Jo Stafford
One of the most technically gifted and popular vocalists of the immediate postwar period, Jo Stafford effortlessly walked the line between breezy pop and the more serious art of post-big-band jazz singing. With the help of her husband, top-flight arranger and Capitol A&R director Paul Weston, Stafford recorded throughout the '40s and '50s for Capitol and Columbia. She also contributed (with Weston) to one of the best pop novelty acts of the period, a humorously inept and off-key satire that saw the couple billed as Jonathan & Darlene Edwards.
Born near Fresno, California, Stafford sang from an early age and was classically trained, though she later joined her sisters in a country-tinged act (associated for a time with Joe "Country" Washburne). At the age of just 17, she became the first female voice in the seven-man vocal act known as the Pied Pipers. Soon after the group joined the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra in 1939, however, it was pruned to a quartet (which also included Stafford's first husband, co-founder John Huddleston). The group appeared on several of the Dorsey band's hits of the early '40s, a few of which paired them with Frank Sinatra. Stafford gained her first solo spots on a pair of Dorsey band hits, "Yes, Indeed!" and "Manhattan Serenade." She finally left the Pied Pipers for a solo contract in 1944 (she was replaced by June Hutton), though the group provided backup for many of her initial solo hits.
Not only signed to Capitol but able to preview hit songs as the co-host of label founder Johnny Mercer's radio program, Stafford hit the charts with the mid-'40s songs "Long Ago (And Far Away)," "I Love You," and "Candy." The latter, a duet with Mercer and the Pied Pipers, became her first number one. In 1948, her duet with Gordon MacRae on "My Darling, My Darling" became her second. She later moved to Columbia and recorded the two biggest hits of her career, 1952's "You Belong to Me" and 1954's "Make Love to Me." Stafford gained her own television program during the mid-'50s, and also recorded the first LP by Jonathan & Darlene Edwards, American Popular Songs. (It wasn't the first time Stafford had used a pseudonym, however; in 1947, she billed herself as Cinderella G. Stump to record a cover of the cornpone single "Temptation [Tim-Tay-Shun].") Though she slipped from the charts in the late '50s and retired from live performance, Stafford continued to record for many years and issued the LP Getting Sentimental Over Tommy Dorsey on Reprise in 1963. She also founded Corinthian Records with Weston to reissue the couple's various recordings.
© John Bush /TiVo
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Ballad of the Blues / Jo + Jazz
Jazz - Erschienen bei Stage Door am 09.09.2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
G.I. Jo Sings The Hits
Pop - Erschienen bei H&H Music Ltd am 10.01.2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lets Have A Drink
Pop - Erschienen bei obligat music am 13.11.2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Fools Rush InGreat Vocalists of Jazz & Entertainment - Digitally Remastered
Jazz - Erschienen bei History am 01.01.1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Far Away Places
Pop - Erschienen bei Shami Media Group 3 am 25.01.2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Shrimp Boats
Country - Erschienen bei Essence of Perfection am 15.07.2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Long Ago and Far Away
Pop - Erschienen bei JSP Records am 21.10.2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Handsome Stranger
Pop - Erschienen bei JSP Records am 21.10.2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Jo Stafford Collection
Jazzgesang - Erschienen bei Cayo Records am 26.11.2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Autumn in New York
Jazzgesang - Erschienen bei Cayo Records am 03.09.2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Night Before Christmas
Lounge - Erschienen bei Delta Christmas am 04.11.2021
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Jambalaya / You Belong to Me (feat. Paul Weston and His Orchestra) (Mono Version)
Pop - Erschienen bei BNF Collection am 01.01.1953
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Long Ago (And Far Away) (Billboard Hot 100 - No. 06)
Folk - Erschienen bei Music Manager am 19.12.2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
It Could Happen to You (Billboard Hot 100 - No. 10)
Pop - Erschienen bei Music Manager am 19.12.2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Shrimp Boats (Billboard Hot 100 - No. 02)
Vokalmusik (weltlich und geistlich) - Erschienen bei Music Manager am 19.12.2018
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If (Billboard Hot 100 - No. 08)
Folk - Erschienen bei Music Manager am 19.12.2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday (I Love You)
Pop - Erschienen bei CAPITOL CATALOG MKT (C92) am 05.02.2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Make Love To Me! (Billboard Hot 100 - No. 01)
Vokalmusik (weltlich und geistlich) - Erschienen bei Music Manager am 19.12.2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Thank You for Calling (Billboard Hot 100 - No 12)
Internationaler Pop - Erschienen bei Music Manager am 13.11.2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo