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Margaret Whiting 1924 - 2011

Margaret Whiting was born on July 22, 1924 in Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan United States, and died at age 86 years old on January 10, 2011 in Englewood, Bergen County, NJ.

Margaret Whiting

Margaret Eleanor Whiting

July 22, 1924

Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan, United States

January 10, 2011

Englewood, Bergen County, New Jersey, 07631, United States

Female

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Margaret Whiting's History: 1924 - 2011

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Introduction

Margaret Whiting Birth name Margaret Eleanor Whiting Born July 22, 1924 Detroit, Michigan, United States Died January 10, 2011 (aged 86) Englewood, New Jersey, U.S. Genres Jazz, traditional pop Occupation Singer Years active 1942–2010 Labels Capitol, Dot, Verve, London, Audiophile, DRG Margaret Eleanor Whiting (July 22, 1924 – January 10, 2011) was an American popular music and country music singer who gained popularity in the 1940s and 1950s. Biography Whiting was born in Detroit, but her family moved to Los Angeles in 1929, when she was five years old. Her father, Richard, was a composer of popular songs, including the classics "Hooray for Hollywood", "Ain't We Got Fun?", and "On the Good Ship Lollipop." Whiting's singing ability was noticed at an early age and at seven she sang for singer-lyricist Johnny Mercer, with whom her father had collaborated on some popular songs, including "Too Marvelous for Words". In 1942, Mercer co-founded Capitol Records and signed Margaret to one of Capitol's first recording contracts. Whiting's first recordings were as featured singer with various orchestras: "That Old Black Magic", with Freddie Slack and His Orchestra (1942) "Moonlight in Vermont", with Billy Butterfield's Orchestra (1943) It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA. "It Might as Well Be Spring", with Paul Weston and His Orchestra (1945) 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") "Guilty" (1946) "Pretending" (1946) "Oh, But I Do" (1946) "A Tree in the Meadow" (a number 1 hit in the summer of 1948) "Slippin' Around", a duet with star Jimmy Wakely (a number 1 hit in 1949) "Baby, It's Cold Outside" (duet with Johnny Mercer, 1949) "Blind Date", a novelty record with Bob Hope (1950) "Far Away Places" (1949) "Silver Bells" (duet with Jimmy Wakely, 1951) 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.[6] 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 Buddy Bregman, Frank DeVol, Russell Garcia, Johnny Mandel, Billy May, Marty Paich, Nelson Riddle, Pete Rugolo, and Paul Weston. Whiting co-starred on the 15-minute musical programs The Jack Smith Show and Club Fifteen. She also was a vocalist on The Eddie Cantor Show and was in the cast of The Philip Morris Follies of 1946 and The Railroad Hour. Additionally, she was hostess on the Spotlight Revue and a featured singer on the transcribed Barry Wood Show. She also appeared in the part of a young Sophie Tucker, in the Lux Radio Theater production "No Time For Heartaches". 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 Faye Emerson's Wonderful Town, when the musical series focused on Whiting's hometown of Detroit; The Big Record, The Bob Hope Show, The Colgate Comedy Hour, The Tony Martin Show, 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 Chevy Showroom, The Patti Page Show, The Red Skelton Hour, The Steve Allen Show, The Ford Show Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford, The Texaco Star Theater, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Virginia Graham Show, and The Voice of Firestone. In 1960, Whiting appeared as Vinnie Berkeley in one of the last episodes, "Martial Law", of the ABC/Warner Brothers western series, Colt .45. Paul Picerni was cast in the same segment as Duke Blaine. In 1984, Whiting appeared in the television musical movie Taking My Turn. It was basically a filmed version of the 1983 off-Broadway show in which she appeared. This ensemble show also included Marni Nixon, Tiger Haynes, and Cissy Houston among others. The music was composed by Gary William Friedman with lyrics by Will Holt. The revue was centered on issues regarding aging. The stage production opened at New York City's Entermedia Theatre on June 9, 1983. It went on to win the 1984 Outer Critic's Circle Award for Best Lyrics/Music and was nominated for the 1984 Drama Desk Award for Best Musical (losing to Stephen Sondheim's Sunday In the Park With George). A cast recording of the stage production was released and subsequently re-released on CD. In the 2000s, Whiting was interviewed 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), The Andrews Sisters: Queens of the Music Machines (2009) and Michael Feinstein's American Songbook (2010). From 1989 through 2001, Whiting was the Artistic Director of the annual Cabaret and Performance Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford Connecticut. With other performers such as Julie Wilson and Anne Francine as well as musical directors like Tex Arnold, she spent 10 days instructing selected professionals and amateurs in the cabaret performance process. Marriages Whiting was married four times, and had one child: Hubbell Robinson Jr., a writer, producer, and television executive (December 29, 1948 – divorced August 18, 1949) Lou Busch, a ragtime pianist known as "Joe 'Fingers' Carr" (divorced; one daughter, Deborah, born 1950) John Richard Moore, a founder of Panavision (married 1958 – divorced) Jack Wrangler (John Stillman), 1970s and 1980s gay pornography film actor; married when Whiting was 70 and he was 48 (1994 – April 7, 2009; his death from emphysema) Death Whiting died on January 10, 2011, aged 86, from natural causes at the Lillian Booth Actors Home in Englewood, New Jersey.
07/22

1924

Birthday

July 22, 1924

Birthdate

Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan United States

Birthplace

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Nationality & Locations

United States.
Early Life & Education

Whiting was born in Detroit, but her family moved to Los Angeles in 1929, when she was five years old. Her father, Richard, was a composer of popular songs, including the classics "Hooray for Hollywood", "Ain't We Got Fun?", and "On the Good Ship Lollipop." Whiting's singing ability was noticed at an early age and at seven she sang for singer-lyricist Johnny Mercer, with whom her father had collaborated on some popular songs, including "Too Marvelous for Words". In 1942, Mercer co-founded Capitol Records and signed Margaret to one of Capitol's first recording contracts.
Religious Beliefs

She was sent to Catholic schools.
Professional Career

FAMOUS SINGER Capitol's first recording contracts. Whiting's first recordings were as featured singer with various orchestras: "That Old Black Magic", with Freddie Slack and His Orchestra (1942) "Moonlight in Vermont", with Billy Butterfield's Orchestra (1943) It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA. "It Might as Well Be Spring", with Paul Weston and His Orchestra (1945) 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") "Guilty" (1946) "Pretending" (1946) "Oh, But I Do" (1946) "A Tree in the Meadow" (a number 1 hit in the summer of 1948) "Slippin' Around", a duet with star Jimmy Wakely (a number 1 hit in 1949) "Baby, It's Cold Outside" (duet with Johnny Mercer, 1949) "Blind Date", a novelty record with Bob Hope (1950) "Far Away Places" (1949) "Silver Bells" (duet with Jimmy Wakely, 1951) 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.[6] 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 Buddy Bregman, Frank DeVol, Russell Garcia, Johnny Mandel, Billy May, Marty Paich, Nelson Riddle, Pete Rugolo, and Paul Weston.
Personal Life & Family

Johnny Mercer. Whiting's singing ability was noticed at an early age and at seven she sang for singer-lyricist Johnny Mercer, with whom her father had collaborated on some popular songs, including "Too Marvelous for Words". In 1942, Mercer co-founded Capitol Records and signed Margaret to one of Capitol's first recording contracts. Whiting's first recordings were as featured singer with various orchestras One often-repeated story took place in the early 1940s, when she was 19. Mercer had asked her to sing “Moonlight in Vermont,” which he had just heard and felt was ideal for her voice. “I’ve never been to Vermont,” she said. “How can I sing a song about a place I’ve never been to? What is the significance of pennies in a stream? What are ski tows?” “I don’t know,” Mercer replied. “I’m from Savannah. We’ll use our imagination.”
01/10

2011

Death

January 10, 2011

Death date

Unknown
Cause of death

Englewood, Bergen County, New Jersey 07631, United States
Death location

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Obituary

Margaret Whiting, Fresh-Faced Singer of Jazz and Pop Standards, Dies at 86 By David Belcher Jan. 11, 2011 Margaret Whiting, a songwriter’s daughter who as a bright-eyed teenage singer captivated wartime America and then went on to a long, acclaimed career recording hit songs and performing in nightclubs and on television, died on Monday in Englewood, N.J. She was 86. Her daughter and only survivor, Deborah Whiting, said Ms. Whiting died of natural causes at the Lillian Booth Actors’ Home, where she had lived since March, having made her home in Manhattan for many years. Ms. Whiting may not have been a household name like her contemporaries Rosemary Clooney and Ella Fitzgerald, nor was she a singing movie star like Doris Day, but in her heyday she was widely popular in the worlds of big band, jazz, popular music — even country — for more than 30 years, beginning in the 1940s. Early on, with her schoolgirl smile and wavy blond hair, Ms. Whiting was a favorite interpreter of jazz and popular standards. Her fresh-faced appearance and clear, sturdy voice, tinged with innocence, made her a darling of U.S.O. tours during World War II and the Korean War. Beginning in the ’40s, she turned out a string of hit records, became a fixture on radio, appeared on television in the ’50s and later embarked on a successful nightclub career, touring as late as the 1990s and occasionally venturing into musical theater. She was still performing into the 21st century, often at clubs like Arci’s Place in Manhattan, where she had long been a mainstay of the cabaret scene. In 2009 she found a wide audience again when her original recording of “Time After Time,” a Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn song from 1947, was featured in the film “Julie & Julia,” starring Meryl Streep as Julia Child. But it was her association with the lyricist Johnny Mercer that most defined Ms. Whiting’s career. Mercer was writing songs for the movies with Ms. Whiting’s father, the popular-song composer Richard A. Whiting, when young Margaret sang for him one night at the family home in Beverly Hills, Calif. She was just 6. “I came down in my nightgown,” she told The New York Times, “sang two songs and went up to bed.” It would become a lasting friendship. After Mr. Whiting died of a heart attack in 1938 at the height of his popularity, Mercer became a surrogate father of sorts to 13-year-old Margaret, personally overseeing her budding career and signing her immediately after he helped found Capitol Records in 1942. He once told her, “I have two words for you: grow up.” When she was 16, the comedian Phil Silvers asked her to fill in for a missing member of his act at the Grace Hayes Lodge in the San Fernando Valley. It helped start her career. At 18 she recorded the Harold Arlen-Johnny Mercer song “That Old Black Magic” with the bandleader Freddie Slack. The next year it was “Moonlight in Vermont” with the trumpeter Billy Butterfield and his band, followed in 1945 by “It Might as Well Be Spring,” with Paul Weston, a Rodgers & Hammerstein tune from the musical “State Fair.” That song became a signature for her. There were more hits, among them “Come Rain or Come Shine,” a Mercer-Arlen song from the musical “St. Louis Woman.” In 1948 alone Ms. Whiting had three major hits: “A Tree in the Meadow,” “Now Is the Hour” and “Far Away Places.” A duet with Mercer, “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” (by Frank Loesser), lasted 19 weeks on the Billboard chart in 1949. Her nine duets with the country star Jimmy Wakely, from 1949 to 1951, were sensations, particularly “Slippin’ Around.” She released albums into the late 1950s with Capitol Records, then switched to the Dot and Verve labels, but returned to Capitol and recorded her last big hit, “The Wheel of Hurt,” in 1966. Ms. Whiting was a regular performer on television in its first decades, appearing on variety shows hosted by George Jessel, Red Skelton, Jonathan Winters and Nat King Cole. Besides “Julie & Julia,” her voice is heard in the films “Bugsy” and “The Cider House Rules.” In another, “Valley of the Dolls,” she was uncredited as the singing voice of Susan Hayward. In her long nightclub career, Ms. Whiting was a mentor to younger cabaret singers like K. T. Sullivan and Mary Cleere Haran. She played in touring and regional musical theater productions of “Call Me Madam,” “Gypsy,” “Pal Joey” and “Over Here!” And in 1983 she appeared in the Off Broadway musical “Taking My Turn,” in which she delivered the line, “Age doesn’t make you boring; boring makes you boring.” “We have been billed as a show about old people, but I don’t like that,” Ms. Whiting told The Times in an interview at the time. “I call it a musical comedy about living. I mean, in my business, there is no such thing as retiring at 65. You retire when you want to. Right now I’m doing all the things I want to do — this show, television, records, personal appearances. I just gave a pasta demonstration at Bloomingdale’s. I don’t cook, but they wanted me anyway for pasta Bolognese. I told them, ‘Don’t ask me to chop or mince.’ ” Margaret Eleanor Whiting was born to Richard Whiting and the former Eleanor Youngblood on July 22, 1924, in Detroit, where her father was moonlighting as a piano player in a hotel. As a girl she moved with her parents and sister to New York, where her father worked on Broadway musicals, then to Los Angeles, where he wrote for movies (supplying Shirley Temple with her trademark song “On the Good Ship Lollipop”). He also met Mercer there and collaborated with him on songs like “Hooray for Hollywood.” Living with her family in Beverly Hills, Ms. Whiting attended a Roman Catholic private girls’ school and enjoyed a gilded childhood, frolicking at lavish parties with movie stars and music legends, among them Mercer, Arlen and Jerome Kern, whom she called Uncle Jerry. Her younger sister, Barbara, who died in 2004, also became an entertainer, and together they starred in “Those Whiting Girls,” a 1950s television series about college coeds. Ms. Whiting had an early love affair with the actor John Garfield, and her first three marriages ended in divorce, to Hubbell Robinson Jr., a television executive; Lou Busch, a musician with whom she had her daughter, Deborah; and Richard Moore, a cinematographer who helped found the company Panavision. In her later years, Ms. Whiting was known to many as the unlikely wife of Jack Wrangler (originally John Stillman), a star of gay pornographic films in the 1970s who went on to become a cabaret and theater producer. Ms. Whiting and Mr. Wrangler, 22 years her junior, met in the 1970s, lived together for many years and married in 1994. She wrote about their relationship in an autobiography, “It Might as Well Be Spring,” saying it was based on similar interests and mutual respect, not sex. When they first became involved, he told her, “I’m gay,” to which she replied, “Only around the edges, dear.” Mr. Wrangler helped conceive the 1997 Broadway musical “Dream,” a tribute to Mercer, in which Ms. Whiting starred; it was her only Broadway show. Mr. Wrangler died of emphysema in 2009. Her friend and mentor, Mercer, died in 1976. But he remained in her thoughts and the subject of stories she told for years afterward. “He was a perfect Southern gentleman until he had three Scotches and two sips,” she once said.

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