Pearl Bailey
An uninhibited vocalist who gave more to her performances than any other singers around, Pearl Bailey gained fame for her work in Broadway, cabaret, and Hollywood. Bailey's sultry, slurred delivery livened up many a stale standard, including "Baby It's Cold Outside" and her only hit, "Takes Two to Tango."
The daughter of a preacher, Bailey began singing at the age of three (her brother, Bill Bailey, also taught her a few dance steps). She was performing professionally by her early teenage years and after touring as a dancer for several years, she featured both as a singer and dancer with jazz bands led by Noble Sissle, Cootie Williams, and Edgar Hayes. She began performing as a solo act in 1944, and wooed night club audiences with her relaxed stage presence and humorous asides. After briefly replacing Sister Rosetta Tharpe in Cab Calloway's Orchestra during the mid-'40s, she debuted on Broadway during 1946 in the musical St. Louis Woman. Bailey earned an award for most promising newcomer, and made her first film, Variety Girl, in 1947.
Though it wasn't a hit, her version of "Tired" (from Variety Girl) increased her standing in the jazz community. She recorded for several different labels, including Columbia, during the '40s and finally found a hit in 1952 after signing to Coral. Her version of "Takes Two to Tango," backed by Don Redman's Orchestra, hit the Top Ten. That same year, she married drummer Louie Bellson, and he left his position with Duke Ellington to become her musical director. Bailey recorded several albums for Coral during the early '50s, and starred as a fortune teller in the 1954 film Carmen Jones. More starring roles followed, in the W.C. Handy biopic St. Louis Blues as well as the first filmed version of Gershwin's classic operetta Porgy and Bess.
In 1959, a new recording contract (with Roulette) resulted in a change of direction. After her double-entendre LP For Adults Only was banned from radio play, it became a big seller and occasioned a string of similar albums during the early '60s. She continued to perform on Broadway, and won a Tony award in 1970 for her title role in Hello, Dolly!. She led her own television variety show in 1971, but retired from active performance several years later. Pearl Bailey was named to the American delegation to the United Nations in 1976, and awarded the Medal of Freedom in 1988.
© John Bush /TiVo
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Pearl Bailey and Others
Pearl Bailey, Stanley Wilson, André Previn
Vocale jazz - Released by Music Manager on 31 aug. 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Pearl Bailey: Takes Two to Tango
Jazz - Released by Retrospective on 2 mrt. 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Pearl Bailey - The Selection
Pop - Released by Vintage Jukebox on 2 jul. 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You (Live On The Ed Sullivan Show, November 2, 1969)
Pop - Released by SOFA - AV Catalog DD on 26 jun. 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Pearls: The Albums (1952-1957)
Soul - Released by Jasmine Records on 16 aug. 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ain't She Sweet!
Vocale muziek (wereldlijk en religieus) - Released by Jasmine Records on 4 apr. 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Les Idoles De La Musique Américaine: Pearl Bailey, Vol. 1
Pop - Released by Mpm on 1 mei 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Best of Pearl Bailey
Pop - Released by Vintage Jukebox on 10 mrt. 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Won't You Come Home, Pearly Bailey?
Vocale jazz - Released by Compose Records on 20 nov. 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
It's a Great Feeling + Pearl Bailey & Louis Bellson
Vocale jazz - Released by Fly Me to the Moon on 15 jan. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ladies in Jazz - Pearl Bailey Vol. 1
Jazz - Released by Ap music on 27 jun. 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Back 2 Back Swing
Louis Armstrong, Glen Gray And His Casa Loma Orchestra, Wilbur de Paris, Pearl Bailey
Jazz - Released by Music Manager on 28 jul. 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Songs For Adults Only
Pop - Released by Music Manager on 1 jan. 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
More Songs For Adults Only
Pop - Released by Music Manager on 1 jan. 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Legalise My Name (23 Hits And Sing-A-Longs)
Pop - Released by Bamboodi on 31 mrt. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Saturday Night Fever
Jazz - Released by Jazz Ballroom Records on 9 apr. 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Solid Gold Cadillac
Jazz - Released by Dance Plant Records Inc on 17 mei 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Zing Went The Strings
Vocale jazz - Released by Ling Music Group on 28 jul. 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo