Lita roza
Lita Roza was born Lilian Patricia Lita Roza on March 14, 1926 in Liverpool to Elizabeth Anne and Francis Vincent Roza, a Spanish marine engineer and part-time pianist at a local nightclub. The eldest of seven children, she auditioned as a dancer at the age of 12 in a pantomime to help support the family, eventually working up to performing with the comedian Ted Ray and actress Noel Gordon in the show Black Velvet. Because life was becoming too dangerous in London during the blitz of 1940, her family wanted her back in Liverpool. She turned to singing on her return and managed to get a job as a resident singer in a Merseyside club called The New Yorker. Shortly afterwards, she signed to become a singer with the Harry Roy Orchestra, one of Britain's leading wartime big bands, although when Roy was booked to tour the Middle East, the young Lita Roza was not allowed to join them, being only 17 years old.
At just 18, she retired from show business, marrying James Shepherd Holland, one of the Canadian servicemen who was stationed in the U.K.; they moved to Miami. The marriage did not last, however, and after the war she returned to Britain, finding work with another top bandleader of the time, Ted Heath, alongside Dickie Valentine and Denis Lotis. As many of her contemporaries, she combined working with a big band with a career as a solo singer, and in 1953, she recorded a version of Patti Page's "How Much Is That Doggie in the Window," which topped the charts in April for one week, easily beating off the challenge of the Page version, and only the eighth number one song in the then recently introduced British charts. Despite its success, Roza hated the song and would never perform it in public.
She left the Ted Heath band and married Ron Hughes, a trumpet player. She was voted Top Girl Singer of 1951-1952 in the Melody Maker dance band polls and won the Top Female Singer category in New Musical Express from 1951-1955 consecutively. Another couple of minor solo hits followed, "Hey There" and "Jimmy Unknown," but despite releasing a total of 55 singles and four albums on Decca -- Presenting Lita Roza, Listening in the After-Hours, Love Is the Answer, and Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea -- her record sales were halted by the arrival of rock & roll and in the mid-'50s she concentrated on television work (including her own show Lita Roza Sings and several appearances with Ted Heath and on the new TV pop show Six Five Special, the only pop show on TV in the mid-'50s) and working in cabarets around the world including in Australia, New Zealand, and the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas.
She was asked to join a series of Ted Heath reunion concerts in 1982 along with Denis Lotis and Don Lusher and most of the original musicians from the band. In 2001, Roza was honored as the first artist with a bronze disc placed on the Wall of Fame in Matthew Street, opposite the Cavern Club, which featured all the acts from Liverpool who had achieved a number one to date including everyone from Frankie Vaughan, Michael Holiday, and the Beatles to Sonia, Mel C, and Atomic Kitten. Throughout the late '90s and into the 21st century, Universal Music, which owns the rights to Roza's Decca recordings, released several compilations of her songs as well as her final album, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, and Ted Heath Singles 1951-1953. She gave her final performance on Radio Merseyside in November 2002. Lita Roza died at her home in London on August 14, 2008; she was 82 years old.
© Sharon Mawer /TiVo
Similar artists
-
Allentown Jail, the Very Best of Lita Roza (1951-1962)
Pop - Released by Jasmine Records on 10 Apr 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
But Beautiful: The Pye Anthology
Pop - Released by Castle Communications on 16 Sep 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Greatest Hits Collection
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by Music Manager on 24 Apr 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea & Singles Compilation (1951-53)
Lita roza, Billy Munn's All-Stars, Ted Heath & His Music
Jazz - Released by Vocalion on 1 Jan 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
-
Back2Back Christmas
Christmas Music - Released by Play Digital on 1 Nov 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Remastered Hits (All Tracks Remastered)
Jazz - Released by jjjedizionimusicali on 18 May 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
Love Is The Answer
Pop - Released by Ling Music Group on 7 Oct 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
(How Much Is That) Doggie in the Window?
Pop - Released by Black Sheep Music on 12 Aug 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
Drinka Lita Roza Day
World - Released by TP4 Music on 6 Jan 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Golden Selection (Remastered)
Pop - Released by Master Tape Records on 16 Apr 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
World - Released by TP4 Music on 6 Jan 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Best of Lita Roza
Pop - Released by Vintage Jukebox on 5 Feb 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Drinka Lita Roza Day (Live)
Vocal Jazz - Released by Music Manager on 12 Sep 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
How Much is That Doggie in the Window
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by Music Manager on 13 Jul 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ladies in Jazz - Lita Roza
Jazz - Released by Ap music on 28 Mar 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Greatest Hits
Jazz - Released by Shakedown Records on 1 May 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window (Remastered)
Pop - Released by Artemis on 13 May 2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo