Artist: Ruth Olay
Song: "I Concentrate on You"
[ listen ]
Jazz singer Ruth Olay was born in San Francisco, California in 1924, but her family moved to Los Angeles when she was just 18 months old. Her father was a Hungarian rabbi born in Yonkers, her mother a classical singer who performed in the chorus of Jeanette MacDonald & Nelson Eddy movies. You can read more about Ruth Olay on Wikipedia here—where they think she was born in Los Angeles—and you'll find a terrific 1999 interview with Olay for Songbirds magazine here. In the interview, you'll find out how Ruth first got started singing, read about her friendships with Benny Carter and Judy Garland, learn how she used to "pass" as a black singer and find out what she's been doing since retiring from her singing career. Notes and pictures from the 1963 "Olay! O.K.!!" LP are included below, along with a YouTube clip of Ruth Olay performing "The Best Is Yet to Come" on the Johnny Carson Show.
Ruth Olay on YouTube:
[ "The Best Is Yet to Come" ]
[ Ruth Olay ]
Her Mercury albums are totally awesome!
ReplyDeletecool, I'll certainly have to check them out—she's great. I'd actually never heard of Ruth Olay before finding this record in the dollar bins a few weeks ago.
ReplyDeleteYou'll love them - super cool 50's jazz. Much better than this one I must say although this one's pretty good =)
ReplyDelete