Anita O'Day

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Anita O'Day

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Anita O’Day (October 18, 1919 - November 23, 2006) was an American jazz singer.

O’Day is admired for her sense of rhythm and dynamics, and her early big band appearances shattered the traditional image of the “girl singer”. Refusing to pander to any female stereotype, O’Day presented herself as a ‘hip’ jazz musician, wearing a band jacket and skirt as opposed to an evening gown. She cites Martha Raye as the primary influence on her vocal style, although she has also expressed admiration for Mildred Bailey, Ella Fitzgerald, and Billie Holiday.

During the late Forties, she recorded two dozen sides, mostly for small labels. The quality of these singles varies: O’Day was trying to achieve popular success without sacrificing her identity as a jazz singer. Among the more notable recordings from this period are “Hi Ho Trailus Boot Whip”, “Key Largo”, “How High the Moon”, and “Malaguena”. O’Day’s drug problems began to surface late in 1947, when she and husband Carl Hoff were arrested for possession of marijuana and sentenced to 90 days in jail. Her career was back on the upswing in September of 1948, when she sang with Count Basie at the Royal Roost in New York City, resulting in five airchecks. What secured O’Day’s place in the jazz pantheon, however, are the seventeen albums she recorded for Verve between 1956 and 1962.

Her first album, Anita O’Day Sings Jazz (reissued as The Lady Is a Tramp), was recorded in 1956 for the newly established Verve Records (it was also the label’s first LP).
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