Georgia Carr
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2016}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Georgia Carr
| image =
| caption =
| birth_name = Mary Louise Thomas
| alias =
| birth_date = {{birth date|mf=yes|1925|06|20}}
| birth_place = Los Angeles, California, US
| death_date = {{death date and age|mf=yes|1971|7|4|1925|06|20}}
| death_place = Los Angeles, California, US
| instrument = Vocals
| genre = Traditional pop, jazz, R&B
| occupation = Singer, actress
| years_active = 1946–c.1970
| label = Capitol, Tops, Dot, Vee-Jay
| associated_acts =
}}
Georgia Carr (born Mary Louise Thomas, June 20, 1925 – July 4, 1971) was an American singer and actress who performed and recorded between the 1940s and 1960s.
Early life and education
She was born in Los Angeles and worked as a secretary with the Los Angeles Housing Authority while studying nursing at the University of California, Los Angeles, and establishing herself as a singer. In 1946, after winning a talent contest, she began a residency in the Club Royal in San Francisco where, in 1952, she was heard by bandleader Stan Kenton. He suggested that she change her name to Georgia Carr, and won her a recording contract with Capitol Records.[https://books.google.com/books?id=wlsDAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22georgia+carr%22&pg=PA62 "Stan Kenton Discovery Eyes Stardom", Jet, 9 October 1952, p.62][https://books.google.com/books?id=oEIDAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22georgia+carr%22&pg=PA60 "Ex-Calif. Secretary Hits Bigtime As Singer", Jet, 20 August 1953, p.60] She appeared in top clubs in New York City, Chicago and elsewhere, and released several singles on Capitol, with arrangements by Nelson Riddle, including "Softly" and "I Dream of You" (both 1952), "Is That Bad" and "Lonely" (both 1953). At the end of 1953, she began working as a disc jockey on radio station WOV in New York.[https://books.google.com/books?id=awoEAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22Georgia+Carr%22+1953&pg=PA42 Charlotte Summers, "Vox Jox", Billboard, 19 December 1953, p.42]
Career
She continued to record for Capitol and make club appearances, and in 1957 appeared as a calypso singer in the film Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?.[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0139704/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t9 Georgia Carr at IMDb]. Retrieved 24 August 2014 After a residency in Las Vegas, she had to give up her singing career temporarily because of severe laryngitis, from which she recovered without surgery.[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1368&dat=19590125&id=mlVQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=fg8EAAAAIBAJ&pg=3400,2319613 "Georgia Carr Survives a Vocal 'Trial by Fire'", Milwaukee Sentinel, January 25, 1959, p.32][http://www.koolkatjazz.com/catalog/georgia-carr-rocks-p-1984.html Liner notes, Rocks in My Bed] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140826160854/http://www.koolkatjazz.com/catalog/georgia-carr-rocks-p-1984.html |date=August 26, 2014 }} In 1958 she released the LP Songs by a Moody Miss on Tops Records; she was credited on the album sleeve as "America's Foremost Night Club Singer".[http://www.discogs.com/Georgia-Carr-Songs-By-A-Moody-Miss-Georgia-Carr-Americas-Foremost-Night-Club-Singer/release/4932756 Songs by a Moody Miss, Discogs.com.] Soon afterwards she signed for Dot Records, who issued further singles including "Don't Go".{{Cite web |url=http://www.globaldogproductions.info/a/dot-b.html |title=Dot Records Discography |access-date=August 24, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150118073920/http://www.globaldogproductions.info/a/dot-b.html |archive-date=January 18, 2015 |url-status=dead }}
A report in the Chicago Defender in 1963 described her as possessing "beauty, personality, 'class,' and a warm, husky voice of intimate styling", and said that she was intending to front a new business, American Negro Commercials, Inc., to make "television and theatrical commercials utilizing Negro actors and models."[http://vintageblackglamour.tumblr.com/post/46801885162/georgia-carr-was-a-singer-actress-and-eventual Georgia Carr, VintageBlackGlamour, March 31, 2013] From 1964, she recorded for Vee-Jay Records, and that year released her best known album, Rocks in My Bed, a collection of songs by Duke Ellington, Ray Charles, Peggy Lee and others. She also appeared in the film Handle with Care, an all African-American musical comedy.[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0218319/?ref_=nm_flmg_wr_3 Handle with Care, IMDb.com] A soundtrack album was released on the Preview label.[http://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/georgia_carr/handle_with_care/ Handle with Care, RateYourMusic.com]. Retrieved 24 August 2014
She acted in the television series Marcus Welby, M.D. in 1969. In later years, she ran a catering company with her sister. She died of a stroke in Los Angeles in 1971 at the age of 46.
A compilation of her early recordings, Softly Baby, was released in 1985.[http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Georgia-Carr-Softly-Baby-1985-import-re-issue-jazz-swing-bop-pop-ems1143/261573539566?_trksid=p2047675.c100011.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D24435%26meid%3D41bc8757ee8547928e3c6438cd1c76d0%26pid%3D100011%26prg%3D9173%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D10%26sd%3D261511598734 Softly Baby]. Retrieved 24 August 2014
Discography
- Songs by a Moody Miss (1958)
- Rocks in My Bed (Vee-Jay, 1964)
- Handle with Care (soundtrack, 1964)
- Softly Baby (compilation, 1985)
References
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Category:Singers from Los Angeles
Category:American torch singers
Category:Traditional pop music singers
Category:Vee-Jay Records artists
Category:Capitol Records artists
Category:Actresses from Los Angeles