GEORGIA GIBBS

Of all the gimmicks that might raise an entertainer's profile, Georgia Gibbs stumbled onto one of the most unusual. In the mid-'40s, during a guest appearance on The Durante-Moore radio show starring "Inka Dinka Doo" songster-comedian Jimmy Durante, cohost and incessant adlibber Garry Moore gave Gibbs the "Her Nibs" nickname, a bizarre phrase that could be interpreted in many ways. An important person? Major player? Someone short n' sweet (she stood five-foot-one) with an outgoing personality? A performer with conviction? A diva of the difficult kind? Any definition seemed to work, it hardly mattered. Fans latched onto it. She figured the phrase would run its course...it didn't...and she kept it for the remainder of her three-decade career.

Born during the aftermath of the First World War, her birth name Fredda Lipschitz held little significance as she barely knew either parent. Her father died before her first birthday. As for mom, she remarried and was unwilling or unable to raise her four children, so she placed her daughter, by then renamed Fredda Gibbons, in an orphanage in Worcester, Massachusetts. The children there were taught to sing and at some point Fredda began participating in performances to raise funds for the facility. Leaving the orphanage after eighth grade (around age 13), she made her way to Boston, a few dozen miles to the east, her plan being to sing for sustenance, figuring it was reasonable to live on the streets at that age. By the mid-1930s she'd become a semi-regular at the Raymor Play-Mor Ballroom on Huntington Avenue (a mile or so from the waterfront at Boston Harbor), where popular bands gigged their brains out.

Fredda performed on Your Hit Parade as one of many uncredited singers who participated in the countdown of America's most popular songs (as determined by the radio show's producers), though the opportunity necessitated a move to New York City. The job was short-lived and in 1938 she landed at the Cafe Society Downtown in Greenwich Village, a venue that catered to black, white, rich and poor. Clubgoers were impressed by her commanding voice and presence; due to the diverse background of both clintele and performers, rumors circulated briefly as to whether she was a light-skinned black singer passing for white. The exposure opened doors for the still-teenaged singer, leading to her first recording session for Brunswick Records, "If We Never Meet Again" with The Hudson-DeLange Orchestra, led by songwriters Will Hudson and Eddie DeLange (their best-known composition, "Moonglow," turned out to be one of the most popular songs of all time). She toured for several months with the band, an arduous experience she wasn't quite prepared for...and didn't repeat.

Recording opportunities were hit and miss. There were several, all under the name Fredda Gibson, with different bandleaders between 1939 and the end of World War II, including "If It's Good (Then I Want It)" with Hal Kemp on Victor in '39, "The Laziest Girl in Town" with Frankie Trumbauer on Varsity in '40 and one with higher-profile hitmaker Artie Shaw, "Absent Minded Moon" on Victor in 1942. A summer 1944 session for V-Disc with superstar Tommy Dorsey, "Milkman, Keep Those Bottles Quiet," was sent to the soldiers fighting in World War II; it was the first to credit a new, catchier name she had come up with, Georgia Gibbs. Her first solo-billed records (perhaps putting her at the forefront of "independent" female singers seeking to break free from bandleaders and restrictive contracts) were released between 1944 and '47 on small independent labels like Maestro Music and Majestic; she typically made a flat fee, around 15 dollars per session. These included "The Trolley Song" (covering Judy Garland's major hit from Meet Me in St. Louis) and "The Stanley Steamer" (from the film Summer Holiday).

A big break came in 1949 that gained her valuable exposure with early network television viewers. An appearance on Ed Sullivan's Toast of the Town variety series led to many more (up until and beyond its transition to The Ed Sullivan Show in 1955); a favorite of Ed's, she became a familiar face in people's homes for more than a decade. Soon after signing with Coral Records in 1950, she reached the national best selling singles survey for the first time with a cover of Eileen Barton's "(If I Knew You Were Comin') I'd've Baked a Cake." So what was the deal with these "cover" versions? Well, I guess it was no big deal...everyone seemed to be doing it! Two other singles appeared on Billboard's charts that year: "Simple Melody," a duet with Bing's younger brother Bob Crosby, and "I Still Feel The Same About You," a double-tracked "duet" credited on the label to "Her Nibs" sings with Georgia Gibbs (a trick Patti Page had been pulling for a couple of years). Apparently the ploy worked; it got Georgia her first top 20 ranking and biggest hit during her brief time with Coral, an association that resulted in a more fully-booked slate of personal appearances at trendy clubs like New York's Waldorf Astoria.

In 1951, Georgia signed a longer-term contract with Mercury Records, where established stars like Page and Dinah Washington had proven their worth and priorities would be put to the test. It was slow going at first, as minor hits like "Tom's Tune," "Good Morning Mister Echo," "While You Danced, Danced, Danced (I Walked in With a Smile)" (a top 20 seller) and a cover of Johnnie Ray's megahit "Cry" largely fell short of expectations. The breakthrough finally came, in the spring of 1952, from an unlikely place: Argentina. "El Choclo," an essential tango composition by Angel Villoldo from the early 1900s, had become perhaps the most famous piece of music to originate from the South American country. Lester Allen and Robert Hill added English lyrics in the early '50s, this new version becoming known as "Kiss of Fire," with lyrics like 'Just like a torch, you set the soul within me burning...' consistent with the perceived sensuality of the dance associated with it. While Louis Armstrong was one of the first to record the Americanized version, Mercury's A&R department wasted no time in getting Gibbs into the studio and promoting her take. In May it hit number one on multiple charts...and suddenly she had been elevated to a position parallel with the top pop divas of the day.

Georgia Gibbs

Or was it possible this suddenly-hot million seller would be her only major hit? Follow-up singles struggled as before; another calendar year came around before the next big song developed. Georgia got the jump on the competition with the first version of tearjerker "Seven Lonely Days" (many covers followed, with King Records' Bonnie Lou landing in the country top ten a few months later). Despite the hits and many misses, she had a talented team behind her including arranger and orchestra leader Glenn Osser, who'd logged time with Les Brown and Benny Goodman earlier in his career. She also began working with Hugo Peretti and his cousin Luigi Creatore (names that would soon be familiar to record buyers due to their "Hugo & Luigi" logo seen on scores of multiple artists' RCA Victor 45s).

But she couldn't shake the nickname: "Her Nibs" had connected with the public. Fans always knew the media mongers were talking about Georgia when hearing the two-word phrase; it was regularly used on posters for her live performances and as part of the titles of albums and EPs during her time with the Coral and Mercury labels. As for recording cover versions, the common practice (that had been going on for decades) became a burden to Georgia with her release of "Tweedle Dee" in 1955. Songwriters took advantage of the practice whenever possible for the obvious bump in income when a C&W or R&B tune broke in the pop field. When Georgia recorded budding songwriter Winfield Scott's "Tweedlee Dee" (with one "e" missing in the title on copies of the Mercury disc), she was unfamiliar with Atlantic Records' recording by LaVern Baker. Then when her single outsold the original, going gold in the process, LaVern was understandably unhappy, feeling she deserved to have the bigger version.

Etta James' first hit "The Wallflower" had come when she and Johnny Otis lifted the idea from Hank Ballard's "Work With Me Annie." Hugo and Luigi had suggested the song to Georgia, but she didn't like the title and would only do it if they changed it to "Dance With Me Henry" (in place of the more suggestive 'Roll with me Henry' in the lyrics of the original). After topping pop charts in the spring of 1955, Georgia secured another gold record and Etta "hit the roof" when that happened! Then again, as co-songwriter, Etta split the royalties on a million-selling smash. Repercussions over these kinds of things were not severe, other than the occasional reviewer who would voice a preference for the original. Then there was "I Want You to Be My Baby," originally by Lillian Briggs, a rocking, trombone-playing white singer. Even in this case, Georgia was criticized for taking on - and outselling - a so-called rock and roll recording. But it mattered little; negative reviews seldom swayed the record-buying public.

"Goodbye to Rome" (original title: ""Arrivederci Roma"), an Italian song with English lyrics by Carl Sigman, was an audience favorite that G.G. included in her live sets for many years. Four songs, each in a different style, reached the top 40 in 1956: "Rock Right," "Kiss Me Another," "Happiness Street" and a second LaVern Baker cover, "Tra La La." LaVern's response this time, according to Atlantic Records president Ahmet Ertegun, was to take out an insurance policy before boarding a flight so that if the plane crashed, "Miss Nibs" would be compensated for having no further Baker hits to pilfer.

Georgia Gibbs

For ten weeks between July and September 1957 she had her own variety series on NBC-TV, The Georgia Gibbs Show. Around that time, at the end of her contract with Mercury, Georgia accepted an offer from RCA Victor. After just a year (and only one minor chart single, Ernest Tubb's "I'm Walking the Floor Over You"), she went to Roulette Records and began working again with Hugo and Luigi. One final top 40 hit came in October 1958, "The Hula Hoop Song," about the top-selling kids' (adults too?) toy from Mattel ('...anyone can play it from three...to a hundred and ten!'); she spent each week on the charts twirling her hoop above a competing version by Teresa Brewer that also made the top 40.

In 1960 she married an American author/biographer/reporter, Frank Gervasi, who'd been based in Italy for quite some time. A new routine developed: she would spend about six months there each year while recording and touring the other six. Records appeared on several labels from '59 onwards including Kapp, Imperial and Epic; during a two-year stint with Bell Records from '64 to '67, two songs made an impact on the up-and-coming Easy Listening radio format: "Let Me Cry on Your Shoulder" and "Let Me Dream." The latter, produced by Teddy Randazzo, was arranged in a more modern mid-'60s style. Her final release, "Where's the Music Coming From," a slick '67 production under the supervision of Don Costa, has a vocal sound that will fool even the most ardent fan. At that point, Georgia Gibbs retired from show business, making occasional appearances throughout the years but mainly opting to enjoy her life with hubby Frank. The couple remained together until his death in 1990.

- Michael Jack Kirby

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