Jo Stafford/Darlene Edwards RIP

oh man. i liked her sentimental ballads just as much as the frothy sugary pop numbers. she's the kind of singer who, when you try to sing along, you realize that no you are NOT a good singer and she is. RIP classy lady.

I didn;t know of this:

Stafford and her second husband, pianist/composer Paul Weston, were viewed by most of their contemporaries as musical class acts who brought clarity, focus and sophistication to the most lighthearted pop music. Which made their transformation into Jonathan and Darlene Edwards -- a duo that was the surprising last highlight of Stafford's career -- such a remarkable accomplishment.

The premise was simple enough: They would do imitations of a minimally skilled duet of singer and piano player -- the sort who can frequently be heard in no-cover-charge cocktail lounges everywhere. But as interpreted by Stafford's pliable voice, the songs came out just a little sharp in one spot, a bit flat in another, with the rhythm slipping from beat to beat.

.. which is amazingly cool.

RIP

A great singer - the Darlene Edwards stuff is proof of that, indeed.

I love Jo Stafford, I even played a song of hers in one of my five-yearly stints as a DJ at the weekend - but I knew nothing of the Darlene Edwards thing!

A friend of mine who's a classical-music expert loves the Darlene Edwards stuff.