Anita O'Day died in her sleep early Thursday morning at a hospital in West Hollywood where she was recovering from a bout with pneumonia. Her manager told media, "On Tuesday night, she said to me: 'Get out of here'... But it didn't happen then."
O'Day was once known as the "Jezebel of Jazz" for her drug use and reckless lifestyle. Born in Chicago, she began singing as a teenager. She left home at the tender age of 12, touring as a marathon dance contestant and singing for tips. She didn't win many dance contests and in 1936 she decided that singing was her true talent. "When I'm singing, I'm happy" she said later in life. "I'm doing what I can do and this is my contribution to life." It turned out to be the right choice. She never took a singing lesson and she enjoyed bragging about being "self made."
She lived just as hard as she could swing
She started working as a waitress and sometimes chorus girl in Chicago clubs like Ball of Fire, Planet Mars, and Vialago. At the Vialago she met drummer Don Carter, who introduced her to music theory and likely many other things because they married in 1937. In 1938 the editor of Down Beat Magazine hired her to work a club he owned called the Off Beat. There she met bandleader Gene Krupa, which was just the connection she needed to break into the business. Krupa promised he would call on her when his current vocalist, Irene Day, left his band.
O'Day was a great improviser, but that was not always to her benefit. In 1939 she auditioned to sing with Benny Goodman's band for one of the Camel Caravan radio broadcasts (sponsored by Camel cigarettes). But Goodman rejected O'Day because she improvised on the melody and he eventually signed Helen Forrest instead. O'Day also successfully auditioned for bandleader Raymond Scott. But Scott fired her after only 3 days on the job. O'Day forgot some of the lyrics and improvised her way through the rest of the song.
O'Day finally got the promised call from Gene Krupa in 1941, and thankfully it seems that Krupa understood her wild style. O'Day shattered the typical image of the demure female vocalist. Not only did she have a unique, slightly husky timbre to her voice, she could improvise just as fine as the cats in the band and Krupa seemed happy to let her. Listen to her vocal trading with trumpeter Roy Eldridge on "Let Me Off Uptown," recorded with Krupa's band.
Unfortunately, her job with Krupa's band would only last until 1943 when Krupa was arrested for possession of marijuana and the band broke up. These were fairly common events in the jazz world. O'day and her husband were arrested for possession of marijuana just a few years later, not to mention the heroin.
She recorded with Woody Herman for a short time, and she helped to put Stan Kenton's band on the map with their hit "And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine," but some of her best work was still yet to come.
The Lady is a Tramp
She made her first full-length album in 1952. The album was called simply "Anita O'Day Sings Jazz," though it has sometimes been called "The Lady is a Tramp."[*] As it happens, the album was also the very first LP released by Verve Records, which became famous for recording many of the best jazz singers. She began incorporating be-bop sounds into her vocals and recorded many of the best vocal LPs of the era. In total, she recorded 17 albums for Verve in just seven years between 1956 and 1962.
It was also during this time that she suffered the most from alcoholism and drug addiction. She lived just as hard as she could swing. In 1953 she spent 6 months in jail for heroin possession. By the early 60s the booze and heroin were starting to take their toll on her. Her voice began to sound tired on recordings. A non-stop touring schedule pushed her into physical collapse by 1967. A year later she nearly died from a heroin overdose.
Thankfully for O'Day and for us, she took several years off to kick her addictions and returned to performing with an appearance at the Berlin Jazz Festival in 1970. O'Day recorded albums right up until her death. Her latest album was released earlier this year; its title curiously ironic now: "Indestructable!"
Thanks for the boogie ride, Anita!
In this film from 1942 O'Day is about to get a speeding ticket but she flashes some skin for the cop, who decides to dance with her rather than write her a ticket. Watch the officer's face as O'Day elegantly pulls her dress up a little to step over the toy car. And check out those gams as she dances! This is from a TV show that features Gene Krupa's band, with Roy Eldridge soloing on trumpet.
[*] Some sites on the web say that her first full length LP was "Anita," sometimes known as "This is Anita" which was 1955 (so says allmusic.com). But from my research I am pretty sure it was the 1952 album "Anita O'Day Sings Jazz" aka "The Lady is a Tramp." If you know otherwise, please let me know.
Anita O'Day died in her sleep early Thursday morning at a hospital in West Hollywood where she was recovering from a bout with pneumonia. Her manager told media, "On Tuesday night, she said to me: 'Get out of here'... But it didn't happen then."
O'Day was a great improviser, but that was not always to her benefit. In 1939 she auditioned to sing with Benny Goodman's band for one of the Camel Caravan radio broadcasts (sponsored by Camel cigarettes). But Goodman rejected O'Day because she improvised on the melody and he eventually signed Helen Forrest instead. O'Day also successfully auditioned for bandleader Raymond Scott. But Scott fired her after only 3 days on the job. O'Day forgot some of the lyrics and improvised her way through the rest of the song.
It was also during this time that she suffered the most from alcoholism and drug addiction. She lived just as hard as she could swing. In 1953 she spent 6 months in jail for heroin possession. By the early 60s the booze and heroin were starting to take their toll on her. Her voice began to sound tired on recordings. A non-stop touring schedule pushed her into physical collapse by 1967. A year later she nearly died from a heroin overdose.
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