Kay Starr -- 1922-2016

[duaneiac]

Singer Kay Starr passed away yesterday at age 94 as reported in the New York Times:

Ms. Starr, whose career began when she was a teenager and continued into her 80s, was a rarity: a singer who blossomed in the big-band era of the 1930s and 1940s, hit it big as a pop and country artist, and scored one of her biggest hits in the emerging rock scene of the mid-1950s.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2016/11/04/arts/music/kay-starr-hillbilly-singer-with-crossover-appeal-dies-at-94.html

 

Edited November 4, 2016 by duaneiac

[JSngry]

Went years only hearing the 50s pop hits an thought she was a ornball. Then, finally, heard the earlier and later stuff and came around in a big(ish) kind of wahy. There's some early(?) Gene Norman(?) live thing where she talks about how her man "beats the hell out of me" that gets a really visceral audience reaction..."Good For Nothing Joe" or something like that. Whatever, it took guts to deliver that line like that in that situation, so props given there. Then I heard some of her post-RCA Capitol sides, including the country one and the one with Ben Webster, and yeah, she could sing a song, not just make noise that sounded like one. I even included one of her RCA things "Lazy Bones" on one of my BFTs, great song, great performance, Kay Starr brought it in the real way. Not a "Soul Singer", but definitely a singer with a soul.

RIP, and thanks for not giving up.

[paul secor]

Wasn't Pres a fan?

[duaneiac]

1 hour ago, paul secor said:

Wasn't Pres a fan?

Yes.

https://books.google.com/books?id=EgdwSa8x1sQC&pg=PA132&lpg=PA132&dq=lester+young+kay+starr&source=bl&ots=8wW6pk6W55&sig=nLTSVUjNbfRFdRbPLc-1HfxwyKQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi664uOzI_QAhVqw1QKHYGNAKsQ6AEILjAE#v=onepage&q=lester%20young%20kay%20starr&f=false

[JSngry]

 

[Larry Kart]

I heard her live in a suburban Chicago nightclub (in a hotel near O'Hare) in the early '80s and reviewed the show. She was terrific. An African-American reader of the paper called me a racist (he already didn't like me because I wasn't a fan of David Murray) for writing that in some respects Starr reminded me of Bessie Smith. I was happy to point him toward the Lester Young interview in which he says the same thing of Starr and Smith. Her Hep compilation "I've Got a Right To Sing the Blues, 1944-48" is a gem, and  her 1975 GNP album "Back to the Roots" (with Red Norvo, Blue Mitchell, Georgie Auld, Al Viola, Jimmy Rowles, Monty Budwig, and Stix Hooper) is one of the great jazz vocal albums IMO, well worth seeking out. Kay was an improviser. 

Here's the whole album:
 

 

[Stereojack]

Also made a great album with Count Basie

[king ubu]

sorry to hear that - don't know much but those Capitol jazz sides are terrific!

[mikeweil]

Same here, will check out Larry's recommendations.