Profile
Anita O'Day
Singer + Jazz Musician
Female
Born
Oct 18, 1919
Hometown
Chicago, Illinois
Died
Nov 23, 2006
Death Place
Los Angeles, Cali...
Anita O'Day was an American jazz singer. Born Anita Belle Colton, O'Day was admired for her sense of rhythm and dynamics, and her early big band appearances shattered the traditional image of the "girl singer". Refusing to pander to any female stereotype… Read More
News + Updates
Browse recent news and stories about Anita O'Day.
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Ask 411 Music 8.25.11: Declining Woodstock 411mania.ComGoogle News - Aug 25, 2011
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To The Beat Of Her Own Drum The Desert SunGoogle News - Aug 19, 2011
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Music Review: Jazz On A Summer's Day: A Tribute To Anita O'day Edinburgh FestivalsGoogle News - Aug 18, 2011
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Jim Marentec Benefit At The Artists' Quarter Jazz Police (Blog)Google News - Aug 13, 2011
Timeline
Learn about the memorable moments in the evolution of Anita O'Day.
CHILDHOOD
1919
Birth
Born on October 18, 1919.
TEENAGE
1937
17 Years Old
At the Vialago, O'Day met the drummer Don Carter, who introduced her to music theory; they wed in 1937.
1938
18 Years Old
Her first big break came in 1938 when Down Beat editor Carl Cons hired her to work at his new club at 222 North State Street, the Off-Beat, which became a popular hangout for musicians.
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1939
19 Years Old
While performing at the Off Beat, she met Gene Krupa, who promised to call her if Irene Daye, his then vocalist, ever left his band, and, in 1939, O'Day was hired as vocalist for Miller's Quartet, which had a stay at the Three Deuces club in Chicago.
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TWENTIES
In 1942, she appeared with the Krupa band in two "soundies" (short musical films originally made for jukeboxes), singing "Thanks for the Boogie Ride" and "Let Me Off Uptown".
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1943
23 Years Old
When Krupa's band broke up after he was arrested for possession of marijuana in 1943, O'Day joined Woody Herman for a month-long gig at the Hollywood Palladium, followed by two weeks at the Orpheum.
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1944
24 Years Old
Despite her initial misgivings about the compatibility of their musical styles, she joined Stan Kenton's band in April 1944.
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1946
26 Years Old
After leaving Krupa late in 1946, O'Day once again became a solo artist.
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1947
27 Years Old
O'Day's drug problems began to surface late in 1947, when she and her husband Carl Hoff were arrested for possession of marijuana and sentenced to 90 days in jail.
THIRTIES
What secured O'Day's place in the jazz pantheon, however, are the 17 albums she recorded for Norman Granz's Norgran and Verve labels between 1952 and 1962.
1953
33 Years Old
The case dragged on for most of 1953; O'Day was finally sentenced to six months in jail.
1954
34 Years Old
Not long after her release from jail on February 25, 1954, she began work on her second album, Songs by Anita O'Day (reissued as An Evening with Anita O'Day).
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1958
38 Years Old
She appeared in the documentary Jazz on a Summer's Day, filmed at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival, which increased her popularity.
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FIFTIES
1970
50 Years Old
After kicking the habit, she made a comeback at the 1970 Berlin Jazz Festival.
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LATE ADULTHOOD
1981
61 Years Old
O'Day spoke candidly about her drug addiction in her 1981 memoir High Times, Hard Times, which led to a string of TV appearances on 60 Minutes, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Today Show with Bryant Gumbel, The Dick Cavett Show, Over Easy with Hugh Downs, The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder, and several others.
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2005
85 Years Old
In 2005, her version of the standard "Sing, Sing, Sing" was remixed by RSL and was included in the compilation album Verve Remixed 3.
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In November 2006, Robbie Cavolina (her last manager) entered her into a West Hollywood, California convalescent hospital, while she recovered from pneumonia.
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Original Authors of this text are noted on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anita_O'Day.
Text is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
Text is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.