Keely Smith
(born Dorothy Jacqueline Keely, 9 March 1932, in Norfolk, Virginia, of part Cherokee and Irish descent) is an American jazz and popular music singer who enjoyed great popularity in the 1950s and 1960s. Her collaborations with Louis Prima and Frank Sinatra were highly rated. Smith was much admired for her singing style, and for her duets with Louis Prima. In recent years, Smith resumed her career to critical acclaim.
|
KEELY SMITH TICKETS
|
Career
Smith showed a natural aptitude for singing at a very young age. At 14, she started singing with a
naval air station band led by Saxie Dowell. At 15, she got her first paying job with the
Earl Bennett band.
Smith made her
professional debut with Louis Prima in 1949 (the couple were married in 1953); Smith played the "
straight guy" in the duo to Prima's wild antics and they recorded many
duets. These include
Johnny Mercer's and
Harold Arlen's "
That Ol' Black Magic", which was a Top 20 hit in the US in 1958. In 1959, Smith and Prima were awarded the first-ever
Grammy Award for
Best Performance by a Vocal Group or Chorus for "That Ol' Black Magic." Her "dead-pan" act, similar to
Virginia O'Brien, was a solid hit with fans. The
duo followed up with the minor successes "
I've Got You Under My Skin" and "
Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen," a revival 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 appeared with Prima in the 1959
film Hey Boy! Hey Girl!
, singing
Fever, and also appeared in and sang on the
soundtrack of the previous year's
Thunder Road
. Her song in Thunder Road was "Whippoorwill," remembered as one of her best. Her first big
solo hit was "I Wish You Love."
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 UK with an album of
Beatles compositions and a version of "You're Breaking My Heart."
After
marrying producer
Jimmy Bowen, Smith retired from music to concentrate on raising her children.
In 1985, she made a well-received comeback with
I'm In Love Again
(Fantasy Records). Her
albums
Swing, Swing, Swing
(2002),
Keely sings Sinatra
(2001) for which she was
Grammy nominated, and
Keely Swings Count Basie Style with Strings
(2002) have garnered much critical and fan acclaim. Most recently, Smith released
Vegas '58 -- Today
a
compilation album of her best known
songs, all
recorded live. Smith has re-recorded a number of songs from her Prima years, including a modified version of "Oh Marie," which has been renamed "Oh Louis" in
tribute. By her own admission, she has never had a singing lesson and cannot read music.
Now in her 70s, Smith works a light touring schedule, but continues to wow
fans with her strong
voice and natural stage presence. She was booked at the prestigious
Cafe Carlyle in New York City for the entire month of April 2007.
On February 10, 2008, Smith performed "That Old Black Magic" with
Kid Rock at the
50th Grammy Awards on CBS.
In 2008, Vanessa Claire Smith and Jake Broder wrote and starred in the new musical, "Louis & Keely Live at the Sahara," which premiered at Los Angeles' Sacred Fools Theatre Company and went on to be nominated for four
Ovation Awards, including the Franklin R. Levy Award for Musical in an Intimate Theatre, which it won. Keely Smith herself attended a performance, as recounted at the show's .