OPEN POST: Manor Music Monday With The Smooth As Silk Annita Ray!

Greetings, music sloots, and welcome to another edition of Music Manor Monday! Tonight at the Manor's exclusive Kweef Korner Lounge, DJ Li'l Scratch will introduce a forgotten artist who'll remind you of people nowadays that give their children names like Kathron or Mellowdee or Creeklyn or Amaziyah and other such fuckery. Back in the day, all you had do was an an extra letter to be dIfFeReNt. Like an extra "n." As in Annita. No, really. I'm not sure why this was done. It's like meeting someone named "Johnn" or Suue" or "Maaggy" (and how do even you pronounce Annita?) (do you stutter?).

Regardless, the one and only Annita Ray had a unique career. In the 1960s, she and singer Diane Hall were known as "girl bookends" for bandleader Ray Anthony - or singing window-dressing for the more "important" Ray and his musicians. By that time, Annita was likely used to being undervalued. But she kept on keeping on, even recording a few duet tracks with Diane, like "A Groovy Kind of Love."

Years earlier, in the truly delightful and slightly bonkers 1956 youthsploitation movie, "Shake Rattle & Roll," which starred Fats Domino, Annita had a featured appearance as the "Slum Teen" singing "Rockin' On A Saturday Night," but she wasn't heralded (as she should have been), and thereafter, she recorded a series of one-off singles for a variety of labels. Not much is known about Annita. Born in Upstate, New York, probably in the mid 1930s, she joined Ray Anthony's review, toured for several years with Diane, after which the duo split up and toured individually throughout the U.S. and in Europe. By the late 1960s, Annita's career was over, or at least she decided it was. She retired from show business and began selling commercial real estate. Then - poof! - we know nothing more. 

Happily, in 1963, she scored her one deal for a full LP, "Slow Glow," for Ava Records, a label founded by Fred Astaire and jazz drummer Jackie Mills. It's a truly wonderful surprise. Her song selection, a mix of upbeat rousers and come-hither scorchers, are a perfect match for her surprisingly rangy alto voice. After a long day, she really is the perfect tonic (click through for the complete LP).

What are you listening to this week? DJ Li'l Scratch wants to know.
Till next time...purr, bitches, purr! 🐾

Photo Credits: Getty Images; Ava Records; Screenland Records