Keely Smith

This article is about the singer. For the actress also known as Keely Shaye Brosnan, see Keely Shaye Smith.
Keely Smith
Birth name Dorothy Jacqueline Keely
Born (1928-03-09) March 9, 1928
Norfolk, Virginia, U.S.
Genres Jazz
Pop music
Occupation(s) Singer
Instruments Vocals
Associated acts Louis Prima
Frank Sinatra

Keely Smith (born Dorothy Jacqueline Keely, March 9, 1928)[1] is an American jazz and popular music singer who enjoyed popularity in the 1950s and 1960s. She collaborated with, among others, Louis Prima and Frank Sinatra.

Career

Smith showed a natural aptitude for singing at a young age. At age 14, the Portsmouth, Virginia native 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 was a 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. Though her actual voice was not used, she was caricatured as "Squealy Smith" in Bob Clampett's 1960 Beany and Cecil episode "So What and the Seven Whatnots," a Snow White spoof in a Vegas setting.

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". Her first big solo hit was "I Wish You Love" in 1957. 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 United Kingdom with an album of Beatles compositions, and a single, "You're Breaking My Heart" which reached #14 in April.[2] As of 2013, her Reprise recordings have never been made available on CD.

In 1985, she made a 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) garnered critical and fan acclaim.

In 1998, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs, California, Walk of Stars was dedicated to her.[3]

Later career

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.

She works a light touring schedule. She was booked at the Cafe Carlyle in New York City in 2007. On February 10, 2008, Smith performed "That Old Black Magic" with Kid Rock at the 50th Grammy Awards. Smith also went on to influence Pop star Paloma Faith who at "Later at the Proms", the Guy Barker Orchestra and Miss Faith performed Smith's biggest hit All Night Long.

Personal life

Smith is of Irish and Native American ancestry.[4] She married Louis Prima in 1953; the couple divorced in 1961. The couple had two children: Toni Elizabeth and Luanne Francis.

In 1961, columnist Dorothy Kilgallen reported that Smith had dated and broken up with music executive Morris Levy.[5] In 1965, she married Jimmy Bowen. The couple divorced in 1969.[6]

Smith married singer Bobby Milano (real name Charles Caci) in 1975 in Palm Springs. Frank Sinatra gave the bride away.[7]

In 1986, Smith faced legal problems for failing to withhold employee personal income and disability insurance taxes in connection with vending companies (including Piggy Vending) she owned in Palm Springs, California.[8][9]

Musical

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 Theater 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.

Discography (solo)

Discography (others)

Soundtracks

Keely Smith

Keely Smith with Nelson Riddle and His Orchestra

Louis Prima and Keely Smith

Louis Prima and Keely Smith with Sam Butera and the Witnesses

Appears on (various artist compilations)

Film and television appearances

List of film and television appearances
Year Title Role Notes
1957 Dinah Shore Chevy Show, TheThe Dinah Shore Chevy Show Self Episode 2.5
1958 Universal Special: The Wildest Self Musical short
1958 Thunder Road Francie Wymore
1958 Senior Prom Self
1958 Dinah Shore Chevy Show, TheThe Dinah Shore Chevy Show Self Episode 2.26
1959 Dinah Shore Chevy Show, TheThe Dinah Shore Chevy Show Self Episode 3.27
1959 Sunday Showcase Self 1st Annual Grammy Awards
1959 Hey Boy! Hey Girl! Dorothy Spencer
1959-
1960		 Ed Sullivan Show, TheThe Ed Sullivan Show Self Episodes: 12.34, 12.35, 13.36 and 13.37
1961 Loretta Young Show Cathy Sands Episode: "Not in Our Stars"
1962 Stump the Stars Self Episode: "Keely Smith v Barry Sullivan"
1962 Ed Sullivan Show, TheThe Ed Sullivan Show Self Episode 15.18
1962 Garry Moore Show, TheThe Garry Moore Show Self Episode 5.1
1962 What's My Line? Mystery Guest March 18, 1962
1962 Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, TheThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson Self Nov 28, 1962
1963 Garry Moore Show, TheThe Garry Moore Show Self Episodes 5.19 and 5.23
1963 Red Skelton Hour Daisy June "A Midsummer Nut's Dream"
1963 Andy Williams Show, TheThe Andy Williams Show Self Jan 10, 1963
1964 Ed Sullivan Show, TheThe Ed Sullivan Show Self Episode 17.4
1966 Mister Roberts Kueen Konah Episode: "Son of Eight in Every Port"
1966 Dean Martin Comedy Hour, TheThe Dean Martin Comedy Hour Self Mar 17, 1966
1966 Mickie Finn's Self Episode 1.6
1967 Dean Martin Comedy Hour, TheThe Dean Martin Comedy Hour Self Mar 2, 1967
1967 You Don't Say! Self May 1, 1967
1968 Dean Martin Comedy Hour, TheThe Dean Martin Comedy Hour Self Feb 22, 1968
1974 Merv Griffin Show, TheThe Merv Griffin Show Self May 30, 1974
1977 Merv Griffin Show, TheThe Merv Griffin Show Self Nov 18, 1977
1983 Juke Box Saturday Night Self
1984 DTV: Golden Oldies Self Archive footage
1996 Real Las Vegas, TheThe Real Las Vegas Self Archive footage
1999 Rat Pack, TheThe Rat Pack Self TV Documentary
1999 Louis Prima: The Wildest! Self TV Documentary
2000 Late Night with Conan O'Brien Self Mar 25, 2000
2007 Jimmy Kimmel Live! Self June 26, 2007
2007 Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project Self TV Documentary
2008 50th Annual Grammy Awards Self
2009 Johnny Mercer: The Dream's On Me Self Archive Footage-Documentary

References

  1. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0808906
  2. ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 509. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  3. ↑ Palm Springs Walk of Stars by date dedicated
  4. ↑ I Wish You Love album liner notes (1958)
  5. ↑ "Toledo Blade". Toledo Blade, Dorothy Kilgallen column, August 16, 1961.
  6. ↑ "Keely Smith Granted Default Divorce". The Palm Beach Post. July 30, 1969.
  7. ↑ "Keely Smith". Herald Journal. 25 January 1975.
  8. ↑ "Keely Smith faces over 25 tax counts". The Pittsburg Press. AP. July 12, 1986. p. A2. Retrieved September 30, 2012.
  9. ↑ Organized Crime in California 1978. 1979. p. 19.
  10. ↑ "Cherokeely Swings - Keely Smith | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 2013-08-09.

External links

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