You might not know who Jo Stafford is, but she is one of the sweetest singers of the 1940's. Her voice is amazing, and has such a calming appeal.
Jo Elizabeth Stafford (November 12, 1917 – July 16, 2008) was an American singer of traditional pop music and jazz standards whose career ran from the late 1930s to the early 1960s. Stafford was greatly admired for the purity of her voice and was considered one of the most versatile vocalists of the era. She was also viewed as a pioneer of modern musical parody, having won a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album in 1961 (with husband Paul Weston) for their album Jonathan and Darlene Edwards in Paris. She was also the first woman to have a No 1 on the UK Singles Chart.
Stafford was born in Coalinga, California, to Grover Cleveland Stafford and Anna York Stafford, a distant cousin of World War I hero Sergeant Alvin York. Originally, she wanted to become an opera singer and studied voice as a child. However, because of the economic Great Depression, she abandoned that idea and joined her sisters Christine and Pauline in a popular vocal group, "The Stafford Sisters", which performed on Los Angeles radio station KHJ.
In 1937 she worked behind the scenes with Fred Astaire on the soundtrack of A Damsel in Distress and created the arrangement and, with her sisters, the backing vocals for "Nice Work If You Can Get It". She claimed that her arrangement had to be adapted as Astaire had difficulty with some of the syncopation, in her words: "The man with the syncopated shoes couldn't do the syncopated notes".
Her tenure with the USO, in which she gave countless performances for soldiers stationed overseas, acquired her the nickname "G.I. Jo."
In 1950, she left Capitol for Columbia Records, later returning to Capitol in 1961. While at Columbia she was the first recording artist to sell 25 million records for that company. During her second stint at Capitol, Stafford also recorded for Frank Sinatra's Reprise label. These albums were released between 1961 and 1964, and were mostly retrospective in nature. Stafford left the label when Sinatra sold it to Warner Brothers.
Jo Stafford died in Century City, California of congestive heart failure on July 16, 2008 at the age of 90.
You must hear her music. Just check out my playlist, I have tons of her songs on there. Have a great day!!
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