Jo Stafford facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jo Stafford
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Picture of Stafford from the New York Sunday News, September 21, 1947
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Jo Elizabeth Stafford |
| Born | November 12, 1917 Coalinga, California, U.S. |
| Died | July 16, 2008 (aged 90) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Genres | Traditional pop |
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
| Years active |
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Jo Elizabeth Stafford (November 12, 1917 – July 16, 2008) was an American pop singer. Her singing career lasted for five decades, from the late 1930s to the early 1980s. People admired her clear voice. She first trained to be an opera singer. But she chose to sing popular music instead. By 1955, she had sold more records worldwide than any other female artist. Her 1952 song "You Belong to Me" was a number one hit. It topped the music charts in both the United States and the United Kingdom. It was the first song by a female artist to reach number one in the UK.
Contents
Early Life and Music Beginnings
Jo Elizabeth Stafford was born in Coalinga, California, in 1917. Her parents, Grover and Anna Stafford, loved music. Jo was the third of four daughters. Her mother played the banjo and sang folk songs. This influenced Jo's music later on. Anna wanted her children to learn piano. Jo was the only sister who really enjoyed it. She learned to read music this way.
Jo first sang in public when she was 12 years old in Long Beach, California. She sang a family favorite song. Later, while rehearsing a school musical, an earthquake damaged her high school. With her mother's help, Jo planned to become an opera singer. She took singing lessons as a child. But because of the Great Depression, she changed her plans.
She joined her older sisters, Christine and Pauline, in a singing group. They were called the Stafford Sisters. Jo joined when Pauline was sick and couldn't perform. Jo asked her teacher for time off school. The performance was a success, and Jo became a permanent member.
The Stafford Sisters first sang on the radio in Los Angeles. Jo was 16. They were on The Happy Go Lucky Hour. They also appeared on other radio shows. Jo met John Huddleston, a singer, on The Jack Oakie Show. They married in 1937 but divorced in 1943.
The sisters also sang backup in movies. Jo worked on film soundtracks after high school. In 1937, she helped Fred Astaire with the music for A Damsel in Distress. She arranged the backing vocals for one of his songs.
Joining The Pied Pipers
By 1938, the Stafford Sisters worked on the movie Alexander's Ragtime Band. Many singing groups were there. They started singing together for fun. This led to a new eight-person group called the Pied Pipers. Jo Stafford was one of the members.
The Pied Pipers sang on local radio and in movies. They met Tommy Dorsey's music arrangers, Axel Stordahl and Paul Weston. Weston thought their singing was special. He convinced Dorsey to audition the group. They traveled to New York City. Dorsey liked them and hired them for 10 weeks.
After a sponsor disliked their performance, they were fired. They stayed in New York for months, but found little work. Four members left the group. Then, Dorsey called Jo. He wanted to hire only four of them, including Jo. Jo, John Huddleston, Chuck Lowry, and Billy Wilson became the new Pied Pipers. They joined Dorsey's orchestra in 1939. This decision led to great success for the group and for Jo.
When Frank Sinatra joined Dorsey's band, the Pied Pipers sang backup for him. Their song "I'll Never Smile Again" was number one for 12 weeks in 1940. This helped Sinatra become famous. Jo, Sinatra, and the Pied Pipers toured a lot with Dorsey. Jo made her first solo recording in 1941. It was called "Little Man with a Candy Cigar."
In 1942, the Pied Pipers had a disagreement with Dorsey. They all quit. Sinatra also left Dorsey that year. The Pied Pipers then performed in vaudeville shows. They also appeared in the 1943 movie Gals Incorporated. They joined the NBC Radio show Bob Crosby and Company. They were one of the first groups to sign with Johnny Mercer's new label, Capitol Records. Paul Weston became the music director at Capitol.
Becoming a Solo Star
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Jo Stafford became the first solo artist to sign with Capitol Records. This happened after she left the Pied Pipers in 1944. An agent named Mike Nidorf helped her. He had heard her sing with the Pied Pipers. He encouraged her to lose weight and arranged many shows for her. This helped her become more famous and confident.
Jo had a six-month singing job at a New York nightclub in 1945. People liked her performance. But Jo did not enjoy singing live for audiences. It was the only nightclub she ever played. She said, "I'm basically a singer, period, and I think I'm really lousy up in front of an audience."
During World War II, Jo sang for soldiers. She was part of the United Service Organizations (USO). This earned her the nickname "G.I. Jo." A soldier told her that the Japanese would play her records. They hoped to make American troops homesick. Jo wrote back to all the letters she got from servicemen. She was a favorite of many soldiers during both World War II and the Korean War. Her songs were played a lot on military radio.
Radio Shows and Duets
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Starting in 1945, Jo hosted The Chesterfield Supper Club on NBC radio. In 1946, she and Perry Como were part of the first commercial radio broadcast from an airplane. Jo moved to California in 1946 but kept hosting the show. She left the show in 1949 but returned in 1954.
While on the show, Jo became interested in folk music again. Her conductor, Paul Weston, suggested using folk songs for the show. Jo also started a contest for college students. It gave a prize for the best collection of American folklore.
Jo kept recording songs. She sang duets with Gordon MacRae. In 1948, their song "Say Something Sweet to Your Sweetheart" sold over a million copies. They had another hit with "My Happiness." Jo also hosted a weekly show on Radio Luxembourg in 1950.
Paul Weston moved to Columbia Records. Jo followed him in 1950. Her contract with Capitol said she could leave if Weston did. In 1954, Jo became the second artist, after Bing Crosby, to sell 25 million records for Columbia. She received a special diamond-studded award.
In 1950, Jo started working for Voice of America (VOA). This was a U.S. government radio station that broadcast overseas. She had a weekly show for Eastern Europe. An article called "Jo Stafford: Her Songs Upset Joe Stalin" talked about her worldwide fame. This made a Communist newspaper angry.
Marriage and Later Career
Jo Stafford and Paul Weston had known each other since 1938. But they didn't start dating until 1945. They married on February 26, 1952. Jo became a Catholic before the wedding. They had two children, Tim (born 1952) and Amy (born 1956). Both children also worked in music.
In the 1950s, Jo had many popular songs with Frankie Laine. Their song "Hey Good Lookin'" was a top 10 hit in 1951. Her most famous songs were "Jambalaya", "Shrimp Boats", and "You Belong to Me". "You Belong to Me" was her biggest hit. It was number one in the U.S. and the UK. It was the first song by a female singer to top the UK chart.
In 1953, Jo signed a big deal with CBS-TV. She hosted The Jo Stafford Show from 1954 to 1955. Paul Weston was her music director. She also appeared on other TV shows. In the early 1960s, Jo hosted TV specials called The Jo Stafford Show in England.
Jo and Paul Weston returned to Capitol Records in 1961. Jo also recorded for Frank Sinatra's label, Reprise Records. She mostly remade her old songs. In late 1965, they both signed with Dot Records.
Comedy Performances
In the 1940s, Jo Stafford sang comedy songs as "Cinderella G. Stump." She worked with Red Ingle and the Natural Seven. In 1947, she recorded a funny country-style version of "Temptation". She called it "Tim-tayshun." Jo made up the character when Ingle needed a female singer. Her voice was sped up for the song, so people didn't know it was her at first. She didn't take any extra money from the song because it was just for fun. Jo and Ingle performed the song on TV in 1960.
Jo and Paul Weston also had a comedy act. They pretended to be a bad lounge act named Jonathan and Darlene Edwards. Jo sang off-key in a high voice. Paul played the piano with strange rhythms. They started doing this at parties. People loved it. In 1957, they released an album as the Edwardses.
Jo's idea for Darlene Edwards came from the silly songs her record company wanted her to sing. She and her musicians would record their own funny versions of these songs. In 1957, Jo recorded a joke track as Darlene Edwards. People loved it, so she and Weston made an album called The Piano Artistry of Jonathan Edwards.
As a joke, Jo and Weston said Jonathan and Darlene Edwards were a real lounge act they found. They denied being them. This made people wonder who the Edwardses really were. Time magazine even wrote that some thought it was Harry Truman and his daughter. But the magazine also said it was Weston and Stafford. In 1958, Jo and Weston appeared as the Edwardses on TV.
Their album Jonathan and Darlene Edwards in Paris won a Grammy Award in 1961 for Best Comedy Album. This was Jo's only major award. They released more comedy albums. In 1977, they covered the Bee Gees' song "Stayin' Alive" as Darlene Edwards. Their last comedy album was in 1982.
Later Life and Legacy
In 1959, Jo was offered a job in Las Vegas. But she turned it down to focus on her family. She didn't like traveling for TV shows anymore. She also didn't find the music business fun. She mostly retired in the mid-1960s. She fully retired in 1975. She only performed again in 1990 for a tribute to Frank Sinatra.
Jo and Paul Weston spent more time helping Share Inc., a charity for people with disabilities. In the early 1990s, Jo won a lawsuit against her old record company, Columbia. She got the rights to all her recordings with them. After that, Jo and her son Tim started Corinthian Records again. This label released some of her old music.
Paul Weston passed away in 1996. Jo continued to run Corinthian Records. In 2006, she gave their music library to the University of Arizona. Jo Stafford died on July 16, 2008, at age 90. She was buried with her husband in California.
Music Style and Achievements
Critics and fans loved Jo Stafford's clear voice. She was known for being very versatile. She could sing many types of music, like big band, ballads, jazz, folk, and comedy. Music critic Terry Teachout said she was "rhythmically smooth." Singer Rosemary Clooney said Jo's voice was "beautiful, pure, straightforward, no artifice." Frank Sinatra said, "It was a joy to sit on the bandstand and listen to her."
Other musicians admired Jo and Paul Weston's Jonathan and Darlene Edwards act. Pianist George Shearing would play songs like Edwards if they were in the audience. Ray Charles also enjoyed their performances.
Jo Stafford's work in radio, television, and music is honored with three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1952, listeners of Radio Luxembourg voted her their favorite female singer. By 1955, she had sold more records worldwide than any other female artist. She was nominated for an Emmy Award in 1955 for Best Female Singer. She won a Grammy for her comedy album. Her songs "I'll Never Smile Again" and "You Belong to Me" are in the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Her music has been mentioned in books. This shows how important she was in American culture.
Politics
Jo Stafford was a Democrat. She supported John F. Kennedy for president in 1960. She later performed for President Kennedy at a dinner.
Film and Television Appearances
Jo Stafford appeared in movies starting in the 1930s. Her last on-screen appearance was in a tribute to Frank Sinatra in 1990. She turned down many TV jobs. She had trouble reading cue cards without her glasses. Also, the bright studio lights bothered her.
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See also
In Spanish: Jo Stafford para niños
