Thelma Carpenter, the only child of Mary and Fred Carpenter, was born in Brooklyn, New York on January 15, 1922, and her career spanned seven decades.
Ketty Lester is a singer and actress best known for her chart-topping single “Love Letters,” as well as her appearance in the cult classic film Blacula (1972). Lester was a regular on the daytime drama Days of Our Lives and was especially known for her long-running role on the TV series Little House on the Prairie.
Mamie Van Doren; born Joan Lucille Olander; February 6, 1931is an American actress. A blonde bombshell, she is one of the "Three M's" along with Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield, who were friends and contemporaries. In 1953, Van Doren, then named Joan Lucille Olander, signed a seven-year contract with Universal, which hoped that she would be their version of Monroe. She starred in teen dramas, exploitation, musical, comedy and rock and roll films, amongst other genres, many of which have gone on to become cult classics. She was one of the leading sex symbols in the 1950s.
Swell Dames swing with Count Basie
Count Basie was among the most important bandleaders of the swing era. With the exception of a brief period in the early '50s, he led a big band from 1935 until his death almost 50 years later, and the band continued to perform after he died. Basie's orchestra was characterized by a light, swinging rhythm section that he led from the piano, lively ensemble work, and generous soloing. Basie was not a composer like Duke Ellington or an important soloist like Benny Goodman. His instrument was his band, which was considered the epitome of swing and became broadly influential on jazz.
Judy Garland at Carnegie Hall
Judy at Carnegie Hall is the second live album by the American actress and singer Judy Garland. It was released on July 10, 1961, by Capitol Records. The album is a live recording of a concert by Garland held at Carnegie Hall in New York City, with backing orchestra conducted by Mort Lindsey. It was recorded on the night of Sunday April 23, 1961 and re-released decades later as an extended, two-disc CD. Garland's live performances were a big success at the time and her record company wanted to capture that energy onto a recording. The double album became a smash, both critically and commercially. The album won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, making Garland the first woman to win the award, and spent thirteen weeks at #1 on the Billboard album chart.
Anita Ellis
Anita Kert was born in Montreal, Quebec, the eldest of four children born to Orthodox Jewish parents, Harry and Lillian "Libbie" Kert (née Pearson; originally Peretz). She had a younger sister and two younger brothers, one of whom, Larry Kert (1930–1991), became an actor and singer best known for originating the role of Tony in the Broadway musical West Side Story. The family moved to Hollywood when she was nine years old. She graduated from Hollywood High School in 1938, and attended the College of Music in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1941, she joined WLW in Cincinnati, Ohio, as a singer. Billed as Anita Kurt, she was a regular on The Ona Munson Show, The New Jack Carson Show, and the Tommy Riggs and Betty Lou Show.
Billed as Anita Ellis, she was also a regular on The Charlie McCarthy Show and The Red Skelton Show. Ellis dubbed the singing voices of such actresses as Rita Hayworth (notably in Gilda, 1946), Vera-Ellen and Jeanne Crain.
June Hutton (née June Marvel Cowan; August 11, 1919 Bloomington, Illinois – May 2, 1973 Encino, Los Angeles) was an American actress and vocalist, popular with big bands during the 1940s. She was the younger sister of vocalist Ina Ray Hutton.
Hutton's parents were Marvel Svea Williams and Odie Daniel Cowan. June and her older sister, Ina Ray Hutton, both grew up to be entertainers and performers during the Big Band era.
Growing up in Chicago, Hutton attended Hyde Park High School, as did her older sister, Ina. While attending high school, she worked in the dress department at Marshall Fields department store. After graduating, she quit her job and pursued her singing career.
Sallie Blair was a sultry jazz singer from the 1950's-60's. Blair got her start with Johnny Otis, who featured her in his band. She went on to sing with aggregations of Illinois Jacquet and Duke Ellington. Her solo career developed pursuant to her winning sequential prizes on "The Chance Of A Lifetime" TV program, which landed her a booking at the Vanity Fair club in Miami. Following engagements at a variety of nightclubs, Cab Calloway signed her for his "Cotton Club Revue" in 1956. Described by Miles Davis as the "brown Marilyn Monroe", Blair's barefoot dancing and whispered songs interspersed with screaming notes made for a dramatic stage presence. She left the revue in 1957 citing poor treatment of colored artists, and performed extensively in South American clubs. Her lack of chart success led to fading popularity and eventual withdrawal from the industry.
A constant visitor to the charts in the first half of the 1950s, Georgia Gibbs failed to leave as strong an imprint as many of her fellow stars, at least in part because of her versatility. She did ballads, straight pop, novelties, pop-jazz, cha-cha-chas - whatever the marketplace might take, she could adapt. In the mid-'50s she, like many other White pop singers, covered R&B hits for the pop audience. Today's she's most remembered for outselling Etta James (with a cover of "The Wallflower," renamed "Dance with Me Henry") and LaVern Baker (on "Tweedle Dee"), although this phase of her career was pretty brief. Gibbs began singing in Boston ballrooms as a teenager, and made her recording debut in 1938 under her given name, Freida Gibbons. She made some recordings in the early '40s with Artie Shaw's band, and by the early '50s had waxed some hits for the Coral label. She enjoyed her commercial prime, though, on Mercury, for whom she recorded hit after hit from 1951 to 1956. The tango-tinged "Kiss of Fire," which went all the way to number one in 1952, was the biggest and best of these.
Cleo Laine (born October 28, 1927, Southall, Middlesex, England—died July 24, 2025, Wavendon, Buckinghamshire, England) was a British singer and actress with a four-octave range who mastered a variety of styles but was best known as the “Queen of Jazz.”