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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Dearie (Billboard Hot 100 - No. 10)
Pop - Released by Music Manager on 19 Dec 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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The Things We Did Last Summer (Billboard Hot 100 - No. 10)
Folk - Released by Music Manager on 19 Dec 2018
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Whispering Hope (Billboard Hot 100 - No. 04)
Folk - Released by Music Manager on 19 Dec 2018
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On London Bridge (Billboard Hot 100 - No. 38)
Folk - Released by Music Manager on 19 Dec 2018
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G.I. Jo
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by Music Manager on 14 Aug 2015
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The Greatest Hits Collection
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by Music Manager on 7 May 2015
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Jo Stafford Selected Favorites, Vol. 1 (Jo Stafford)
Pop - Released by Charly Records on 21 Mar 2011
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Jo Stafford Selected Hits Vol. 1
Pop - Released by Charly Records on 12 Jun 2006
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Jo Stafford Selected Hits Vol. 2
Pop - Released by Charly Records on 12 Jun 2006
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Jo Stafford's Why Can't You Behave
Pop - Released by Charly Records on 24 Jun 2006
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Jo Stafford Selected Hits Vol. 1
Pop - Released by Charly Records on 12 Jun 2006
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Jo Stafford Selected Hits Vol. 3
Pop - Released by Charly Records on 12 Jun 2006
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Jo Stafford / Paul Weston & His Orchestra Selected Hits
Jo Stafford, Paul Weston And His Orchestra
Pop - Released by Charly Records on 12 Jun 2006
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Jo Stafford Sings Songs of Scotland
World - Released by TP4 Music on 6 Jan 2021
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Beautiful Venice
Pop - Released by beautifulvenice rec. on 21 Feb 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dearie
Jo Stafford, Gordon MacRae & Jo Stafford, Jo Stafford & Gordon Macrae
Pop - Released by Golden Bridge Records on 14 Nov 2019
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Sweet Song of Love
Jo Stafford, Johnny Mercer, Gordon Macrae
Vocal Jazz - Released by Reminisce Music on 2 Sep 2021
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Twas the Night Before Christmas
Pop - Released by Blindfold Beats on 1 Apr 2022
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The Star and the Flower
Pop - Released by Star and the Flower on 21 Oct 2021
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Nostalgic Memories-The Very Best Of Jo Stafford-Vol. 36
Jazz - Released by RP-DSP on 21 Nov 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo