Keely Smith

Dorothy Jacqueline Keely (March 9, 1928The reference work ''The Encyclopedia of Native Music: More Than a Century of Recordings from Wax Cylinder to the Internet'' gives Smith's date of birth as March 9, 1932. – December 16, 2017), professionally known as Keely Smith, was an American jazz and popular music singer, who performed and recorded extensively in the 1950s with then-husband Louis Prima, and throughout the 1960s as a solo artist.

Smith married Prima in 1953. The couple were stars throughout the entertainment business, including stage, television, motion pictures, hit records, and cabaret acts. They won a Grammy in 1959, its inaugural year, for their smash hit, "That Old Black Magic", which remained on the charts for 18 weeks.

Early years

Smith was born in Norfolk, Virginia; her ancestry was Irish and Cherokee. Jesse Smith, her stepfather, was a carpenter, and her mother took in laundry to earn money to buy gowns for Smith to wear when she performed.

Career

When Smith was 11 years old, she sang regularly as a cast member of ''The Joe Brown Radio Gang'' program on a Norfolk station. At age 14, Smith sang with a naval air station band led by Saxie Dowell. At 15, she got her first paying job with the Earl Bennett band. She saw Louis Prima perform in New York City in 1949.''The Encyclopedia of Native Music: More Than a Century of Recordings from Wax Cylinder to the Internet'' says, "In 1948, entertainer Louis Prima appeared in her hometown of Norfolk, Virginia, and hired Smith at an audition." They recorded together in 1949 and married on July 13, 1953.

Their songs included Johnny Mercer's and Harold Arlen's " That Old Black Magic", which was a Top 20 hit in the US in 1958. At the 1st Annual Grammy Awards in 1959, Smith and Prima won the first Grammy for Best Performance by a Vocal Group or Chorus for "That Old Black Magic". Her deadpan act was popular with fans. The duo followed up with the minor successes " I've Got You Under My Skin" and " Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen", a cover 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 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, though her actual voice was not used.

Smith appeared with Prima in the movie '' Hey Boy! Hey Girl!'', singing "Fever", and also appeared in and sang on the soundtrack of the previous year's film '' Thunder Road''. Her song in ''Thunder Road'' was "Whippoorwill". She also appeared in the film '' Senior Prom.''

Her first big solo hit was "I Wish You Love" in 1957, and it brought her a Grammy award nomination for Best Vocal Performance, Female. Her debut album by that same title achieved gold status. 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, ''Keely Smith Sings The John Lennon—Paul McCartney Songbook'', and a single, " You're Breaking My Heart", which reached No. 14 in April.

She returned to singing in 1985, recording the album ''I'm in Love Again'' with Bud Shank, Bill Perkins and Bob Cooper. Her albums, ''Swing, Swing, Swing'' (2000), ''Keely Sings Sinatra'' (2001) for which she received a Grammy nomination, and ''Keely Swings Basie-Style With Strings'' (2002) won critical and popular acclaim. In 2008, she performed a duet with Kid Rock during the 50th Grammy Awards on "That Old Black Magic".

Smith earned positive reviews for her performances at Feinstein's nightclub in Manhattan in 2005. Said '' Variety'': "Smith's bold, dark voice took firm hold on a handful of great standard tunes, and she swung hard", and ''The New Yorker'' called her "both legendary and underrated ... She can still sing the stuffing out of a ballad as well as swing any tune into the stratosphere."

According to a news release from her publicist issued upon her death, Smith was "very resolute in being in control of the trajectory of her career".

"Nobody will ever interfere with what I do on stage", Smith once told ''Theatermania''. "Someone might have an opinion of something but, if I disagree with it, I'll go with my own thinking. I'm just a plain person. I sing like I talk — and, when I'm on stage, I talk just like I'm talking to you."

Smith's final performance was on February 13, 2011, at the Cerritos Performing Arts Center in Southern California.

Personal life

Smith first married Matteo Gambardella Jr. on September 6, 1947 in Pasquotank County, North Carolina, before divorcing him in December 1950. Smith married Louis Prima July 13, 1953. in Virginia Beach. They had two children, Toni Elizabeth and Luanne Francis. Smith had affairs with Sam Giancana and Frank Sinatra prior to her divorce from Prima in 1961. She also had a relationship with Clint Eastwood. She married Jimmy Bowen in 1965. The couple divorced in 1969. In 1975, Smith married singer Bobby Milano (real name Charles Caci) in Palm Springs. Sinatra gave the bride away. Milano died in 2006.

On December 16, 2017, Smith died of apparent heart failure in Palm Springs, California, at the age of 89. She is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills.

Legacy

In 1998, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars was dedicated to her. She also has a star at 7080 Hollywood Boulevard in the Recording section of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It was dedicated on September 22, 1998.

Discography

Solo albums

* 1957 '' I Wish You Love'' ( Capitol)
* 1958 '' Politely!'' (Capitol)
* 1959 '' Swingin' Pretty'' (Capitol)
* 1959 ''Be My Love'' ( Dot)
* 1960 ''Swing, You Lovers'' (Dot)
* 1960 ''A Keely Christmas'' (Dot)
* 1961 ''Twist with Keely Smith'' (Dot)
* 1961 ''Dearly Beloved'' (Dot)
* 1962 ''Because You're Mine'' (Dot)
* 1962 ''What Kind of Fool Am I?'' (Dot)
* 1962 ''Cherokeely Swings'' (Dot)
* 1963 '' Little Girl Blue/Little Girl New'' (Reprise)
* 1964 '' The Intimate Keely Smith'' (Reprise)
* 1964 '' Keely Smith Sings the John Lennon—Paul McCartney Songbook'' (Reprise)
* 1965 '' That Old Black Magic'' (Reprise)
* 1985 ''I'm in Love Again'' (Fantasy)
* 2000 ''Swing, Swing, Swing'' ( Concord)
* 2001 ''Keely Sings Sinatra'' (Concord)
* 2002 ''Keely Swings Basie-Style With Strings'' (Concord)
* 2005 ''Vegas '58 – Today (Recorded Live At Feinstein's At The Regency)'' (Concord)

With Louis Prima
* 1958 '' Breaking It Up!'' (Columbia)
* 1959 ''Louis and Keely!'' (Dot)
* 1959 ''Louis Prima & Keely Smith on Broadway'' (Coronet)
* 1960 ''Louis Prima Digs Keely Smith'' (Coronet)
* 1960 ''Together'' (Dot)
* 1961 ''Return of the Wildest!'' (Dot)

With Louis Prima, Sam Butera & The Witnesses
* 1957 ''The Call of the Wildest'' ( Capitol)
* 1957 ''The Wildest Show at Tahoe'' (Capitol)
* 1958 ''Las Vegas Prima Style'' (Capitol)
* 1959 ''Hey Boy! Hey Girl!'' (Capitol)
* 1960 ''On Stage'' (Dot)

Notes

References

External links

NPR: "Keely Smith: A Swingin' Icon of Early Vegas"

Interview by KUOW-FM's Amanda Wilde
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Keely
1928 births
2017 deaths
American women pop singers
Native American singers
American women jazz singers
American jazz singers
Singers from Virginia
Musicians from Norfolk, Virginia
American people of Irish descent
Capitol Records artists
Dot Records artists
Reprise Records artists
Concord Records artists
Grammy Award winners
Nightclub performers
Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)
Jazz musicians from Virginia
Traditional pop music singers
21st-century American women