Author |
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Tishala
Member
08-01-2000
| Monday, November 27, 2006 - 9:17 am
I know this happened Thursday, but Anita was a the last of the greats...I was fortunate to have seen her many times the past several years at the Atlas Supper Club here in LA, where she performed almost every Monday night. Singer Anita O'Day, the "Jezebel of Jazz," dies at age 87 link Anita O'Day's sassy renditions of song standards made her one of the most respected jazz vocalists of the 1940s and '50s. Anita O'Day, whose breathy voice and witty improvisation made her one of the most dazzling jazz singers of the past century and whose sex appeal and drug addiction earned her the nickname "the Jezebel of Jazz," died of pneumonia Thursday at a convalescent hospital in West Los Angeles. She was 87. Miss O'Day led one of the roughest lives in jazz, possibly surpassed only by her idol, Billie Holiday. Impoverished and largely abandoned in childhood, she became a marathon dancer and changed her surname from Colton to O'Day, pig Latin for "dough," slang for money. A mental breakdown, a rape, numerous abortions, a 14-year addiction to heroin and time in jail all contributed to her legend as a survivor. Her 1981 as-told-to autobiography was appropriately titled "High Times Hard Times." However, as a singer she soared. Jazz writer Nat Hentoff declared her "the most authentically hot jazz singer of all." She was among the hippest female singers of the big-band period, lending rare emotional resonance to the relentlessly up-tempo and brassy big bands of Gene Krupa and Stan Kenton. She gave both orchestras their first million-selling hits, doing a rare interracial duet on "Let Me Off Uptown" with Krupa trumpeter Roy Eldridge and the novelty number "And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine" with Kenton's ensemble. For Verve records in the 1950s, she performed some of the most inventive interpretations of jazz standards. Andy Razaf, who wrote the words to Fats Waller's "Honeysuckle Rose," once said hers was the definitive version of the tune, surpassing even Waller's recording. Miss O'Day also was highly regarded for her scat singing. Her signature sound created an elasticity with words, often breaking them into faster eighth and sixteenth notes instead of quarter notes, which were harder for her to sustain. This tendency was a result of a childhood tonsillectomy in which the doctor accidentally removed her uvula, the bit of flesh in the throat whose vibrations control tone. To compensate, she would playfully stretch single-syllable words; "you" would be "you-ew-ew-ew," love would became "lah-uh-uh-uv." "When you haven't got that much voice, you have to use all the cracks and crevices," she once said.
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Tishala
Member
08-01-2000
| Monday, November 27, 2006 - 11:37 am
Here are a couple clips of Anita singing in the late 50's....from the film Jazz on a Summer's Day. here and here [the second is the hottest version of Tea for Two ever].
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Retired
Member
07-11-2001
| Monday, November 27, 2006 - 3:09 pm
Thanks for the links, Tish. Sad about her passing, but what a life! Glad you got to see her in person.
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Jhonise
Member
07-10-2003
| Monday, November 27, 2006 - 3:42 pm
Author Bebe Moore Campbell has died. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/11/27/entertainment/e130523S14.DTL
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Mocha
Member
08-12-2001
| Monday, November 27, 2006 - 4:53 pm
Dang I loved her writing.
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Seamonkey
Moderator
09-07-2000
| Monday, November 27, 2006 - 8:21 pm
She was only 56 
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Cablejockey
Member
12-27-2001
| Friday, December 08, 2006 - 8:08 am
Mariska Veres the singer in the Dutch band Shoclking Blue has died of cancer. She was 59. link
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Twiggyish
Member
08-14-2000
| Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - 9:05 am
Ray's TV dad has died Peter Boyle died today: http://cbs5.com/entertainment/entertainment_story_347112437.html
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Tishala
Member
08-01-2000
| Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - 9:12 am
very sad. He was a fine actor and did lots of great work--I'm especially fond of him in Young Frankenstein.
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Mocha
Member
08-12-2001
| Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - 9:14 am
Very sad. We're losing alot of good people this year.
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Hermione69
Member
07-24-2002
| Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - 9:19 am
Gosh, he was my dad's age. Very sad.
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Hukdonreality
Member
09-29-2003
| Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - 9:19 am
awwwww...I never watched him on Everybody Loves Raymond without seeing Fraankenschtein (that's how his name was pronounced in Young Frankenstein). RIP
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Native_texan
Member
08-24-2004
| Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - 9:24 am
Holy crap!
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Jimmer
Moderator
08-30-2000
| Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - 9:26 am
That is sad news.
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Scooterrific
Member
07-08-2005
| Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - 9:27 am
I'm majorly bummed!
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Ophiliasgrandma
Member
09-04-2001
| Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - 9:45 am
I'm sure he is now up in heaven 'Puttin' On The Ritz'. That is one of my all time favorite movie scenes.
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Zachsmom
Member
07-13-2000
| Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - 9:56 am
Oh wow! or from my favorite line of his from ELR "Holy Crap". I adore him. And this is sad, very very sad 
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Mameblanche
Member
08-24-2002
| Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - 10:22 am

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Bandit
Member
07-29-2001
| Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - 10:29 am
Very sad.
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Mamie316
Member
07-08-2003
| Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - 12:16 pm
He sure brought a lot of joy to our household. We all love Young Frankenstein and enjoyed Ramond very much. He will be missed. Great actor.
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Mameblanche
Member
08-24-2002
| Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - 12:46 pm
Peter Boyle in Puttin' on the Ritz CLICK HERE
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Ophiliasgrandma
Member
09-04-2001
| Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - 1:03 pm
I went to Youtube a while ago and found it too. It made me laugh as hard as it always does.
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Twiggyish
Member
08-14-2000
| Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - 2:22 pm
That's classic!! I love Gene Wilder, too.
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Pamy
Member
01-02-2002
| Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - 6:59 pm
Loved him, didnt know he was ill. YF is one of my all time favs
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Eeyoreslament
Member
07-20-2003
| Wednesday, December 13, 2006 - 7:43 pm
That is so sad. I remember when he fell ill on set and they had to stop production while he went to the hospital. Back then I had hoped that was the worst of it for him. He is my favorite part of ELR. I think because I relate to the character.
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