Keely Smith (born Dorothy Jacqueline Keely, March 9, 1932) is an American
jazz and popular music singer who enjoyed popularity in the 1950s and 1960s.
She collaborated with, among others, Louis Prima and Frank Sinatra.
Smith showed a natural
aptitude for singing at a young age. At age 14, the Portsmouth, Virginia native
started singing with a naval air station band led by Saxie
Dowell. At 15, she got her first paying job with
the Earl Bennett band.
Smith made her professional
debut with Louis Prima in 1949 (the couple was married in 1953); Smith played
the "straight guy" in the duo to Prima's wild antics and they
recorded many duets. 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 first-ever Grammy Award for Best
Performance by a Vocal Group or Chorus for "That Ol' Black Magic".
Her "dead-pan" act was a 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. Though
her actual voice was not used, she was caricatured as "Squealy Smith"
in Bob Clampett's 1960 Beany and Cecil episode "So What and the Seven
Whatnots," a Snow White spoof in a Vegas setting.
Smith appeared with Prima
in the 1959 film, 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". Her first big solo
hit was "I Wish You Love" in 1957. In 1961, Smith divorced Prima. She
then signed with Reprise Records, where her musical director was Nelson Riddle.
In 1965, she had Top 20 hits in the United Kingdom with an album of Beatles
compositions, and a single, "You're Breaking My Heart" which reached
#14 in April. As of 2013, her Reprise recordings have never been made available
on CD.
In 1985, she made a
comeback with I'm In Love Again (Fantasy Records). Her albums, Swing,
Swing, Swing (2002), Keely Sings Sinatra (2001) for which she was
Grammy nominated, and Keely Swings Count Basie Style with Strings (2002)
garnered critical and fan acclaim.
In 1998, a Golden Palm Star
on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to her.
Smith released Vegas '58
– Today a compilation album of her best known songs, all recorded live.
Smith has re-recorded a number of songs from her Prima years, including a
modified version of "Oh Marie," which has been renamed "Oh Louis"
in tribute. By her own admission, she has never had a singing lesson and cannot
read music.
She works a light touring
schedule. She was booked at the Cafe Carlyle in New York City in 2007. On
February 10, 2008, Smith performed "That Old Black Magic" with Kid
Rock at the 50th Grammy Awards. Smith also went on to influence Pop star Paloma
Faith who at "Later at the Proms", the Guy Barker Orchestra and Miss
Faith performed Smith's biggest hit All Night Long.
Smith is of Irish and
Native American ancestry. She married Louis Prima in 1953; the couple divorced
in 1961. The couple had two children: Toni Elizabeth and Luanne Francis.
In 1961, columnist Dorothy
Kilgallen reported that Smith had dated and broken up with music executive
Morris Levy. In 1965, she married Jimmy Bowen. The couple divorced in 1969.
Smith married singer Bobby
Milano (real name Charles Caci) in 1975 in Palm Springs. Frank Sinatra gave the
bride away.
In 1986, Smith faced legal
problems for failing to withhold employee personal income and disability
insurance taxes in connection with vending companies (including Piggy Vending)
she owned in Palm Springs, California.
In 2008, Vanessa Claire
Smith and Jake Broder wrote and starred in the new musical, Louis &
Keely Live at the Sahara, which premiered at Los Angeles' Sacred Fools
Theater Company and went on to be nominated for four Ovation Awards, including
the Franklin R. Levy Award for Musical in an Intimate Theatre, which it won.
TRACK LIST:
1. If I feel;
2. This girls;
3. Please, please me;
4. And I love him;
5. World without love;
6. She loves you;
7. A hard day's night;
8. Do you want to know a secret?;
9. Can't buy me love;
10. All my loving;
11. I want to hold your hand;
12. P.S. I love you
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