Georgia Gibbs, 87, Bubbly Singer in 1940s and 1950s

Georgia Gibbs, who died Saturday at 87, was a versatile “girl singer” who started off fronting big bands in the 1930s and eventually had hits as a solo artist, beginning with “If I Knew You Were Comin’ I’d’ve Baked a Cake” (1950).Her best-known song was probably the tango-tinged “Kiss of Fire,” which hit no. 1 on the pop charts in 1952. But as a figure in pop history, Gibbs has been remembered for covering songs by early black rock ‘n’ roll singers — and outselling them in white markets.The singer Laverne Baker was so incensed at Gibbs’s success with Baker’s song “Tweedle Dee” (1955) that she claimed to have named Gibbs as beneficiary when she took out flight insurance, in case an accident prevented Baker from providing Gibbs with more material.Gibbs, for her part, lamented the generally shabby treatment artists of all colors received at the hands of record companies in the 1950s, but told the Los Angeles Times in 1981, “I don’t think I should be personally held responsible, because I had nothing at all to do with it. At that time, artists had no right to pick their own songs.”Gibbs became a regular on television’s “Hit Parade,” as well as “Toast of the Town” and many other shows. While Gibbs’s stylings sound a bit corny today, many audiences at the time found her enthralling. “What a gal,” a reviewer at the Hartford Courant bubbled in 1955. “An atom bomb if ever I’ve seen one.”Gibbs, born Frieda Lipschitz, grew up in a Worcester, Mass., Jewish orphanage and began singing in Boston movie theaters as early as age 13 to support her siblings. Singing first as Fredda Lipson — Lipschitz was unacceptably ethnic — she began to attract attention. As she told the story, when she refused to give into the advances of a record company executive, he assaulted her, then blocked her career.Then the bandleader Artie Shaw stepped in and took her to the William Morris Agency, where her name was changed to Georgia Gibson. During appearances on the Gary Moore and Jimmy Durante radio show, she was introduced as “Her Nibs, Miss Georgia Gibbs,” “nibs” being slang for a person of august authority, an especially attractive title for the fetching youngster who designed her own strapless gowns.Besides a stint on “Hit Parade,” which showcased the most popular songs each week, Gibbs was a regular on programs hosted by Moore, Durante, and comedian Danny Kaye, and was a frequent guest on other radio and early television variety shows hosted by Ed Sullivan, Milton Berle, Bob Hope, Red Skelton, Ed Wynn, and Steve Allen. She also was interviewed by Edward R. Murrow on “Person to Person.”During World War II, she toured hospitals, performing with Bing Crosby. After the war, she toured military bases in the newly formed state of Israel. She remained an ardent Zionist her entire life, friends said.Given her versatility, Gibbs was well-suited for the post-World War II era of transition to TV from radio and to R&B-influenced pop and early rock ‘n’ roll from big-band music.In addition to “Tweedle Dee,” Gibbs scored another hit with “Dance With Me Henry,” a cleaned-up version of Etta James’s “The Wallflower.” But rock ‘n’ roll was a relatively brief segment of her career. In 1958, she had her last top 40 record, “The Hula Hoop Song.”She was a featured performer at the 1956 wedding of Prince Rainier of Monaco and Grace Kelly.Gibbs recorded little in the 1960s, though she continued to play club dates. In the late 1960s, she married Frank Gervasi, a journalist who worked as a foreign correspondent for United Press during World War II and later published books supporting Israel.Gibbs lived in a small Fifth Avenue apartment, which in recent years was still decorated as it had been in 1958, when Murrow interviewed her. She left unfinished a volume of memoirs, including her supposed blacklisting in the 1950s for appearing at a benefit for Russian war orphans, her executor, Rochelle Mancini, said.Georgia GibbsBorn August 17, 1919, in Worcester, Mass.; died December 9 at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center of complications from leukemia; survived by her brother, Robert Gibson.

Georgia Gibbs, 87, Bubbly Singer in 1940s and 1950s

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