John Alvin Ray was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Highly popular for most of the 1950s, Ray has been cited by critics as a major precursor to what became rock and roll, for his jazz and blues-influenced music, and his animated stage personality. Tony Bennett called Ray the "father of rock and roll", and historians have noted him as a pioneering figure in the development of the genre.
Eartha Mae Kitt was an American singer and actress known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 recordings of "C'est si bon" and the Christmas novelty song "Santa Baby".
New Faces of 1952 is a musical revue with songs and comedy skits. It ran on Broadway for nearly a year in 1952 and was then made into a motion picture in 1954. It helped launch the careers of several young performers including Paul Lynde, Alice Ghostley, Eartha Kitt, Robert Clary, Carol Lawrence, Ronny Graham, performer/writer Mel Brooks, and lyricist Sheldon Harnick.
"C'est si bon" is a French popular song composed in 1947 by Henri Betti with the lyrics by André Hornez. The English lyrics were written in 1949 by Jerry Seelen. The song has been adapted in several languages.
"Santa Baby" is a song performed by American singer Eartha Kitt with Henri René and His Orchestra and originally released in 1953. The song was written by Joan Javits and Philip Springer, who also used the pseudonym Tony Springer in an attempt to speed up the song's publishing process. Lyrically, the song is a tongue-in-cheek look at a Christmas list addressed to Santa Claus by a woman who wants extravagant gifts such as sables, yachts, and decorations from Tiffany.
"Ain't Misbehavin'" is a 1929 stride jazz/early swing song. Andy Razaf wrote the lyrics to a score by Thomas "Fats" Waller and Harry Brooks for the Broadway musical comedy play Connie's Hot Chocolates.
Leonard Sillman was an American Broadway producer. Born in Detroit, Michigan, on May 9, 1908, he was the brother of June Carroll, the brother-in-law of Sidney Carroll and the uncle of Steve Reich and Jonathan Carroll. He produced a series of musical revues, Leonard Sillman's New Faces, which introduced many major stars to Broadway audiences, such as Henry Fonda, Eartha Kitt, Imogene Coca, Inga Swenson, John Lund, Van Johnson, Carol Lawrence, Madeline Kahn, Paul Lynde and Maggie Smith. Versions of New Faces were produced in 1934, 1936, 1943, 1952, 1956, 1962 and 1968. The very first New Faces in 1934 included actors Henry Fonda, Imogene Coca and Frances Dewey Wormser.
Arthur Siegel was an American songwriter.
"Under the Bridges of Paris" is a popular 1913 song, consisting of music written by Vincent Scotto, original French lyrics written by Jean Rodor in 1913, and partial English lyrics added in by Dorcas Cochran in 1952, resulting in the version released in 1954 containing lyrics in both French and English.
"Guess Who I Saw Today" is a popular jazz song written by Murray Grand with lyrics by Elisse Boyd. The song was originally composed for Leonard Sillman's Broadway musical revue, New Faces of 1952, in which it was sung by June Carroll.
June Carroll was an American lyricist, singer and actress.
"Where Is My Man" is a song from 1983 by the American singer and actress Eartha Kitt, which appeared on her 1984 album I Love Men. The song was co-written by comedy writer Bruce Vilanch along with musicians and producers Fred Zarr and Jacques Morali.
"Uska Dara" is a 1953 song made famous by Eartha Kitt, and also recorded by Eydie Gormé. It is based on the Turkish folk song "Kâtibim" about a woman and her secretary traveling to Üsküdar. On early American recordings, this adaptation is credited to Stella Lee.
I Love Men is a 1984 studio album by Eartha Kitt, her first album recorded for 14 years. The album was recorded in New York at the Power Station. Produced by French record producer Jacques Morali, who had previously produced recordings by the Village People and The Ritchie Family. This album features Kitt performing Euro disco, dance tracks. The first single released from the album "Where Is My Man" had been previously released in 1983 and had returned Kitt to the UK charts after an absence of 28 years. The single reached #36 after entering the chart in November 1983 and charted in several European countries. and also made the Top 10 of the US Billboard dance chart, where it reached #7. The title track "I Love Men" was issued as the second single and this charted in the UK at #50 in the summer of 1984. The success of this album led to a new collaboration between Kitt and Jacques Morali in 1985 when they recorded two more tracks, "I Don't Care" and "This Is My Life"; the latter also went on to chart in the UK in 1986 at #73. These tracks were also added to later re-issues of the original album.
That Bad Eartha is a twelve-song reconfiguration of material from American singer Eartha Kitt's first two eight-song, 10-inch albums issued by RCA Victor. It contains all eight songs from the 1953 album RCA Victor Presents Eartha Kitt. It repurposes the cover image and title, and four of the songs from Eartha's 1954 second 10-inch album, That Bad Eartha . In this way, it could be considered an expansion of the first short-length album, supplementing it with packaging and selected songs from the second.
Kathleen G. "Kay" Twomey was an American songwriter and music arranger. Twomey co-wrote "Serenade of the Bells", which reached the Billboard magazine Best Seller chart on November 7, 1947 and lasted 16 weeks on the chart, peaking at #3, and in a separate recording reached the Billboard's Best Seller chart on December 26, 1947 at #13. She also co-wrote "Wooden Heart", best known for its use in the 1960 Elvis Presley film G.I. Blues. A cover version by Joe Dowell made it to number one in the US charts at the end of August 1961. Dowell's version also spent three weeks at number one on the Easy Listening chart.
New Faces is a 1954 American film adaptation of the musical revue New Faces of 1952 directed by Harry Horner with sketches directed by John Beal. Filmed in Cinemascope and Eastmancolor it was released by 20th Century Fox on March 6, 1954.
S is the second extended play (EP) by American singer SZA; it was self-released on April 10, 2013. After meeting members of independent label Top Dawg and releasing her debut EP See.SZA.Run (2012), SZA began working on S, beginning recording in May 2013. SZA worked with a variety of producers on the album, including Zodiac, Patrick Lukens, Brandun DeShay, WNDRBRD, Waren Vaughn and Felix Snow. S is characterized as an alt-R&B album with production that "twists and mutates."
"Just An Old Fashioned Girl" is a popular song written by Marve A. Fisher and best known in its 1956 recording by Eartha Kitt.
Eartha Kitt Sings Songs from the Edward L. Alperson CinemaScope Production of Leonard Sillman's "New Faces" is the first extended play record recorded by American singer Eartha Kitt, released in 1954 by RCA Victor. It includes her singles "Monotonous" from 1952 and "Santa Baby" from 1953, both of which were featured in the 1954 film New Faces. The EP was released to promote the film, which included two other songs from the motion picture.
