsor expressed his displeasure with the band and they were fired. After that, they worked with Frank Sinatra .

Solo career

After Jo Stafford left the Pied Pipers , she worked with Johnny Mercer , who co-founded the record label Capitol Records in 1942 . Mercer took her on as a soloist. She continued her successful career in the 1950s; Her greatest hits were Embraceable You , It Could Happen to You , The Night We Called it a Day, Long Ago and Far Away, No Other Love , but she was most successful with the title You Belong to Me .

Comedian

She worked with her husband Paul Weston as a comedy act in the 1960s . For the album "Jonathan and Darlene Edwards in Paris" she received the 1961 Grammy for the best album of the genre. But from 1966 Stafford increasingly withdrew from the music business to take care of her family. Jo Stafford has a "short appearance" (recorded from old recordings) on Charlie Haden's 1990 album "Haunted Heart".

Discography

As a soloist

  • "Day By Day"
  • "Early Autumn"
  • "Feudin 'and Fightin'"
  • "Goodnight Irene" (better known version by The Weavers )
  • "Here I'll Stay"
  • "Ich liebe dich"
  • "Indiscretion"
  • "It Could Happen To You"
  • "It's Almost Tomorrow" (better known version by The Dream Weavers )
  • "Ivy"
  • " Jambalaya "
  • "Just One Way To Say I Love You"
  • "The Last Mile Home"
  • "Let's Take the Long Way Home"
  • " Long Ago (and Far Away) "
  • "Make Love to Me!"
  • "No Other Love"
  • "On London Bridge"
  • "Out Of This World"
  • " Ragtime Cowboy Joe "
  • "Reflections - The Ultimate Collection"
  • "Scarlet Ribbons"
  • "Serenade Of the Bells"
  • "Some Enchanted Evening"
  • "Suddenly There's a Valley"
  • "Symphony"
  • "Teach Me Tonight"
  • "Thank You for Calling"
  • "That's For Me"
  • "There's No You"
  • "The Things We Did Last Summer"
  • "You Belong to Me"
  • " White Christmas "

in a duet with Gordon MacRae

  • "" A "You're Adorable"
  • "My Darling, My Darling"
  • "Say Something Sweet To Your Sweetheart"
  • "Whispering Hope"

in a duet with Johnny Mercer

  • Candy

in a duet with Red Ingle

  • Timtayshun

in a duet with Frankie Laine

  • Christmas roses

literature

Web links

Commons : Jo Stafford  - Collection of Images

Remarks

  1. ↑ LA Times : “Jo Stafford, 90; singer, recording artist entertained GIs during World War II ” , July 18, 2008 (English)
  2. ↑ Jo Stafford Songs ••• Top Songs / Chart Singles Discography ••• Music VF, US & UK hits charts. Retrieved February 27, 2020 .
  3. ↑ She reports about her early years: Both of my sisters appeared on the radio when I was still in school. They then worked in Hollywood when I graduated. I finished Friday afternoon, and on Monday I went to see them and started singing with them. J. Stafford in conversation with Michael Feinstein, quoted in after Bloom, p. 114
  4. ↑ In this film they sang the song Nice Work If You Can Get It on behalf of the actors .
personal data
SURNAME Stafford, Jo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Stafford, Jo Elizabeth (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American pop and jazz singer
DATE OF BIRTH November 12, 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH Coalinga
DATE OF DEATH July 16, 2008
Place of death los Angeles