[Dixielandjazz] Fran Warren, Singer in Big-Band Era, Dies at 87

[Norman Vickers]

To:  DJML and Musicians and Jazzfans lists

From: Norman Vickers, Jazz Society of Pensacola, Inc.

 

 




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March 21, 2013  New York Times


Fran Warren, Singer in Big-Band Era, Dies at 87


By PETER KEEPNEWS


Fran Warren, one of the last surviving singing stars of the big-band era,
died at her home in Brookfield, Conn., on March 4, her 87th birthday. 

Her death was confirmed by a spokesman, Alan Eichler. 

Best known for her hit 1947 recording of
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtVXTQjURHg> "A Sunday Kind of Love" with
the Claude Thornhill band, Ms. Warren began singing as a teenager and
maintained an active career into the late 1990s. Among the other bandleaders
with whom she sang were Art Mooney, Charlie Barnet and - in the 1960s, when
the appeal of big-band jazz had become mostly nostalgic - Harry James. 

She made the move from band vocalist to solo act in the late 1940s and had a
number of other hit records, including the whimsically titled
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NpqPtaOz14> "I Said My Pajamas (and Put On
My Pray'rs)," a duet with Tony Martin, in 1950. After her popularity waned
with the advent of rock 'n' roll, she worked as an actress, starring in
regional productions of "The Pajama Game" and other musicals. 

She also appeared frequently on television
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3T3ENPpyMQ> , notably on "The Tonight Show"
when first Jack Paar and then Johnny Carson were the hosts. Her only film
credit of note was "Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd." 

Fran Warren was born Frances Wolfe in the Bronx on March 4, 1926. Interested
in music from an early age, she began singing at clubs as a teenager and
auditioned for Duke Ellington's orchestra at 16. That audition was
unsuccessful, but her career began in earnest shortly after that. 

In later years Ms. Warren performed in cabarets and played the title role in
a production of "Mame." Reviewing her performance at Freddy's Supper Club in
Manhattan in 1984, Stephen Holden of The New York Times noted that she
alternated "between aiming for torchy drama and being gregariously
down-to-earth." 

Survivors include two daughters.