Song:Music! Music! Music!
Album:The Original Sound Of Miss Music! Music! Music!
Music! Music! Music! was the first hit single and also the signature song for Teresa Brewer in 1950. After her career faded in the late 50s, she would later reinvent herself as a jazz singer. She was born Theresa Veronica Breuer May 7, 1931 in Toledo, OH. While her dad worked at a local glass manufacturing plant, her mom pushed her into performing. As a child, Teresa was a regular on the Major Bowes Amateur Hour radio show traveling with her aunt. She returned to Toledo to attend high school. At 16, she won a talent contest that got her a trip to New York City and an appearance on Stairway To The Stars. Teresa played local clubs until she signed with Decca Records in 1949. Her debut single Copper Canyon, a duet with Bobby Wayne, was released on Decca's London label in 1949. Then they released the single Copenhagen with Music! Music! Music! on the B-side. DJs preferred the B-side and Music! Music! Music! topped the pop charts in 1950 and a star is born. The song was written by Stephen Weiss and Bernie Baum and it was the biggest hit for both guys. Baum went on to be part of the team that wrote songs for Elvis Presley films in the 60s including Devil In Disguise. The backup band on the single is credited as the Dixieland All Stars. How's that for a generic name. This was a short lived band of veteran musicians who appeared on a couple of London recordings in the early 50s including trumpeter Max Kaminsky, trombonist Bob "Cutty" Cutshall, clarinetist Ernie Caceres, pianist Jack Pleis, guitarist Danny Perri, bassist Eddie Safranski and drummer George Wettling. They were all big band veterans. In 1951, Decca moved Teresa to Coral Records to release 10" LPs of her music. Her other number one hit was Till I Waltz Again with You in 1952. Like a lot of pop singers, Teresa faded in the late 50s when Rock 'N' Roll took over. You can get all her original 50s hits on this CD from Jasmine Records. Beware of rerecorded versions. Teresa recorded for Philips Records in the 60s with little success. Then she married legendary jazz record producer Bob Thiele in 1972. Of course he was the house producer at Impulse Records in the 60s. When he started his own Flying Dutchman label in the 70s, Teresa recorded for that label and and his subsequent labels Amsterdam and Doctor Jazz. She worked with jazz musicians on these records so it was similar to the reinvention of Rosemary Clooney. Teresa retired after Thiele died in 1996 and she died on Oct. 17, 2007 at age 76. Here's Teresa Brewer performing Music! Music! Music! on a 1950 Snader Telescription. Snader produced short music films for TV in the early 50s similar to Soundies in the 40s.
Nicely written story. I do a lot of work on Teresa. This "Original Sound" CD does not have all her 1950s hits, only the first couple years on the London label. But other Jasmine CDs do. Her Snaders were recorded in early 1951. The one you feature is not the best on Youtube, it is poorly cropped. Try the one from itubeNL.
ReplyDeleteThe Snader of Copenhagen is yet to be found. Have you heard the real original of this song by Etienne Paree?
Not familiar with the original but my custom AccuRadio station plays pretty much anything at random so who knows. The biggest problem with this song is I wanted the CD to have the original version and Teresa re-recorded it many times. So I know that Jasmine licenses the original from Universal. Besides that, most casual listeners won't be interested in her recordings after the mid-50s. Rock 'N' Roll killed her career along with many others. So I don't think I would write about her again except maybe her jazz recordings from the 70s and I doubt they are available.
ReplyDelete