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Keely Smith

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Keely Smith, (born March 9, 1932), is an American jazz and popular music singer who enjoyed great popularity in the 1950s and 1960s. Her collaborations with Louis Prima and Frank Sinatra were highly rated. Smith was much admired for her exquisite singing style and her great beauty. In recent years, Smith resumed her career to critical acclaim.

Keely was born Dorothy Jaqueline Keely in Norfolk, Virginia of part Cherokee descent. She showed a natural aptitude for singing at a very young age. At age fourteen, Smith started singing with a naval air station band led by Saxie Dowell. At fifteen, she got her first paying job with the Earl Bennett band.

Smith made her professional debut with Prima in 1949 (the couple were married in 1953); Smith played the “straight guy” in the duo to Prima’s wild antics and they recorded many duets together. These include Johnny Mercer’s and Harold Arlen’s “That Ol’ Black Magic”, which was a Top 20 hit in the US in 1958. In 1959, Smith and Prima were awarded the Grammy Award for Best Performance by a Vocal Group or Chorus for “That Ol’ Black Magic.” Her “dead-pan” act, similar to Virginia O’Brien, was a solid hit with fans. The duo followed up with the minor successes “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” and “Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen”, a revival of the 1937 Andrews Sisters hit.

Smith and Prima’s act was a mainstay of the Las Vegas lounge scene for much of the 1950s.

Smith appeared with Prima in the 1959 movie Hey Boy! Hey Girl!, singing “Fever”, and also appeared in and sang on the soundtrack of the previous year’s Thunder Road. Her song in Thunder Road was “Whippoorwill,” remembered as one of her very best. Her first big solo hit was “I Wish You Love”.

Tagged as:

jazz, swing, female vocalists, vocal jazz, big band
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The Capitol Years (The Best Of)
Keely Smith
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Politely!/Swingin' Pretty
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The Capitol Years (Best Of)
Keely Smith
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Keely Sings Sinatra
Keely Smith
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Top Tracks

1	What Is This Thing Called Love?	196
2	I Wish You Love full track	179
3	Don't Take Your Love From Me full track	172
4	Fools Rush In	105
5	What Is This Thing Called Love	96
6	Someone To Watch Over Me	91
7	When Your Lover Has Gone	41
8	You Go To My Head	31
9	Imagination full track	30
10	Stardust full track	25
10	What Is This Thing Called Love? (Mocean Worker remix)	25
12	When Day Is Done	20
13	On The Sunny Side Of The Street (1995 Digital Remaster) full track	15
14	Shake Hands With Santa Claus (Mono Recording)	14
15	On The Sunny Side Of The Street full track	11

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marcelodylan wrote:
November 2009

GODESS

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adriano777 wrote:
April 2009

wow what a voice !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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JonnyBluMusic wrote:
March 2009

Diggin' it! ;) Cheers! Jonny www.jonnyblumusic.com

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keelypie wrote:
February 2009

neva herd her just searched for keely

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philmfan wrote:
February 2009

One of the great, pure voices. Hip, swingin', a real slick chick. Check her out in the Robert Mitchum film, Thunder Road.

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Fasstili wrote:
December 2008

She has a wonderful voice!

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funkhunter wrote:
July 2008

@ bigsexyshag: Nope. Keely is right. In fact Keely is her surname. see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keely_Smith

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ComradeKellybug wrote:
April 2008

She's great, but >_> her hair is fugly. :(

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negativeEclipse wrote:
October 2007

keely and louie

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bigsexyshaq wrote:
September 2007

Hey Keely, your name is permanently spelled wrong. It's Kelly.

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Nightevacoil wrote:
December 2006

Lovely singer!

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Xavierism wrote:
July 2006

I can't wait to see Keely Smith on Sept. 17th in LA! *CHEERS*

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Recent Activity

monokini1971 added Keely Smith to monokini1971’s library. yesterday afternoon
sharky1972 tagged Keely Smith with ‘female jazz’. yesterday morning
sharky1972, Naftaturbo and gertslad added Keely Smith to their libraries. yesterday morning
Pol_Smith tagged Keely Smith with ‘swing’. Sunday morning
Pol_Smith, zaharkuruku, JohnatanWay and 21 other people added Keely Smith to their libraries. Sunday morning
xAvErNuSx tagged Keely Smith with ‘jazz’. 22 days ago
Vipper316, shannonsanders and jazzakthor2009 added Keely Smith to their libraries. 22 days ago
zipuin connected Keely Smith to the group Women in the Jazz. 23 days ago
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Bernhardoo, 1788r1, camanni and 13 other people added Keely Smith to their libraries. 30 days ago