Born: November 12, 1917 in Coalinga, CA Died: July 16, 2008 in Century City, CA Jo Stafford was an American singer of traditional pop music and jazz standards whose career ran from the late 1930s to the early 1960s. Stafford was greatly admired for the purity of her voice and was considered one of the most versatile vocalists of the era.
Member of The Pied Pipers from 1938-1944.
1960 Grammy Award winner (as Darlene Edwards) in Best Comedy Performance-Musical category for "Jonathan and Darlene Edwards In Paris" with husband Paul Weston (as Jonathan Edwards).
From 1944 through 1957, she had 83 records on Billboards pop music charts as a solo artist.
Had two children with second husband Paul Weston. Tim became a musician and record producer and Amy a singer.
Her first husband was The Pied Pipers singer John Huddleston.
Despite her brief time as a solo artist (she ended her career in the 1960s), she sold more than 25 million records.
Began her solo career after leaving the Dorsey Orchestra in 1942 with the new Capitol Records label. She later moved to Colubmia Records in 1950 and then back to Capitol in 1961.
Her parents were Grover Cleveland Stafford and Anna (York) Stafford. The family moved to Long Beach, California when she was young and where she had five years of classical voice training.
The only Grammy Jo won was as her off-key singing alter-ego Darlene Edwards when she won "Best Comedy Album" in 1960.
She was a favorite singer of GIs during WWII. Servicemen affectionately called her GI Jo.
The Pied Pipers went from an octet to a quartet once they began working with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra in 1939.
Sang in The Stafford Sisters , a vocal sister trio with her two older siblings, Pauline Stafford and Christine Stafford.
She was awarded 3 Stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 1625 Vine Street; for Radio at 1709 Vine Street; and for Television at 7270 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
She was a lifelong Republican and over the years supported such conservative men as Thomas E. Dewey , Dwight D. Eisenhower , Richard Nixon , Gerald Ford , Ronald Reagan , George Bush , and George W. Bush. She was even an honored guest and singer at a luncheon hosted at the White House by Mamie Eisenhower in 1954.
Was a favorite singer of actor William Powell who collected everyone of her albums.
Fellow jazz singer Billie Holiday once said in an interview that Stafford was her favorite music artist because she found her to be so ladylike.
