| TERESA
BREWER (ARTIST BIOGRAPHY)
Teresa
Brewer (May 7, 1931 – October 17, 2007) was an American pop and jazz
singer who was one of the most popular female singers of the 1950s.
Teresa Breuer who later changed her name to one
she deemed more theatrical, grew up in Toledo, Ohio, USA. Her father
was an inspector of glass for the Libbey Owens Company (now
Pilkington Glass); her mother was a housewife. At the age of two,
Theresa was brought by her mother to audition for a radio program, "Uncle
August's Kiddie Show" on Toledo's WSPD.
She performed for cookies and cupcakes donated by
the sponsor. Although she never took singing lessons, she took tap
dancing lessons. From age five to twelve, she toured with the "Major
Bowes Amateur Hour", then a popular radio show, both singing and
dancing. Her aunt Mary traveled with Theresa until 1949, when
Theresa married. She was devoted to her aunt, who shared Brewer's
home until her death in 1993.
At the age of 12, Theresa was brought back to
Toledo, ceasing touring to have a normal school life. She continued
to perform on local radio. In January 1948 the 16 years-old Theresa
won a local competition and (with three other winners) was sent to
New York to appear on a talent show called "Stairway to the Stars",
featuring Eddie Dowling. It was about that time that she changed the
spelling of her name from Theresa Breuer to Teresa Brewer. She won a
number of talent shows and played night clubs in New York (including
the famous Latin Quarter).
An agent, Richie Lisella, heard her sing and took
her career in hand, and soon she was signed to a contract with
London Records. In 1949 she recorded a record called "Copenhagen"
with the Dixieland All-Stars. The B side was a song called "Music!
Music! Music!" by Stephen Weiss and Bernie Baum. Unexpectedly, it
was not the A side but the B side that took off, selling over a
million copies, and it became Teresa's signature song. Another
novelty song, "Choo'n Gum", hit the top 20 in 1950, followed by "Molasses,
Molasses". Although she preferred to sing ballads, the only one of
those that made the charts was "Longing for You" in 1951.
In 1951 she switched labels, going to Coral
Records. By this time she was married with a daughter, Kathleen.
Since she never learned to read music, she had a demo sent to her to
learn the tunes of her songs. Even so, she had a number of hits for
Coral, though one of her recordings, "Gonna Get Along Without You
Now" (1952) was better known in a 1956 version by Patience and
Prudence and was also a hit in 1964 for Skeeter Davis as well as
Tracey Dey. Also that year she recorded "You'll Never Get Away" in a
duet with Don Cornell, and in 1953 came her best selling hit, "Till
I Waltz Again with You".
In the mid-50s, she did a number of covers of
rhythm and blues songs like "Pledging My Love", "Tweedle Dee", and
"Rock Love". She also covered some country songs like "Jilted", "I
Gotta Go Get My Baby", and "Let Me Go, Lover!".
In 1957 she made more covers: of country song "Teardrops
in My Heart" and R&B songs "You Send Me" and "Empty Arms". The last
chart hit of hers was "Milord" in 1961, an English language version
of a song by Édith Piaf.
In 1962 she switched labels again, to Philips
Records, where she recorded many singles and albums over a five year
period, including Gold Country in 1966. She subsequently made a few
recordings for other companies, but with no more big chart hits. In
the 1970s she released a few albums on Flying Dutchman Records owned
by her husband, jazz producer Bob Thiele. Teresa Brewer remerged as
a jazz vocalist on Thiele's Amsterdam label in the 1980's and 1990's
recording a number of albums including tribute albums to Bessie
Smith, Louis Armstrong, and Irving Berlin. She also recorded with
such jazz greats as Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie,
and Bobby Hackett.
Altogether, she recorded nearly 600 song titles.
For her contribution to the recording industry, Teresa Brewer has a
star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1708 Vine Street.
Teresa died on October 17, 2007, at her home in
New Rochelle, New York, of Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP), a
rare degenerative brain disease. She was 76.
(info edited from Wikipedia) |
