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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It Had to Be You: Lost Radio Recordings
Pop - Released by Real Gone Music on 11 Aug 2017
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Autumn In New York
Pop - Released by Capitol Records on 1 Jan 1950
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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No Other Love
Country - Released by Label Impérial on 18 Jan 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
You Belong to Me (Hi-Fi Remastered)
Pop - Released by Inter-Phono records on 29 Jul 2023
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Autumn in New York (Remaster 2017)
Jazz - Released by Powerbank Records on 24 Mar 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Capitol Collectors Series
Pop - Released by Capitol Records on 1 Jan 1991
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Starring Jo Stafford
Pop - Released by Capitol Records on 3 Sep 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Great Ladies Of Song / Spotlight On Jo Stafford
Lounge - Released by Capitol Records on 1 Jan 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Magic Of Jo Stafford
Lounge - Released by Capitol Records on 1 Jan 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Joyful Season (Expanded Edition)
Christmas Music - Released by Capitol Records on 1 Jan 1964
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Ultimate Capitol Collection
Jazz - Released by EMI Gold on 1 Jan 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Capitol Rarities 1943 - 1950
Pop - Released by Capitol Records on 24 Mar 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Jo Stafford Collection 1939-62, Vol.2
Pop - Released by ACROBAT on 4 Dec 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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The Old Rugged Cross
Lounge - Released by Capitol Records on 1 Jan 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Old Rugged Cross
Gospel - Released by EMI Gold on 1 Jan 1992
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
American Folk Songs
Folk - Released by CAPITOL CATALOG MKT (C92) on 1 May 1948
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Columbia Singles Collection Vol. 1
The Norman Luboff Choir, Jo Stafford
Pop - Released by Corinthian Records on 11 Oct 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Songs of Scotland
Folk - Released by Corinthian Records on 8 Oct 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Greatest Hits (Int'l Only)
Lounge - Released by Capitol Records on 1 Jan 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo