Dorothy Janette Marguerite Davis (1916–2005) was a 20th-century American pop singer, noted particularly for her work for

Arthur Godfrey Arthur Morton Godfrey (August 31, 1903 – March 16, 1983) was an American radio and television broadcaster and entertainer who was sometimes introduced by his nickname The Old Redhead. At the peak of his success, in the early-to-mid 1950s, Godf ...

Biography

Davis was born November 2, 1916, in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the County seat, seat of Shelby County, Tennessee, Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 Uni ...

, the eldest of eight children. Her full name was Dorothy Janette Marguerite Davis. She grew up in

Pine Bluff, Arkansas Pine Bluff is the eleventh-largest city in the state of Arkansas and the county seat of Jefferson County. It is the principal city of the Pine Bluff Metropolitan Statistical Area and part of the Little Rock- North Little Rock-Pine Bluff Combi ...

. She began singing and playing piano on the radio at age fourteen. Pursuing her career, Davis sang for radio stations in

Quincy, Illinois Quincy ( ), known as Illinois's "Gem City", is a city in and the county seat of Adams County, Illinois, United States, located on the Mississippi River. The 2020 census counted a population of 39,463 in the city itself, down from 40,633 in 2010. ...

, then Shreveport, Louisiana, then

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state lin ...

, after which she was a regular on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...

Red Skelton Richard Red Skelton (July 18, 1913September 17, 1997) was an American entertainer best known for his national radio and television shows between 1937 and 1971, especially as host of the television program '' The Red Skelton Show''. He has stars ...

show in 1939 and 1940. She then moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

and was a regular on Don McNeill's and

Garry Moore Garry Moore (born Thomas Garrison Morfit; January 31, 1915 – November 28, 1993) was an American entertainer, comedic personality, game show host, and humorist best known for his work in television. He began a long career with the CBS networ ...

's radio shows, then on various shows on radio station WBBM. Davis then became a radio staff singer for CBS in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. There she was noticed by Arthur Godfrey who hired her in April 1946 as his resident female singer. The Arthur Godfrey show became very popular and earned Davis national exposure. In 1947–1948 she had her own 15-minute radio show; her theme song was " I'll Get By". She appeared on programs and recorded the hillbilly song "I Didn't Know the Gun Was Loaded" which became her biggest hit. Davis stayed with Godfrey until 1956, when she retired from singing. She then became executive producer of ''

Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts ''Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts'' (also known as ''Talent Scouts'') was an American radio and television variety show which ran on CBS from 1946 until 1958. Sponsored by Lipton Tea, it starred Arthur Godfrey, who was also hosting '' Arthur G ...

'' until that show's cancellation, after which she retired from show business entirely. Davis sang the Carolina Rice jingle, which ran nationally from the late 1940s well into the mid 1950s; she called it "my biggest hit record".

Personal life

Davis was married to Robert Jenson from 1939 to 1945. She married Frank Musiello in 1957 and moved to

Naples, Florida Naples is a city in Collier County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the historical city (i.e. in the immediate vicinity of downtown Naples) was 19,115. Naples is a principal city of the Naples-Marco Island, Flo ...

. She had two children. She died on April 25, 2005.

References

External links

* * * * *. {{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Janette 1916 births 2005 deaths 20th-century American women singers American women pop singers Singers from Arkansas Singers from Memphis, Tennessee People from Pine Bluff, Arkansas 20th-century American singers 21st-century American women