Song:You Started Something
Album:The Essential Rosemary Clooney
Rosemary Clooney was one of the most popular vocalists of the early 50s. She was known for novelty songs like Come On-a My House. But she started out in jazz and didn't like those songs. You Started Something was her very first chart single in 1948. Later on she would become a best selling jazz singer and of course she is the aunt of actor George Clooney and mother of actor Miguel Ferrer. She was born May 23, 1928 in Maysville, KY. She started out singing with her sister Betty on Cincinnati radio station WLW. She first recorded with Tony Pastor's band in 1946 on Columbia Records. You Started Something was her first hit and reached #16 on the pop charts. She obviously liked the song as she re-recorded it several times. It was written by Floyd Huddleston and Al Rinker. Rinker was a long time member of Paul Whiteman's band. Huddleston would go on to write songs for Disney animated films like Robin Hood. When Rosemary left Pastor's band in 1949, Columbia's Mitch Miller signed her to a contract. Come On-a My House was her first number one hit. She had a total of four number one hits in the early 50s including Hey There in 1954. She also appeared in several films including starring with Bing Crosby in the 1954 film White Christmas. She also had her own TV variety show in 1956. It's well known that Rosemary didn't like the novelty songs that Miller had her sing. So she left Columbia in 1958 and recorded for MGM, Coral, RCA, Reprise, Dot and United Artists without much success. She had a stormy marriage to actor Jose Ferrer and also suffered from bipolar disorder and struggled with drug addiction. But Rosemary bounced back from that and signed with the jazz label Concord in 1977. She became one of the top selling jazz artists until her death on June 29, 2002 at age 74. So while I recommend this Columbia budget comp for Rosemary Clooney's 50s recordings, you should also check out her Concord recordings. Here's Rosemary Clooney performing You Started Something on a 1959 NBC TV special.
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