Georgia Carr

Georgia Carr (born Mary Louise Thomas, June 20, 1925 – July 4, 1971) was an American singer and actress who performed and recorded between the 1940s and 1960s.

Georgia Carr
Birth nameMary Louise Thomas
Born(1925-06-20)June 20, 1925
Los Angeles, California, US
DiedJuly 4, 1971(1971-07-04) (aged 46)
Los Angeles, California, US
GenresTraditional pop, jazz, R&B
Occupation(s)Singer, actress
InstrumentsVocals
Years active1946–c.1970
LabelsCapitol, Tops, Dot, Vee-Jay

Early life and education

She was born in Los Angeles and worked as a secretary with the Los Angeles Housing Authority while studying nursing at the University of California, Los Angeles, and establishing herself as a singer. In 1946, after winning a talent contest, she began a residency in the Club Royal in San Francisco where, in 1952, she was heard by bandleader Stan Kenton. He suggested that she change her name to Georgia Carr, and won her a recording contract with Capitol Records.[1][2] She appeared in top clubs in New York City, Chicago and elsewhere, and released several singles on Capitol, with arrangements by Nelson Riddle, including "Softly" and "I Dream of You" (both 1952), "Is That Bad" and "Lonely" (both 1953). At the end of 1953, she began working as a disc jockey on radio station WOV in New York.[3]

Career

She continued to record for Capitol and make club appearances, and in 1957 appeared as a calypso singer in the film Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?.[4] After a residency in Las Vegas, she had to give up her singing career temporarily because of severe laryngitis, from which she recovered without surgery.[5][6] In 1958 she released the LP Songs by a Moody Miss on Tops Records; she was credited on the album sleeve as "America's Foremost Night Club Singer".[7] Soon afterwards she signed for Dot Records,[5] who issued further singles including "Don't Go".[8]

A report in the Chicago Defender in 1963 described her as possessing "beauty, personality, 'class,' and a warm, husky voice of intimate styling", and said that she was intending to front a new business, American Negro Commercials, Inc., to make "television and theatrical commercials utilizing Negro actors and models."[9] From 1964, she recorded for Vee-Jay Records, and that year released her best known album, Rocks in My Bed, a collection of songs by Duke Ellington, Ray Charles, Peggy Lee and others.[6] She also appeared in the film Handle with Care, an all African-American musical comedy.[9][10] A soundtrack album was released on the Preview label.[11]

She acted in the television series Marcus Welby, M.D. in 1969.[10] In later years, she ran a catering company with her sister. She died of a stroke in Los Angeles in 1971 at the age of 46.[9]

A compilation of her early recordings, Softly Baby, was released in 1985.[12]

Discography
  • Songs by a Moody Miss (1958)
  • Rocks in My Bed (Vee-Jay, 1964)
  • Handle with Care (soundtrack, 1964)
  • Softly Baby (compilation, 1985)

References
  1. "Stan Kenton Discovery Eyes Stardom", Jet, 9 October 1952, p.62
  2. "Ex-Calif. Secretary Hits Bigtime As Singer", Jet, 20 August 1953, p.60
  3. Charlotte Summers, "Vox Jox", Billboard, 19 December 1953, p.42
  4. Georgia Carr at IMDb. Retrieved 24 August 2014
  5. "Georgia Carr Survives a Vocal 'Trial by Fire'", Milwaukee Sentinel, January 25, 1959, p.32
  6. Liner notes, Rocks in My Bed Archived August 26, 2014, at the Wayback Machine
  7. Songs by a Moody Miss, Discogs.com.
  8. "Dot Records Discography". Archived from the original on January 18, 2015. Retrieved August 24, 2014.
  9. Georgia Carr, VintageBlackGlamour, March 31, 2013
  10. Handle with Care, IMDb.com
  11. Handle with Care, RateYourMusic.com. Retrieved 24 August 2014
  12. Softly Baby. Retrieved 24 August 2014
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