American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer and actress.
Born May 26, 1920 in Jamestown, North Dakota, USA.
Died January 21, 2002 in Bel Air, California, USA.
She was married four times, including to songwriter/bandleader Dave Barbour (1943 -1951) (divorced).
She won an Academy Award nomination for her role as the hard-drinking singer in the jazz saga, Pete Kelly's Blues (1955) and composed songs for the 1955 Walt Disney animated classic Lady and the Tramp (1955). Musically, she is probably best known for the song "Fever", which charted in the U.S. (#8) and the U.K. (#5) in 1958 and is considered a classic. She had songs that ranked higher but this has become synomous with her as a singer. Her top charting song was "Mañana (Is Soon Enough for Me)", which came in 1948, the song hitting #1. "Golden Earrings" hit #2 in 1948, as did "Riders in the Sky (A Cowboy Legend)" hit #2 in 1959. Overall as a solo artist she charted forty-five times between 1945 and 1992. She also charted with duets with Mel Torme and with Bing Crosby and three times while singing with Gordon Jenkins and His Orchestra in 1952.
As a songwriter, she charted twelve times, with the aforementioned " Mañana (Is Soon Enough for Me)" #1 song penned by her and her husband at that time, Dave Barbour. They wrote an additional seven charted songs together.
