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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Relax With
Pop - Released by First to the End again on 19 Feb 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Best Christmas Wishes
Pop - Released by xmas angels 22 on 13 Dec 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
In a Dressing Room
Christmas Music - Released by dressing room on 23 Jan 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
In dear old London
Pop - Released by In dear old London on 8 Oct 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
My Wonderful Christmas Time
Christmas Music - Released by The Christmas Lovers on 20 Nov 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
September Song
Jazz - Released by Redwood Records on 28 Apr 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Joyful Christmas with Jo Stafford
Christmas Music - Released by The Christmas Lovers on 10 Nov 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
I'm My Own Grandma
Blues - Released by Redwood Records on 11 Apr 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
A Sunday Kind of Love
Blues - Released by Redwood Records on 31 Mar 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Memories Are Made of This
Pop - Released by Sunset Blvd. Records on 27 Apr 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Afternoon Tunes
Pop - Released by extramasters rec-ords on 26 Mar 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Winter Dreams
Christmas Music - Released by Winter Dreams on 28 Sep 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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in2Jo Stafford - Volume 1
Pop - Released by Play Digital on 1 Oct 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Les Idoles De La Musique Américaine: Jo Stafford, Vol. 1 (feat. Paul Weston And His Ochestra)
Pop - Released by Mpm on 9 Jun 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Remembering Heart
Pop - Released by Sharp Edge Records on 6 Aug 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Records for You
Pop - Released by Remasterings FoYoNo on 18 Mar 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo