Jo Stafford Tribute

Here is a most famous song performed by legendary jazz singer Jo Stafford who passed away recently.
Jo Stafford (1917 -- 2008) had a career that spanned the late 1930's through the early 1960's. Stafford is greatly admired for the purity of her voice and was considered one of the most versatile vocalists of the era. She was also viewed as a pioneer of modern musical parody, having won a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album in 1961 (with husband Paul Weston) for their album "Jonathan and Darlene Edwards in Paris". Originally, she wanted to become an opera singer and studied voice as a child. However, because of the economic Great Depression, she abandoned that idea and joined her sisters Christine and Pauline in a popular vocal group, "The Stafford Sisters", which performed on Los Angeles radio station KHJ. When her sisters married, the group broke up and Stafford joined a new vocal group, "The Pied Pipers". The group became very popular, working on local radio and movie soundtracks, and caught the attention of two of Tommy Dorsey's arrangers, Axel Stordahl and Paul Weston. The group backed Frank Sinatra in some of his early recordings. In 1942, the group had an argument with Dorsey and left, but in 1943 it became one of the first groups signed to Johnny Mercer's new label, Capitol Records. Capitol's music director was the same Paul Weston who had been instrumental in introducing Stafford to Dorsey. Weston and Stafford married in 1952. In 1944, Stafford left the Pied Pipers to go solo. Her tenure with the USO, in which she gave countless performances for soldiers stationed overseas, acquired her the nickname "GI Jo". In 1948 Stafford and Gordon MacRae had a million-seller with their version of "Say Something Sweet to Your Sweetheart" and in 1949 repeated their success with "My Happiness". In 1950, she left Capitol for Columbia Records, then returning to Capitol in 1961. At Columbia, she was the first recording artist to sell twenty-five million records. During her second stint at Capitol, Stafford also recorded for Frank Sinatra's Reprise label. In the 1950's, she had a string of popular hits with Frankie Laine, six of which charted. It was also at this time that Stafford scored her best known hits with huge records like "Jambalaya", "Shrimp Boats", "Make Love to Me" and "You Belong to Me". The last song was Stafford's all-time biggest hit, topping the charts in both the United States and the United Kingdom (the first song by a female singer to top the UK chart). In 1966, Stafford went into semi-retirement, retiring completely from the music business in 1975. Stafford wouldn't perform again until 1990, at a ceremony honoring Frank Sinatra.
Enjoy Jo Stafford's elegance and unique style!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Jo
• Stafford

[MissMarilyn1962]

Such a wonderful song... thank you 'for posting' this to me... I love Jo Stafford..

Thumb High /* for uploading ! :-)

With Love,

Marilyn

[johnxxx20000]

@MissMarilyn1962

Thank you very much! I'm so glad you liked it as I did!

[eguirald]

Jo Stafford was one of my favourite female singers. The purity of her voice, her splendid repertoire and the greatness of her whole artistry can hardly be matched. It's so sad she's gone.

[azbced123]

I remember her on the Chesterfield Supper Club radio show with Perry Como. It would play at 7pm for fiftheen minutes. I was around 10 years old,listening to it with my grandfather,then at 7;30 it was the LoneRanger,great memories.

[bluegibby7]

One of the icons of the fifties

[timfuneral2031]

the sincerest form of flattery is claiming to be an expert ex as in has been and spret as in shot

[ChicagoPenguin63]

Beautiful, lovely lady and singer. When I worked at WJJD and WAIT in Chicago I programmed her tunes numerous times. Yet I was only 19-22 years old at the time (1982-1985). I love this music and it's a shame that the stations playing the Adult Standards tunes are fading fast due to the audience dying away. However, some stations are really missing the "shrimp boat" by not programming these tunes.

[themostrandomchick24]

@omegapoint0 -Whatever.....you're very petty. I'm not looking to fight with a spam bot (you), so I'm backing out.

[omegapoint0]

@themostrandomchick24

If you actually did know "quite a bit about music" as you profess, you would have known Jo PURPOSELY sang a bit of key for effect -- but since you did NOT post that FACT, you apparently don't know as much about music as you think you know; and that is a "true observation."

In the future, I suggest you do just a tad of research before you post again.

[themostrandomchick24]

@omegapoint0 -Gee, just let me know that you were offended by my comment. It was a true observation, that's all. No need for you to defend Jo as if I meant to insult her and her legacy.

[omegapoint0]

Jo Stafford had perfect pitch, and therefore she knew how to be a bit off to create the effect she wanted to create.

If a less talented singer, one who was not blessed with perfect pitch, purposely tried to be a bit off, the result would probably be dreadful.

[omegapoint0]

The legendary Jo Stafford, who was classically trained to be an opera singer, could nail every note in this song perfectly IF SHE WANTED.

Brother Ray Charles mentioned in his biography that Jo sang a bit off key in an album she did with Paul Weston.

And in the inimitable words of Brother Ray, "You can bet your ass she did it on purpose. You gotta be ON BEFORE you can be off. It was beautifu."

[themostrandomchick24]

Jo has a beautiful voice, but coming from someone who also sings and knows quite a bit about music, she's a little bit flat in some spots.