Felicia Sanders (c. 1922 – February 7, 1975) was a singer and musician of traditional pop music.
Sanders was born Felice Schwartz in Mount Vernon, New York. At the University of Southern California she studied merchandising. She married Michael Snider (who was in the Army), and had a son,
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Jefferson, with him. They eventually divorced, both having part-time custody of their child. During World War II, with a son and a husband, she "decided to give singing a try."
Jefferson, with him. They eventually divorced, both having part-time custody of their child. During World War II, with a son and a husband, she "decided to give singing a try."In 1950 she returned to singing in a nightclub in Hollywood, Café Gala. She was heard there by Benny Carter, who thought enough of her talent to recommend her to Mitch Miller, Columbia Records' artist and repertory director. She was picked in 1953 by Percy Faith, Columbia's biggest orchestra leader, to sing vocals on a song he was recording, taken from the film Moulin Rouge—a biographical film about Toulouse-Lautrec.
"The Song from Moulin Rouge" was recorded on January 22, 1953, as the B-side of a recording of "Swedish Rhapsody".
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It was Sanders' second record, and it was released by Columbia with the credits shown as "Percy Faith and his Orchestra featuring Felicia Sanders." She had been paid only union scale and her name appeared below Faith's in small letters, but she had a success. It was released by Columbia Records in both 78 and 45 rpm single formats and first reached the Billboard chart on March 28, 1953 lasting 24 weeks on the chart, peaking at No. 1 and spending ten weeks at the top. This version finished as the No. 1 song for 1953, according to Billboard.
Just before the record was released she was hired by New York's famous Blue Angel nightclub, and she played there for a long time, being the first singer to perform the song "In Other Words (Fly Me to the Moon)" although she did not record it until several other singers had done so. In 1955, Sanders released her first Columbia album, Felicia Sanders at the Blue Angel. When she recorded "In Other Words" at Decca Recording studio, it was backed with "Summer Love" (composed by Victor Young) in 1959. During the 1960s she sang frequently at The Bon Soir cabaret on West 8th Street.
With husband Mr. Joseph at the piano, his face straight, she then would belt out “Hello, Dolly!” in
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Yiddish. On other occasions it would be the same song in French. Many critics remarked that her work was a compound of acting and singing. On one occasion, when Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, dedicated method actors, heard her, they exclaimed, “You're a method singer!” While Miss Sanders did not deny the intended compliment, she had her own idea, and expressed it: “It's not the brains you reach. It's the heart.”Mitch Miller kept finding other songs to have her sing, but only one other scored among the Top 30: "Blue Star", based on the theme from a well-known television series, Medic,
Sanders continued to perform in various night clubs until the early 1970’s, consisting of La Ronde, The Living Room, Rainbow Grill, The Persian Room, The Maramor and Mister Kelly’s to name but a few.
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Felicia Sanders died on February 7, 1975 at her home at 845 West End Avenue, Manhattan, from throat cancer at the age of 53. (Edited mainly from Wikipedia & New York Times)