[Dixielandjazz] Keely Smith R.I.P.

[Robert Ringwald]

Keely Smith R.I.P.

    Iconic Vocalist Keely Smith Dies from Apparent Heart Failure at 89


by Jim Harrington

San Jose Mercury News, December 17, 2017


Keely Smith has died at age 89. Here is a press release regarding her death:


Keely Smith, the iconic singer/performer known for her many solo recordings
as well as her musical partnership with first husband Louis Prima died in
Palm Springs, CA on Saturday, December 16.  She was 89 and under physicians’
care at the time of her passing from apparent heart failure. Born Dorothy
Jacqueline Keely in Norfolk VA on March 9, 19 28 of Native American
(Cherokee) and Irish parentage, Smith showed a natural aptitude for singing
at a young age. At 14, she sang with a naval air station band and at 15, she
got her first paying job with the Earl Bennett band.


Smith, still a teenager, auditioned to be the “girl singer” in Prima’s band,
got the job and hit the road with them in 1948.  She and Prima married in
1953 and had two children together, Toni Prima and Luanne Prima, both of
whom survive their mother.  The Smith and Prima combination was a potent one
both on stage, on television, in films and on records and made Keely Smith a
household name.  Their partnership earned them a Grammy in 1959, the very
first year of the awards, for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group
for their Capitol Records smash hit “That Old Black Magic” which stayed on
the charts for 18 weeks.   She went on, 42 years later, to receive a Grammy
nomination for her 2001 album, Keely Sings Sinatra in the Traditional Pop
Vocal category.   She revisited “That Old Black Magic” on the 50th Grammy
Awards telecast in 2008 when she performed the song as a duet with Kid Rock.
She was also seen on the big screen in Hey Boy! Hey Girl!, Senior Prom and
Thunder Road while her performing brilliance earned her the title “Queen of
Las Vegas.”  She was very resolute in being in control of the trajectory of
her career, as underscored by a comment offered to Theatermania some time
before her retirement five years ago, “Nobody will ever interfere with what
I do on stage. Someone might have an opinion of something but, if I disagree
with it, I’ll go with my own thinking.  I’m just a plain person.  I sing
like I talk -- and, when I’m on stage, I talk just like I’m talking to you.”


Other Smith and Prima hits included “Bei Mir Bist Du Schön” and “I’ve Got
You Under My Skin” and best selling albums with Prima including The Wildest!
and The Wildest Show At Tahoe.  Her 1957 solo debut, I Wish You Love,
produced by Nelson Riddle, established her as a significant recording star
in her own right and she followed that up with a string of releases for
Capitol, Dot and Reprise including Swingin’ Pretty and The Intimate Keely
Smith.  The latter album, recorded after her 1961 divorce from Prima, was
produced by Jimmy Bowen who married her in 1965. It was re-released to great
critical acclaim just last year with Marc Myers, writing in JazzWax, calling
it “a flawless album.”   In a time when few women had the vision to be
masters of their own artistic and commercial destinies, she set up “Keely
Records” her own record label in conjunction with friend Frank Sinatra’s
Reprise Records and embraced her role as one of Reprise’s signature artists.


Her classic run of dates at Feinstein’s in Manhattan in 2005  received both
critical laudation and standing ovations. Variety noted, “Smith’s bold, dark
voice took firm hold on a handful of great standard tunes, and she swung
hard” while The New Yorker’s review called her “both legendary and
underrated.. she can still sing the stuffing out of a ballad as well as
swing any tune into the stratosphere.”  Keely Smith’s final performance took
place in  February 13, 20 11  at Cerritos Performing Arts Center in Southern
California.


Over the course of a career that ran for seven decades, Keely Smith has been
honored with numerous awards apart from her Grammy. She was awarded a Star
on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, inducted into the Las Vegas Hall of Fame and
presented with a Star on Walk of Stars in Palm Springs where she made her
home for the past 40 years.
  Memorial services for Keely Smith are pending. -30



Bob Ringwald piano, Solo, Duo, Trio, Quartet, Quintet
Fulton Street Jazz Band (Dixieland/Swing)
916/ 806-9551
Check out my performing schedule: www.ringwald.com/schedule.php
Amateur (ham) Radio Station K6YBV

“If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed,
if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed.” -- Mark Twain


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