Kitty White

Kitty White (actually Kitty Jean Bilbrew , born July 7, 1923 in Los Angeles , California , † August 11, 2009 in Palm Springs , California) was an American jazz singer who became known to a wider audience primarily through her film appearances.

Live and act

White grew up in a musical family; her parents were singers and her uncle performed in vaudeville . She began her career at the age of three when she performed in vaudeville with her twin sister Maudie. At the age of 16, she performed as a singer and pianist in local Los Angeles nightclubs. White made his first recordings for Capitol in the late 1940s with the Dave Cavanaugh Orchestra (including Harry Parr Jones , Benny Carter , Maxwell Davis ) and in the early 1950s with Jerry Gray . In 1951 she recorded for Decca under her own name, accompanied by the Sonny Burke Orchestra ( Paradise ). 1954 the album A Moment of Love ( Pacific Jazz Records with Bud Shank and Corky Hale ) followed by a number of singles and the album A New Voice in Jazz (with Georgie Auld , Gerald Wiggins , Barney Kessel , Red Callender , Chico Hamilton ) for Mercury and EmArcy Records . 1957 followed the album Newborn , on which Buddy Collette , Laurindo Almeida and Red Mitchell participated, the following year Sweet Talk with the Benny Carter All Stars (inter alia with Sweets Edison , Larry Bunker , Jimmy Rowles ). The last recordings were made in Paris in 1965 with arrangements by Art Simmons and an accompanying band made up of musicians such as Sonny Gray , Johnny Griffin , Hal Singer , Jean-Louis Chautemps , Dexter Gordon , Pierre Cullaz , Jimmy Woode , Michel Gaudry , Kenny Clarke . In the field of jazz she was involved in 22 recording sessions between 1949 and 1965.

Kitty White also worked in several Hollywood films from 1953, for Sally Jane Bruce she lent the voice in "The Lullaby Song" in Charles Laughton's thriller The Night of the Hunter (1955). She sang "Crawfish" with Elvis Presley in My Life Is Rhythm ( King Creole , 1958).