Margaret Eleanor Whiting (July 22, 1924 – January 10, 2011) was an American popular music and country music singer who gained popularity in the 1940s and 1950s.
Whiting was born in Detroit, but her family moved to Los Angeles in 1929, when she was five years old. Her father, Richard, was a composer of popular songs, including the classics "Hooray for Hollywood", "Ain't We Got Fun?", and "On the Good Ship Lollipop". Her sister, Barbara Whiting, was an actress (Junior Miss, Beware, My Lovely) and singer.Margaret began singing as a small child and, by the age of seven, signed with Johnny Mercer, the popular songwriter and founder of Capitol Records, for whom her father worked. When Mercer and his two partners launched
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Capitol, she was the first artist to be engaged by the label, where she began recording in 1942. She served as President of the Johnny Mercer Foundation, and she continued her work as a performer of Mercer songs.
Capitol, she was the first artist to be engaged by the label, where she began recording in 1942. She served as President of the Johnny Mercer Foundation, and she continued her work as a performer of Mercer songs.Under her own name in late 1945, she recorded the Jerome Kern-Oscar Hammerstein II composition "All Through The Day", which became a bestseller in the spring of 1946, and "In Love In Vain", both of which were featured in the film Centennial Summer (1946). She also had hits with songs from the Broadway musicals "St. Louis Woman" and "Call Me Mister" in 1946. Those
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first recordings under her name were made in New York.
In late 1946, she returned to California and began recording there, with Jerry and His Orchestra--"Guilty" and "Oh, But I Do" were the best-selling results of that session. Her hit streak continued in 1948-49. Whiting supplied vocals to tracks cut by 'Frank DeVol' and His Orchestra, including "A Tree In The Meadow", a #1 hit in the summer of 1948.
Her next #1 song occurred in 1949 with "Slipping Around", one of a series of duet recordings made with country/western singer and cowboy star Jimmy Wakely. Also during that year, Whiting recorded a duet with Mercer, "Baby, It's Cold Outside". In 1950, she had a hit with "Blind Date", a novelty record made with Bob Hope and Billy May and His Orchestra.
A brief return to Capitol was followed by a hiatus, after which Whiting signed with London Records in 1966, and landed one last major hit single in 1966, "The Wheel of Hurt", which hit #1 on the Easy Listening singles chart. Her final solo albums were made for Audiophile (1980, 1982, 1985) and DRG Records (1991). Her
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distinguished conductors and musical arrangers through the years included Buddy Bregman, Frank DeVol, Russell Garcia, Johnny Mandel, Billy May, Marty Paich, Nelson Riddle, Pete Rugolo, and Paul Weston.
Not only was she a recording star but she also became a fixture on radio, appeared on television in the ’50s and later embarked on a successful nightclub career, touring as late as the 1990s and occasionally venturing into musical theatre, such as the Broadway musical "Dream" (1997) and in the PBS broadcast The Songs of Johnny Mercer: Too Marvelous for Words (1997) (TV).
She was still performing into the 21st century, often at clubs like Arci’s Place in Manhattan, where she had long been a mainstay of the cabaret scene.
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| Margaret with Johnny Mercer |
Whiting was married four times, Firstly with Hubbell Robinson Jr., a writer, producer, and television executive (December 29, 1948 – divorced August 18, 1949) then Lou Busch, a ragtime pianist known as "Joe 'Fingers' Carr" (divorced; one daughter, Deborah, born 1950) also John Richard Moore, a founder of Panavision (married 1958 – divorced). Lastly she married Jack Wrangler (John Stillman) when Whiting was 70 and he was 48 (1994 – April 7, 2009; his death from emphysema)
Whiting died on January 10, 2011, aged 86, from natural causes at the Lillian Booth Actors Home in Englewood, New Jersey.
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One often-repeated story took place in the early 1940s, when she was 19. Mercer had asked her to sing “Moonlight in Vermont,” which he had just heard and felt was ideal for her voice. “I’ve never been to Vermont,” she said. “How can I sing a song about a place I’ve never been to? What is the significance of pennies in a stream? What are ski tows?” “I don’t know,” Mercer replied. “I’m from Savannah. We’ll use our imagination.”
One often-repeated story took place in the early 1940s, when she was 19. Mercer had asked her to sing “Moonlight in Vermont,” which he had just heard and felt was ideal for her voice. “I’ve never been to Vermont,” she said. “How can I sing a song about a place I’ve never been to? What is the significance of pennies in a stream? What are ski tows?” “I don’t know,” Mercer replied. “I’m from Savannah. We’ll use our imagination.”
(Edited from numerous sources mainly IMDb and Wikipedia)