American Songbook Blogs

November 12, 1917 – July 16, 2008 This legendary vocalist enjoyed a career that spanned five decades from the late 1930s to the early 1980s. Though Jo was classically trained, she gravitated towards pop singing and by 1955 had achieved more worldwide record sales than any other female artist. Her 1952 song “You Belong to Me” topped the charts in the United States and United Kingdom, becoming the second single to top the UK Singles Chart and the first by a female artist to do so.

Having been a performer as a young California native girl, Jo eventually fell in with a small group of singers which would become the Pied Pipers. They would soon become hired by Tommy Dorsey to tour and record with his big band/orchestra. There was another young male vocalist hired about that same time – Frank Sinatra. In addition to backing up Sinatra on such iconic hits as “I’ll Never Smile Again”‘ Jo was also a featured soloist. Eventually the Pied Pipes left the Dorsey Orchestra, as did Sinatra. Jo went on to enjoy a very successful career as a solo artist. Ironically, her only GRAMMY Award was for Best Comedy Album of the Year – for a musical parody act she and her second husband, orchestra leader Paul Weston and she had developed. Jo Stafford was simply one of the most original voices of the Great American Songbook. Happy Birthday Jo!