Judy Johnson | |
|---|---|
 Judy Johnson c. 1945 | |
| Born | Betty Bonney March 8, 1924 |
| Occupation | Singer |
| Spouse | Mort Lindsey (m. 1954;died 2012) |
Judy Johnson (born Betty Bonney; [1] March 8, 1924) is an American pop singer most notable for her regular appearances on the NBC television series Your Show of Shows in the 1950s. Early in her career, she was billed under her birth name.
Judy Johnson was born Betty Bonney on March 8, 1924 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. [2] In the late 1930s, Johnson and her family moved to Nutley, New Jersey, and while there she learned tap dancing. After two years, they moved back to Norfolk. There she began singing on a radio station and began singing with a band at age 11. [1] She performed at age 14 as a dancer and singer in a tent show headed by Gene Austin. [3] When she was 18, she moved to New York to study musical comedy. In addition to studying, she traveled on USO tours and appeared in night clubs, including the Copacabana in New York. [1]
In the early 1940s, she sang with the Les Brown Orchestra. In 1941, she had a hit of "Joltin' Joe DiMaggio" with Brown's group. [4] She later sang with Frankie Carle and his orchestra. [5] Her biggest hit was "How Little We Know", written by Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer for the character played by Lauren Bacall in the film To Have and Have Not .[ citation needed ]
In 1943, Johnson sang with Jan Savitt and his orchestra [6] and Jerry Wald and his orchestra. [3]
Johnson's TV appearances included singing on the syndicated game show Hidden Treasure, [7] the NBC game show Judge for Yourself , [7] : 546 and the NBC variety show Tonight! America After Dark . [7] : 1094 On old-time radio, she was a regular on The Robert Q. Lewis Show. [8]
Most of the kinescopes of Your Show of Shows were discarded by NBC, [9] so few video appearances of Johnson remain. In one remaining film clip Johnson sings a cover of the Four Lads song "No, Not Much!". [10] Her last television singing appearance was on The Arthur Murray Party in 1959.
In 1950, Johnson joined Sammy Kaye as a singer with his orchestra. [11] In 1952, she signed a contract with MGM Records to join Bill Hayes, with whom she sang on Your Show of Shows, to record duets. [12] In 1955, she performed on Broadway as Miss Adelaide in Guys and Dolls . [13]
Johnson married composer and conductor Mort Lindsey in 1954. [4] She turned 100 on March 8, 2024.
Rose M. Clooney was an American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the song "Come On-a My House", which was followed by other pop numbers such as "Botch-a-Me", "Mambo Italiano", "Tenderly", "Half as Much", "Hey There", "This Ole House", and "Sway". She also had success as a jazz vocalist. Clooney's career languished in the 1960s, partly because of problems related to depression and drug addiction, but revived in 1977, when her White Christmas co-star Bing Crosby asked her to appear with him at a show marking his 50th anniversary in show business. She continued recording until her death in 2002.
Jane Powell was an American actress, singer, and dancer who appeared in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musicals in the 1940s and 50s. With her soprano voice and girl-next-door image, Powell appeared in films, television and on the stage, performing in the musicals A Date with Judy (1948), Royal Wedding (1951), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), and Hit the Deck (1955).
Lena Mary Calhoun Horne was an American singer, actress, dancer, and civil rights activist. Horne's career spanned more than seventy years and covered film, television, and theatre. Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving on to Hollywood and Broadway.
David Daniel Rose was a British-born American songwriter, composer, arranger, pianist, and orchestra leader. His best known compositions were "The Stripper", "Holiday for Strings", and "Calypso Melody". He also wrote music for many television series, including It's a Great Life, The Tony Martin Show, Little House on the Prairie, Highway to Heaven, Bonanza, Leave It to Beaver, and Highway Patrol, some under the pseudonym Ray Llewellyn.
Lorna Luft is an American actress and singer. She is the daughter of Judy Garland and Sidney Luft, the sister of Joey Luft and the half-sister of Liza Minnelli.
Betty Hutton was an American stage, film, and television actress, comedian, dancer, and singer. She rose to fame in the 1940s as a contract player for Paramount Pictures, appearing primarily in musicals and became one of the studio's most valuable stars. She was noted for her energetic performance style.
Beatrice Ruth Wain was an American Big Band-era singer and radio personality born in the Bronx, New York City. She had several hits with Larry Clinton and His Orchestra, including "My Reverie", "Deep Purple", and "Heart and Soul". Wain and announcer Andre Baruch, her husband, co-hosted radio programs from the 1940s to the 1980s.
Mort Lindsey was an orchestrator, composer, pianist, conductor and musical director for Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, Pat Boone, Jack Narz, and Merv Griffin.
Dorothy Collins was a Canadian-American singer, actress, and recording artist.
Roy Landman, better known as Snooky Lanson, was an American singer known for co-starring on the NBC television series Your Hit Parade.
Lucille Norman was an American mezzo-soprano, radio personality, and stage and film actress active in the 1940s and 1950s.
Eileen Wilson was an American big band singer, and one of the original stars of the 1950s television show Your Hit Parade on NBC. She also starred on the Hit Parade radio show.
Gale Robbins was an American actress and singer.
Marjorie Hughes is an American singer.
Gertrude Niesen was an American torch singer, actress, comedian, and songwriter who achieved popular success in musicals and films in the 1930s and 1940s.
Eugenie Baird was an American big-band, jazz, and radio singer.
Joan Edwards was an American film actress and singer-songwriter in the old-time radio era. She was perhaps best known for her work on the radio version of Your Hit Parade. She also was a vocalist for Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra.
Joy Hodges was an American singer and actress who performed on radio, on film, on Broadway, and with big bands.
Margherita Maria Francesca LaCentra was an American contralto singer, best known for her work on old-time radio and her singing with Artie Shaw's orchestra. She also performed as Barbara Fulton.
The Judy Canova Show is an American old-time radio comedy-variety program. It was broadcast on CBS July 6, 1943 – June 27, 1944, and on NBC January 13, 1945 – June 30, 1951, and December 29, 1951 – May 28, 1953. Each version differed from the others to some extent, although comedy and music remained the focal points. The program is notable for being the medium in which Judy Canova found her greatest success.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
Judy Johnson at IMDb
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
 | This article about a United States pop singer is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
