Keely Smith

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Keely Smith (* 9. March 1928 as Dorothy Jacqueline ( "Dot") Keely in Norfolk , Virginia ; † 16th December 2017 ) was an American jazz - and pop singer. She achieved her greatest popularity in the 1950s and 1960s, largely through her collaborations with Louis Prima and Frank Sinatra .

biography

Keely Smith's career as a singer began when she was 14 when she sang in the band of Naval Aviators in her hometown. At 15, she got her first paid job in the Earl Bennett Band.

Smith first stepped in front of the microphone with Louis Prima in 1949. They then recorded many songs together and also went on stage together. The two married in 1953. That Old Black Magic (written by Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen ) became a top 20 hit in the United States in 1958; the couple was recognized for their recording of the song at the first Grammy Awards in 1959 in the category of "Best Performance by a Vocal Group". Smaller hits with I've Got You Under My Skin and Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen , a cover of the 1937 Andrews Sisters hit , followed.

The couple's show (in which saxophone player Sam Butera was the musical director) was one of the main attractions of the Las Vegas lounge scene in the 1950s; They performed five times a week in the Casbar Lounge of the Sahara Casino . The sophisticated musical arrangement and humorous show not only attracted players and tourists - the viewers regularly included the biggest stars of the time such as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin , Sammy Davis Jr. , Spencer Tracy , Gary Cooper , Natalie Wood , Robert Wagner , Howard Hughes and the young Senator John F. Kennedy (who also sang when he was inaugurated as President Keely). The shows were partially recorded and published on long-playing records, which regularly reached high positions in the charts. In addition to working with Prima, Keely also released the solo single I Wish You Love , which earned her a Grammy nomination and sold more than a million copies in the United States.

In 1958 Keely celebrated her film debut at the side of Robert Mitchum in Thunder Road (German title: Kilometer stone 375 or The Last Drive to Memphis ); a year later she appeared in the movie Hey Boy! Hey girl! at her husband's side. In 1961, Keely divorced Prima because of his affairs and violence. A little later, she turned down a marriage proposal from Frank Sinatra because he cursed her too much - that would have been no contact for her two young daughters, she said in an interview in 2001. She signed a contract with Reprise Records , where she is under the direction of Nelson Riddle made more records. In 1965 she made it to the UK in the charts with an album of Beatles - cover versions ( The Lennon-McCartney songbook , Highest rank 12). She married again and withdrew from the music business.

Her best-known fans are actor Robert De Niro and director Martin Scorsese , who have used Keely's music in many films, such as Going Through Hell , Casino and His Name is Mad Dog . You could also hear them in the movie hits Reine Nervensache , Big Night, among others . In 1985 she made a comeback with I'm in Love Again ; she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame . Her albums Keely Sings Sinatra (2001), for which she received another Grammy nomination, as well as Swing, Swing, Swing (2002) and Keely Swings Basie Style with Strings (2002), have received favorable reviews from both critics and fans. In 2005, Smith released Vegas '58 - Today , a compilation of live recordings of their best known songs. It was produced by her long-time husband Bobby Milano in recent years .

Until a few years before her death, she repeatedly gave concerts in the USA; In April 2007 she was on stage for the entire month in New York's Café Carlyle. In late 2007 she was featured in John Landis ' documentary Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project, about the career of actor and comedian Don Rickles . At the 50th Grammy Awards on February 10, 2008, Keely Smith performed the song That Old Black Magic with Kid Rock , for which she and Louis Prima had been awarded the music prize at the first Grammy Awards in 1959.

Discography

  • I Wish You Love (Capitol, 1957)
  • Swingin 'Pretty (Capitol, 1959)
  • Cheerokeely Swings (Jasmine, 1962)
  • Swing, Swing, Swing (Concord, 2000)
  • Keely Sings Sinatra (Concord, 2001)
  • Keely Swings Basie Style ... with strings (Concord, 2002)

swell

  1. ^ Clavin, Tom: That Old Black Magic: Louis Prima, Keely Smith, and the Golden Age of Las Vegas . Chicago Review Press, 2010, ISBN 978-1569768136 , p. 55: "She was born to Howard Keely ... and Fanny Stevens on March 9, 1928. (Throughout most of her career, however, her birth year was given as 1932 .) "
  2. ↑ The year of birth 1932 can be found in Donald Clarke (ed.): The Penguin Encyclopedia of Popular Music , London 1989, p. 1086
  3. ↑ Iconic vocalist Keely Smith dies from apparent heart failure at 89. The Mercury News, December 17, 2017, accessed December 17, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original dated December 8, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.theatermania.com
  5. ↑ David Roberts (Ed.): Guinness World Records - British Hit Singles and Albums , 19th ed., 2006, ISBN 1904994105

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Smith, Keely
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Keely, Dorothy Jacqueline (real name); Dot Keely
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz and pop singer
DATE OF BIRTH March 9, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Norfolk
DATE OF DEATH December 16, 2017