Georgia Gibbs

At 87 years old, Georgia Gibbs has this physical status:

Georgia Gibbs (born Frieda Lipschitz, 1918-1991) was an American popular singer and vocal entertainer rooted in jazz.

Gibbs first gained clout (and notoriety) in the mid-1950s interpretation of songs from the black rhythm and blues community and later as a featured vocalist on a long list of radio and television variety and comedy programs, with a long history of singing publicly in her early teens.

Her key feature, she said, was her exceptional adaptability and an eclectic style ranging from melancholy ballad to uptempo swinging jazz and rock and roll.

Early life

Gibbs was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, and was one of four children of Russian Jewish descent. Her father died when she was six months old, and she and her three siblings spent the next seven years in a local Jewish orphanage.

Frieda was given the opportunity to lead the orphanage's annual variety show, resurgenting a natural talent for singing at a young age. When her mother, who had visited her every other month, returned to Frieda, but her job pushed her to leave her daughter for weeks at a time when there was only a Philco radio for business.

Personal life

Frank Gervasi, a Palestinian journalist and author, and whose books include To Whom Palestine?, The Case for Israel, The Real Rockefeller, and The Violent Decade in 1970. They first met in Paris in the 1930s but then fell in love with one another for a year. The couple lived until his death in 1990; they had one child who died before Georgia was born.

Georgia Gibbs died of leukemia at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York on December 9, 2006. Patty Turk, Jody (Babydoll) Gibson, and Jody's sister Amy were among the survivors, including grandson Sacha Gervasi (from her husband's previous marriage), her brother Robert Gibson (Babydoll) Gibson, and Jody's nieces Patty Turk, Jody (Babydoll) Gibson. Gibbs' last interview, which was conducted by Greg Adams, was later published online.

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Career

Frieda tried to work at the Plymouth Theatre, one of Boston's best vaudeville houses, while still living in Worcester at age 13. Gibbs was hired and transferred to Boston, eventually landing at the Raymor Ballroom, and the Plymouth's boss had already heard her sing on the local Worcester radio station, and the Plymouth's boss was able to move to Boston. Fredda Gibson joined the Hudson-DeLange Orchestra in 1936 (age 17) and spent ten months as Fredda Gibson. "You don't really know loneliness unless you do a year or two with a one-night band," Gibbs described her time on the big-band circuit. "You don't know what it means until about 2 a.m. Get in a bus and ride 400 miles." The greasy hamburger was the night's stopper. The Commune in a city is an hour away. Try to sleep. "Get up and eat," says the author.

She began to perform on radio shows including Your Hit Parade, Melody Puzzles, and The Tim And Irene Show, as well as freelanced in the late 1930s and early 1940s with Tommy Dorsey, Hal Kemp, Artie Shaw, and Frankie Trumbauer. Although a Billboard article states that it was her first appearance on tape with Trumbauer's orchestra (The Laziest Gal in Town on Brunswick Records), liner notes from a 1998 Simitar compilation document confirms her appearance on DeLange's recordings on Brunswick, and a copy of Hal Kemp from 1939 exist, and a video exists with her in 1939. On Absent Minded Moon, she first charted with Shaw's band in 1942 (Victor 27779), which attracted a lukewarm response at the time.

She first appeared on the Camel Caravan radio station, hosted by Jimmy Durante and Garry Moore in 1943, where she remained a regular performer until 1947. Moore bestowed on her the popular name "Her Nibs, Miss Georgia Gibbs," referring to the singer of diminutive stature and American pop music's rising "authoritative" fame.

Gibbs signed to Majestic Records in 1946, releasing multiple hits, but her first solo hit single, "If I Knew You're Comin'," wasn't out until 1950. During this time, she served as the featured vocalist on tours with comedians Danny Kaye and Sid Caesar. As outlined in a 1952 Time article, her success as a performer outside of radio and variety shows continued to elude her.

Cavalcade of Stars and All Star Revue appeared on television between 1949 and 1950. She joined Mercury Records in 1951, where she had a blast "sticking with plain Georgia Gibbs." Possessed of a versatile voice, she released a long line of well-received albums ranging from torch songs to rock-and-roll, jazz, swing, old fashioned ballads, and cha-chas. The most popular, 1952's "Kiss Of Fire," which she appeared on The Milton Berle Show in the spring, reached No. 1. On the pop music charts, No. 1 appears. The tango El Choclo's "Kiss of Fire" was adapted from the Argentinian tango El Choclo, and the lyrics, arrangement, and delivery all expressed passion on a Wagnerian scale.

Gibbs' voice, as well as a dash of vibrato, is best shown on romantic ballads and torch songs like "I'll Be Seeing You," "Autumn Leaves," and "You Keep Coming Back Like a Song." Nonetheless, she could belt out steaming jazz numbers like "Red Hot Mama," "A-Razz-A-Mazz," or "I Want You to Be My Baby"; or he's out with "I Want You to Be My Baby." Her Swingin' The Her Nibs album (1956) displayed her innate affinity for improvisation as well.

Gibbs joined RCA Victor in 1957, debuting with over 40 songs before he resigned from singing, and did briefly do rock 'n' roll hits as well. Towa Carson, Lill-Babs, and Britt Rylander's album "Silent Lips" was a big hit in Sweden (September 1958-March 1959) peaking at number 5 in the best selling charts, and there were also several Swedish cover versions of the song, "Ingenting" by Towa Carson, Lill-Babs, and Britt Rylander. "The Hula Hoop Song" also did well in Sweden (February–March 1959), peaking at number 12 in the Swedish version. She appeared on many television shows, including The Ed Sullivan Show, and hosted one of her own, Georgia Gibbs and her Million Record Show. Call Me, her last album, came out in 1966, but she hasn't performed since then.

Gibbs received some notoriety after her cover versions of music popularized by black artists, such as Etta James' "The Wallflower" (recorded by Gibbs with altered lyrics), and LaVern Baker's "Tweedle Dee" (which outsold Baker's version, sparking a protest from her). Gibbs expressed disappointment that she, like many artists of the day, had no say in their selection of materials and arrangements. According to a widely circulated tale, LaVern Baker took out a life insurance policy on herself in the lead up to a flight to Australia and choosing Georgia Gibbs as the beneficiary. Baker is said to have written to Gibbs, "because if anything happens to you, you're out of money."

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