Artist:Dinah Shore
Song:Blues in the Night
Album:The Nashville Nightingale: Selected Sides 1939-1955
Of course Dinah Shore is best known for her long running TV show. But she was one of the most popular singers of the 40s. She had plenty of hits including Blues in the Night in 1942. She had 80 chart singles from 1940-57. She was born Frances "Fanny" Shore Feb. 29, 1916 in Winchester, TN. Her parents were Russian Jewish immigrants who owned a general store. Dinah contracted polio as a child. She eventually recovered but she walked with a limp. Dinah loved to sing as a child. Her parents encouraged this. Mom was a one time aspiring opera singer. Dad would let her sing in the store. The family moved to McMinnville in 1924 to open a department store. Then they moved to Nashville where Dinah attended high school. After her mother died of a heart attack, Dinah graduated from Vanderbilt University with a degree in sociology. After singing on local radio, Dinah moved to New York to try to get a job with a band. She sang the song Dinah in auditions. When a DJ couldn't remember her name, he called her "the Dinah girl" and the name stuck. She got a job with Xavier Cugat and that led to a contract with RCA Victor Records in 1940. She quickly became a very popular radio singer and was a regular on the NBC show The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street followed by shows hosted by Eddie Cantor and Paul Whiteman. While Dinah was on Whiteman's show, Blues in the Night reached #4 on the charts and sold a million copies. Of course that song is a standard written by Johnny Mercer and Harold Arlen for the 1941 film Blues in the Night. Woody Herman topped the charts with his recording before Dinah. Dinah's first #1 hit was I'll Walk Alone in 1944. She continued to have success after she moved to Columbia in 1946. The 1948 single Buttons & Bows was probably her biggest hit. Dinah continued to appear on radio and in films like Up In Arms and Belle of the Yukon. Dinah returned to RCA in 1950. Though she was making a lot of money, she wasn't as successful and she moved to Capitol in 1959. This 4CD comp from the reissue label JSP covers most of Dinah's recordings. Dinah hosted her first TV show in 1951. In 1956 Dinah began hosting a monthly series for NBC called The Chevy Show. These were in color. The show was so popular, NBC renamed it The Dinah Shore Chevy Show. The show ended in 1961 after Chevy dropped the sponsorship. Dinah didn't record much after Capitol dropped her in 1962. Dinah continued to appear on TV and hosted daytime talk shows like Dinah's Place in the 70s. Dinah was married to actor George Montgomery from 1943-62. Their daughter actress Missy Montgomery owns the rights to all her TV shows. She produced a 2003 PBS special. But I don't think there is anything streaming and the DVDs I saw online looked like bootlegs. Dinah was an avid golfer with an LPGA tournament named after her. She died from ovarian cancer on Feb. 24, 1994 at age 77. Here's Dinah Shore performing Blues in the Night on The Ed Wynn Show 1949. This was her first TV appearance.
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