Saturday, March 19, 2011

Margaret Whiting, American pop singer ("A Tree in the Meadow", "Moonlight in Vermont"), died from natural causes she was , 86,

Margaret Whiting  was a singer of American popular music and country music who first made her reputation during the 1940s and 1950s.

(July 22, 1924 – January 10, 2011)

 Biography

Youth

Whiting was born in Detroit and her family moved to Los Angeles in 1929. Her father, Richard A. Whiting, was a composer of popular songs ("Hooray for Hollywood," "Too Marvelous for Words"). Her sister, Barbara Whiting, was an actress (Junior Miss, Beware, My Lovely) and singer. An aunt, Margaret Young, was a singer and popular recording artist in the 1920s. In her childhood, Whiting's singing ability had already been noticed, and at the age of only seven she sang for singer-lyricist Johnny Mercer, with whom her father had collaborated on some popular songs. In 1942, Mercer co-founded Capitol Records and signed Margaret to one of Capitol's first recording contracts. 

Recording career

Whiting's first recordings were as featured singer with various orchestras:
In 1945, Whiting began to record under her own name, making such recordings as:
  • "All Through the Day" (1945, becoming a bestseller in the spring of 1946)
  • "In Love in Vain" (1945)
(these two from the movie "Centennial Summer")
Until the mid-1950s Whiting continued to record for Capitol, but as she ceased to record songs that charted as hits, she switched to Dot Records in 1957 and to Verve Records in 1960. Whiting returned to Capitol in the early 1960s and then signed with London Records in 1966. On London, Whiting landed one last major hit single in 1966, "The Wheel of Hurt", which hit #1 on the Easy Listening singles chart. Her final solo albums were made for Audiophile (1980, 1982, 1985) and DRG Records (1991). Her distinguished conductors and musical arrangers through the years included Frank DeVol, Russell Garcia, Johnny Mandel, Billy May, Marty Paich, Nelson Riddle, Pete Rugolo, and Paul Weston.

Television career

Margaret and Barbara Whiting starred as themselves in the situation comedy Those Whiting Girls. The show, produced by Desilu Productions, aired on CBS as a summer replacement series (in place of I Love Lucy) between July, 1955 and September, 1957.
Margaret Whiting was a regular guest on variety shows and talk shows throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, including The Big Record, The Bob Hope Show, The Colgate Comedy Hour, The David Frost Show, The Ed Sullivan Show, The George Jessel Show, The Guy Mitchell Show, The Jonathan Winters Show, The Merv Griffin Show, The Mike Douglas Show, The Nat King Cole Show, Over Easy, The Pat Boone Show, The Patti Page Show, The Red Skelton Hour, The Steve Allen Show, The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show, The Texaco Star Theater, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Virginia Graham Show, and The Voice of Firestone.
In the 2000s, she appeared in several documentaries about singers and songwriters of her era, including Judy Garland: By Myself (2004), Fever: The Music of Peggy Lee (2004), Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer (2007), Johnny Mercer: The Dream's on Me (2009), and Michael Feinstein's American Songbook (2010).

Marriages

  • Hubbell Robinson Jr., a writer, producer, and television executive (December 29, 1948 - divorced August 18, 1949)[2]
  • Lou Busch, a ragtime pianist known as "Joe 'Fingers' Carr" (divorced; one daughter, Deborah, born 1951)
  • John Richard Moore, a founder of Panavision (married 1958 - divorced)
  • Jack Wrangler (né John Stillman; 1994 – April 7, 2009; his death)
Her late-life marriage to gay porn star Jack Wrangler, who was more than 20 years her junior, raised many eyebrows. In 1976, Wrangler met Whiting when she attended one of his one-man erotic shows in New York City.[3] As he later recalled, "I was with my manager when I looked over at Margaret, who was surrounded by five guys in a booth. There she was with the hair, the furs and the big gestures. I thought, 'Boy, now that's New York! That's glamour!' I had to meet her."
When the couple first got together, Wrangler protested, "But I'm gay!" to which Whiting reportedly replied, "Only around the edges, dear." In an interview later in life, Wrangler said, "I'm not bisexual and I'm not straight. I'm gay, but I could never live a gay lifestyle because I'm much too competitive. When I was with a guy I would always want to be better than him: what we were accomplishing, what we were wearing – anything. With a woman you compete like crazy, but coming from different points of view, and as far as I'm concerned, that was doable".[4] Jack Wrangler predeceased his much older wife, dying from emphysema in 2009.

Death

Whiting died on January 10, 2011, aged 86, from natural causes at the Lillian Booth Actors' Home in Englewood, New Jersey.[citation needed]

Trivia

Susan Hayward's singing voice was dubbed by Whiting for the song "I'll Plant My Own Tree" in 1967's Valley of the Dolls, earlier performed by Judy Garland, whom Hayward replaced.
According to the Internet Movie Database, early in her career Whiting provided the singing voices for actresses in two Republic films: for Sally Carlyle in Youth on Parade (1942), and for Brenda Joyce in Thumbs Up (1943).

Discography

Albums

Year Album US Pop LPs Label
1950 Margaret Whiting Sings Rodgers and Hart
Capitol
1954 Love Songs by Margaret Whiting
1956 Margaret Whiting Sings for the Starry-Eyed
1957 Goin' Places
Dot
1958 Margaret
1959 Margaret Whiting's Great Hits

Ten Top Hits
1960 Just a Dream

Margaret Whiting Sings the Jerome Kern Songbook
Verve

Broadway, Right Now! (with Mel Tormé)
1961 Past Midnight
MGM
1967 The Wheel of Hurt 109 London
Maggie Isn't Margaret Anymore
1968 Pop Country
1980 Too Marvelous for Words
Audiophile
1982 Come a Little Closer
1985 The Lady's in Love with You
1991 Then and Now
DRG

Singles

Year Single Contributing Artist Chart Positions
Pop Country AC
1942 "That Old Black Magic" Freddie Slack & His Orchestra 10 - -
1943 "My Ideal" Billy Butterfield & His Orchestra 12 - -
1944 "Silver Wings In the Moonlight" Freddie Slack & His Orchestra 19 - -
1945 "Moonlight In Vermont" Billy Butterfield & His Orchestra 15 - -
"It Might as Well Be Spring" Paul Weston & His Orchestra 6 - -
1946 "All Through the Day" - 11 - -
"In Love In Vain" - 12 - -
"Come Rain or Come Shine" - 17 - -
"Along With Me" - 13 - -
"Passe" - 12 - -
"Guilty" - 4 - -
"Oh, But I Do" - 7 - -
1947 "Beware My Heart" - 21 - -
"Old Devil Moon" - 11 - -
"Ask Anyone Who Knows" - 21 - -
"Little Girl Blue" - 25 - -
"You Do" - 5 - -
"Lazy Countryside" - 21 - -
"Pass That Peace Pipe" - 8 - -
1948 "Let's Be Sweethearts Again" - 22 - -
"But Beautiful" - 21 - -
"Now is the Hour" - 2 - -
"What's Good About Goodbye" - 29 - -
"Please Don't Kiss Me" - 23 - -
"A Tree in the Meadow" - 1 - -
"Far Away Places" - 2 - -
1949 "Forever and Ever" - 5 - -
"A Wonderful Guy" - 12 - -
"Baby, It's Cold Outside" Johnny Mercer 3 - -
"Slippin' Around" Jimmy Wakely 1 1 -
"Wedding Bells" 30 6 -
"Dime a Dozen - 19 - -
"I'll Never Slip Around Again" Jimmy Wakely 8 2 -
1950 "Broken Down Merry Go Round" 12 2 -
"The Gods Were Angry With Me" 6 3 -
"I Said My Pajamas (and Put on My Prayers)" Frank De Vol 21 - -
"Let's Go to Church (Next Sunday Morning)" Jimmy Wakely 13 2 -
"My Foolish Heart" - 17 - -
"Blind Date" Bob Hope 16 - -
"A Bushel and a Peck" Jimmy Wakely 6 6 -
1951 "When You and I Were Young, Maggie, Blues" 20 7 -
"Good Morning, Mr. Echo" - 14 - -
"I Don't Want to Be Free" Jimmy Wakely - 5 -
1952 "I'll Walk Alone" - 29 - -
"Outside of Heaven" - 22 - -
1953 "Why Don't You Believe Me?" - 29 - -
1954 "Moonlight In Vermont" new version - 29 - -
1956 "The Money Tree" - 20 - -
1958 "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still In Love With You)" - 74 - -
1966 "Somewhere There's Love" - - - 29
"The Wheel of Hurt" - 26 - 1
1967 "Just Like a Man" - 132 - 29
"Only Love Can Break a Heart" - 96 - 4
"I Almost Called Your Name" - 108 - 4
1968 "I Hate to See Me Go" - 127 - 27
"It Keeps Right On a Hurtin'" - 115 - 28
"Faithfully" - 117 - 19
"Can't Get You Out of My Mind" - 124 - 11
1969 "Where Was I" - - - 24
1970 "(Z Theme) Life Goes On" - - - 14
"Until It's Time For You to Go" - - - 32

To see more of who died in 2010 click here
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