AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Georgia Brown

Artist:Georgia Brown

Song:As Long As He Needs Me

Album:Lionel Bart's Oliver!: The Original Broadway Cast Recording

British singer and actress Georgia Brown had her greatest success when she played Nancy in the 1960 London production of the musical Oliver!. She played the same role in the 1963 Broadway production and was nominated for a Tony. She also recorded and appeared in films and TV. But I don't think anything else she did was memorable. She was born Lilian Claire Klot Oct. 21, 1933 in Whitechapel, London, England. She is Jewish of Russian descent. Her father worked in a textile factory. During the London Blitz, Georgia was evacuated to Wales. When she started out as a nightclub singer, she took the stage name Georgia Brown after the song Sweet Georgia Brown. She signed with Decca Records and released a couple of songs including Sweet Georgia Brown in 1951. She played local clubs to promote them. Georgia lived with singer Annie Ross and was a member of the jazz vocal group that became Lambert, Hendricks & Ross. Georgia appeared on the BBC show Variety Parade in 1955. Then she got the role of Lucy in the 1956 London revival of Kurt Weill's musical The Threepenny Opera. She also appeared in the 1957 off Broadway production. Then she got her big break when she was cast in Lionel Bart's musical Oliver! which was an adaptation of the Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist. She got lucky. Bart was a childhood neighbor and greeted her as "Lily". Georgia auditioned and won the role. Bart said that he hoped to cast Alma Cogan as Nancy. But after Georgia auditioned, he wrote the song As Long As He Needs Me for her. Georgia also appeared in the 1963 Broadway production of Oliver! and was nominated for a Tony. The cast album is available on CD. If you are wondering about the 1969 film Oliver!. Nancy was played by Shani Wallis. They knew each other and were the same age. Supposedly director Carol Reed saw Shani on The Ed Sullivan Show and preferred her voice. Georgia returned to England and appeared in films like A Study in Terror (1965), The Fixer (1968). She also appeared in the 1970 BBC series The Roads to Freedom. Georgia returned to Broadway in 1977 and appeared in the revue Side by Side by Sondheim. Georgia got another Tony nomination for appearing in the 1989 revival of The Threepenny Opera. After that, she made concert appearances and TV guest shots on shows like Murder, She Wrote and as Carla Tortelli's spiritual advisor Madame Lazora in a 1990 episode of Cheers. That got her an Emmy nomination. She appeared in a couple of episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Georgia lived in Los Angeles. She went to London to appear on a Sammy Davis Jr. tribute show. While there, Georgia underwent emergency surgery for an intestinal obstruction and died on July 5, 1992 at age 58. Here's Georgia Brown performing As Long As He Needs Me on The Ed Sullivan Show Jan. 20, 1963.