Roberta Sherwood Tribute

Here is a famous poetic song performed by the great Roberta Sherwood.
A middle-aged mother and housewife, Roberta Sherwood rose from obscurity to become one of the all-time great nightclub success stories, capturing the hearts of audiences everywhere with her strong, sweet voice, her simple, sincere approach to ballads, and her trademarks - banging a cymbal, tapping her foot, wearing glasses and draping a sweater over her shoulders. Born in 1913 into a carnival family, Miss Sherwood began her 50-year career at age 11. The elder daughter of old-time minstrel showman, Robert Sherwood, she and her sister Anne started their own vaudeville and nightclub act, appearing in 1932 in a Miami revue, directed by Don Lanning. She quit show business to marry him in 1938 and struggled to continue to perform while raising a family - singing in lounge bars, at a Kiwanis Club party, a firemen's ball or with a local dance band. Miss Sherwood sang her way through the 1940's and 50's. It was not until 1956, with her husband dying of lung cancer and a family to feed, that Miss Sherwood's career took off. Initially passed over as too old to perform, she sang only at local events until she was hired by a Miami Beach club owner. The club was called Murray Franklin's, there she sang love songs, torch songs, sittin'on the porch songs - "You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You", "Cry Me A River", "Take Your Shoes Off Baby" and "Start Runnin' Through My Mind" - and so many other greats. Soon, people packed the bar to hear the woman with the glasses who banged on a battered cymbal while she sang. The television comedian Red Buttons saw her perform and brought in Walter Winchell, who raved about her in his column and on radio broadcasts. The Copacabana landlord, J. Podell, booked her "blind" at $5,000 per week. She jammed his Copa every night. Top spots around the nation booked her for as high as $10,000 a week. She was signed by Decca Records. Her records and albums made her wealthier. She made the rounds at the major clubs in Las Vegas and opened in Hollywood to an enthusiastic reception. Over the years, she appeared with such stars as Mickey Rooney, Don Rickles and Milton Berle. Her style was described by Time magazine as "flashy, richly sentimental, as unsubtle as her crashing cymbal and as unpretentious as her $49.50 dress". She was modest about her art. "I just sing loud", she said in an interview in 1956, "and I've got a good ear. I pick up tunes easily. I must know a couple thousand songs, all kinds. All I do is step out there and belt out a mess of songs, no special material, no gimmicks. I just sing and shuffle around. Actually, my act is a bigger strain on my shoe leather than my voice." She became a favorite in the early days of television, making frequent guest appearances with Ed Sullivan, Steve Allen, Jackie Gleason and Garry Moore, and also appearing on "Person to Person" with Edward R. Murrow.
Enjoy Roberta Sherwood's generous style!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Roberta
• Sherwood

[portraitartistdamour]

@patclara2 That is the genius of a real talent. No multi track recording. No sound sampling. No digital filtration. Just her, a microphone and a couple of superb musicians. Magic. That was music, and she was a grand lady.

[portraitartistdamour]

I have been listening to Roberta Sherwood since I was a youngster, some fifty years ago. My dad was a collector of stereo LP's and had diverse, superb taste in music. So while friends were listening to the Beatles and other groups of our generation, I became fond of classic vocal music, gospel, opera, classical, folk, and all sorts of great music. Roberta Sherwood was a great voice in the fifties, and I never tire of listening to her. One of her sons was nice enough to write me.

[ThomasDeLello]

She was a Miami residant who took on night club work to suppoet her disabled husband and had found sucess in it much to her own suprise.

[vivandav67]

shut. up! just ran across her tonight on here.....WOW!!!! add to my list of songs to find......i had never heard of her....i'm 43 and I have always liked music of another era, but this is crazy good...oh well, now I know who she is...thanx!!!

[fabiovb3]

Fantastic, I don't know if she was in Vegas. But if she were alive today and in Vegas I'd go out of my way to see her act!

[carito1938]

I loved her rendition of Faith Unlocks The Door

Brings back memories of my teens.

[STU676]

Underrated

[DonDurkee]

What a wonderful voice. I have always appreciated her talent. Don

[htuomnom]

Talk about bringing back the good old days

[MEB19121969]

Unique...inimitable...GIFTED. Billed as a torch singer, "with tears in her eyes and in her voice," she was truly one of the greatest night club entertainers of the era.