OPEN POST: Manor Music Monday With The Joyous (And Controversial) Georgia Gibbs!

Greeting music tramps, and welcome to another edition of Manor Music Monday, today with a lovely songstress and a whiff of scandal. Speaking of the latter, DJ Li'l Scratch has had many lives, as you know, and let's just say that he's never been snipped. In other words, if you notice your own puddytat half-closing their eyes and grooving to cool jazz, then they're surely a descendant of the DJ. All cats love jazz, of course, but his progeny really and truly feel that backbeat rhythm. If you believe your cat is a scion of DJ Li'l Scratch, they may be entitled to compensation in the form of extra treats, hugs and gentle patty-butt spanks. So very groovy, right? Speaking of groovy, say hello to Miss Georgia Gibbs:

Though she found success and love as an adult, Georgia's life began in tragedy. Her father died when she was six months old, causing her and her siblings to spend nearly a decade at an orphanage where they were visited by their destitute mother only once a month. But come her teenage years in the early 1930s, she was already making her mark as a petite, yet brassy-voiced, singer, performing in local Boston ballrooms for appreciative, swellegant crowds. This included the renowned Raymor Ballroom, where Black artists were initially turned away, though by the mid-30s, they were cautiously welcomed. Why does this matter in the case of Georgia? It helps explain the social and political atmosphere of the time, of course - and this was Boston, after all - but it also explains how Georgia later became mired in a controversy not exactly of her own making.

From Boston, Georgia's popularity only grew. She began performing live in clubs, on radio, and even recorded with orchestras led by the legendary Tommy Dorsey and Artie Shaw. In the 1940s, it was radio host Gary Moore who titled her "Her Nibs, Miss Georgia Gibbs," a grand title given her powerhouse, clear-as-a-bell voice. 

Once she signed with Coral, then Mercury Records, in the early 1950s, her career skyrocketed as never before. She scored several chart-topping hits, her first being the inimitable, insanely peppy "If I Knew You Were Coming I'd Have Baked A Cake," as well as this wonderfully snazzy version of "Kiss of Fire."

But with success came controversy. She became a lightning rod for criticism regarding the era's practice of major labels using white artists to cover songs first recorded by Black R&B artists. Remember that sequence from "Dreamgirls?" That's what went down with Georgia - and more than once. She recorded a cleaned-up version of Etta James’s "Roll With Me Henry" (retitled "Dance With Me Henry"), which overshadowed James's version on the radio. She also did a near exact copycat cover of LaVern Baker's "Tweedle Dee." Bolstered by racist media policies, her version outsold Baker’s by more than a million copies.

All the while, her popularity soared and she became a regular on TV variety shows, like "The Ed Sullivan Show," and was a regularly featured singer on both the radio and TV versions of "Your Hit Parade." She also married celebrated author and foreign correspondent, Frank Gervasi - who covered everything from the Spanish Civil War to World War II in Europe - and later  retired with him in Italy. Quite a ride after starting in an orphanage. 

Was Georgia complicit in terms of covering and commercially-obliterating songs first recorded by Black artists? Years later, she claimed to have no control over her song selections; everything was strictly dictated by the record companies. I tend to believe her, as this was the case with practically all recording artists of that era, regardless of race. Yet this charge continues to tarnish her career, despite her catalogue being mostly comprised of songs which were not, in fact, originated by Black performers (these types of covers certainly never hurt Pat Boone's reputation, which may or may not illuminate matter in terms of gender) (but that's a conversation for another time). So let's believe her, I say, and enjoy her music. Give a listen to this terrific compilation, which includes her take on "Red Hot Mama." Not many singers can sound so scrubby clean, yet so down low and dirty, at the same time, but somehow Miss Nibs pulls it off.

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

Photo Credits: Mercury Records, Getty Images