Ketty Lester - Love Letters (Shindig 1964)

[cards1985]

Love it

[lillyvalley65]

Quando Ketty Lester gravou esse programa, cantando a bela canção Love Letters, em 4 de novembro de 1964, minha mãe me tinha em seu ventre, com 2 meses.

[sauquoit13456]

On this date in 1962 {Feb. 24th} "Love Letters" entered Billboard's Top 100 chart; evenually it peaked at #5 and spent 14 weeks in the Top 100...

Ranked 34th on Billboard's Year-End Hot 100 Singles of 1962 chart...

Nominated for an Academy Award for "Best Original Song"; lost to "It Might As Well Be Spring"

Reached #2 on Billboard's R&B chart & #4 on the U.K. Singles chart...

Charted versions; Dick Haynes {#11 in 1945}, Alison Moyet {#4 in U.K.}, and Elvis Presley {#19 in 1966 & #4 in U.K.}

[yvie7777]

WOW! i've always loved this song! I was only 5 when my father died and out of all the things that were given to me, its his collection of 45's that mean the most to me. My dad had written my mom's name all over this 45 record. My mom didn't even know that my dad did this, The records were given to me by my grandmother after his passing. My parents met in Jr. high and were inseperable until his tragic death, he was only 25yrs old. Thnks 4 posting it. Its nice to put a face to the voice.

[nickpeacebwu]

eerie similar to whitney houston

[thejimmyzshow]

I've never seen this before - one of my favorite songs of all time, and this performance leaves me literally breathless.

[skeyewatcher912]

B e a u t i f u l !

[nedeljko18]

With this song Ketty Lester become a legend for seasons and generations !!!

[melindahefner]

i watched this video 5 times & i defy anyone to tell me when she breathes. i didn't see her inhale once.. WHAT A TALENT!!.

[damanfrom808]

one of the GREATEST love songs ever, only because it's Ketty Lester doing it.

[vbplayer50]

And Elton John and Bonnie Raitt as a duet covered this song. Brilliant. Not Ketty but totally got the essence of the song. Look for it.

[Meschell113]

She looks like she could be sisters with Diana Ross! Very pretty woman though.

[professordumbledorf]

I nearly got killed trying to find out who this singer was. I heard Love Letters for the first time on an oldies station while I was at lunch and I had to get to the phone before that song went off the air to find out what it was. After two near collisions I made it back to work and called the station. They were really nice and played it again.

[kangfesher]

@professordumbledorf darn...you could have just asked me.

[direfranchement]

Ah, but she is gorgeous!

[slifer499]

Great,my favorite

[CHANNEL5OH]

Still my favourite tune of that era or any other. Ketty, you were the best. Thanks

[scottishthunder47]

She's stunningly beautiful. This song leaves me speechless.

[edmilan1]

She is so beautiful and has a wondeful voice.

[AroundLondonTown]

her body is so beautiful

[bezemkast]

think it's all done live. different piano part played. . . the organ instead of strings . . . and a more jazzy feel in the singing . . . great !

[AlabasterDog]

Just cruised in- I'm watching BLUE VELVET- I just had to see who sings this. She is absolutely LOVELY- and of course so haunting- which is why David Lynch would have used it.

Breath taking! Thank you Ms. Ketty for such a perfect dream of a song!

[officeclown]

God, I love that song, that rendition, that Ketty Lester.......straight from my heart...

[ciganyi]

Was Leon Russell playing piano on this song?

[Claudius131]

@ciganyi Quite possible. He played piano in the Shindig house band for a while.

[sunnysimms]

Give it up "Idol" never happen. Breathtaking.

[numbers2323]

the perfect song, perfect delivery, haunting and thrilling at the same time- and a beautiful woman to sing this song....lovely.

[isobellaj]

Love this beautiful song :)) xx

[williamg2552]

KETTY LESTER later played Hester Sue on LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE

[nilsandlexi]

The spare, elegant piano is so perfect with her effortless delivery. Simply beautiful. And so is she, wow!

[eastbaysf]

Effortless! No need for all that screaming! Thanks for the post!

[papuritan]

so sweet >_<

I'd love to be in the age when lovers write love letters to each other...

[takaylaalicia]

IM KETTY LESTER'S GREAT NIECE! IM SO HAPPY TO BE RELATED TO A GREAT LEGEND!

-TAKAYLA FRIERSON

[STORMYB]

@takaylaalicia TELL HER WE LOVE HER AND SHOW HER THIS YOUTUBE STUFF IF U EVER GET A CHANCE.



[takaylaalicia]

@STORMYB SHES 77 YRS OLD NOW LOL!!

[vivandav67]

OMG it's Hester Sue from Little House on The Prairie!!!!! I didn't know this existed...it's fantabulous....and how beautiful was she back then....

[MENELIK2000]

GRANDE GRANDE GRANDE!!!

[jimmy1231890]

fantastic

[lovethatswivo]

I believe this is totally live. I would bet that's our favorite Okie Leon Russell on piano. He was in th Shindig house band. See him here on youtube doing Roll over Beethoven on Shindig.  I would never have believed he was ever that young :) Many of the singers coming on the show performed with the Shindogs backing them up. I just listened to the studio version: here we have organ where the strings are on the original. I love the original and I love this too. Stand and deliver.

[bobo4890]

my grandmother luv this

[ALFAGOMMA]

What a great song and singer. Perfect!

[aud2369]

wonderful love song from the heart

[aud2369]

A PERFECT LOVE SONG FOR PEOPLE IN LOVE. JUST BEAUTIFUL.

[damanfrom808]

awesome!!! cuizing front st. lahaina, in the 60s, with this song playing on the radio, and my sweetheart and i. good memories. Ketty Lester is awesome, person and voice. great post

[1SECRETBILLY]

Poise!!



[TheCollierylad]

Beautiful song, but what a gorgeous woman

[pixiemark7]

Hey, this song was a hit in the Summer of '62 as I recall, along with a few other classics like Ray Charles "I Can't Stop Loving You" and "Nutrocker" by B Bumble and the Stingers ( great stuff)! This song is so haunting and this version is by far the best. Elvis recorded it but Ketty's is the one!  I'd never seen her before so it's a thrill after all these years of loving her voice to realize how beautiful she was.. anyone know what happened to her? Thanks for posting this here, Px :))

[jaddajn1]

love you oona

[desert3347]

ooooohhhhhhhh Ketty!

[tfwsoll]

Thesedays you couldn't get away with anything this sparse. At some point she'd have to show off her 20 octave range as the backing reaches an orgasmic crescendo. People seem to equate belting out a song with talent, whereas it is far harder to hold a tune in this register without 500 backing singers, a 200 decibel backing track and autotune to hide behind!

[masterhitsi84]

fabulosa

[odovicor]

I first heard this song in David Lynch's wonderful film "Blue Velvet" and fell in love with Lester. Haunting song. And, hes, she's singing live.

[MENELIK2000]

DIVINA, un'emozione continua, sono nata nell'epoca sbagliata........

[jor99912]

You're right, She's not Pantomiming . But singing Live with the original, recorded music! Incredible! Real Singers in Dem Days!

[mantusmania]

Ethereal beauty...

[bon1042]

beautiful woman, cheekbones, great figure....

[takaylaalicia]

@bon1042 Shes my great aunt :)

[temilola1]

Nice piano-----Kitty was looking pretty serious----Yes, there is a resemblance to Jody Watley-----

[MotownMaster]

am i  the only one who see's a resemblance between her and Jody Watley? both are beautiful women

[alanvking]

Must be getting sentimental or semi mental..brought a tear to my eye !

Thanks..I think !

[unclebillmusic]

YES, Ketty is singing live. And what a SUPERB performance !!! Especially at the end as she open her arms !!!

[PaulDePace]

There are two videos of this appearance. One of them is distracting, because the audio does not match the video. This one is matched. In listening carefully to both videos, they do sound a bit different. Not just the quality of the audio, but Ketty's voice. I believe that she was singing live on this video, this show...Shindig 11/64. And on the other video, it is over-dubbed with the original sound track...so it does not quite match her live timing in this video. Love this one!!

[tomyazvids]

@PaulDePace. i re tracked the other version to the original song and somebody re uploaded it on their channel. This is the original audio from the kinescope

[CulturalMyths]

nice clear version..thanks :)

[1SECRETBILLY]

You did us all a service by posting this quality artist.Thanks