MUSIC CLIP - OSCAR PETERSON, "MOONGLOW"

Welcome to Afterglow, I’m your host, Mark Chilla.

On this program, I’m going to be featuring the work of singer Keely Smith, who passed away at age 89 on December 16, 2017. Keely Smith is probably best remembered as the deadpan sidekick of her husband Louis Prima, who put on wild shows in Vegas in the late 1950s. But around the same time, she also carved out a career for herself as one of the finest ballad singers around, and even had a late career revival in the 21st century. I’ll chronicle her life and music this hour.

On this program, my spotlight is on singer Keely Smith, a 1950s singer who had one of the most unique careers in American Popular Song. Smith is probably best remembered less for vocal skills as for her deadpan delivery. She became famous as the sidekick to her husband Louis Prima, known for his wild shows in Vegas in the late 1950s. But around the same time, she also carved out a career for herself as one of the finest ballad singers around, and even had a late career revival in the 21st century. I’ll chronicle her life and music this hour.

It’s Keely Smith: I Wish You Love, coming up next on Afterglow

MUSIC - KEELY SMITH, "S'POSIN'"

MUSIC - KEELY SMITH, "IT'S BEEN A LONG, LONG TIME"

Two songs from Keely Smith in 1958. We just heard the Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn tune “It’s Been A Long, Long Time,” arranged by Nelson Riddle. Before that, the Andy Razaf tune “Sposin,” arranged by Billy May.

MUSIC CLIP - LOUIS PRIMA, "5 MONTHS, 2 WEEKS, 2 DAYS"

Mark Chilla here on Afterglow. On this show, I’m highling the music of the late singer Keely Smith, who became famous in the late 1950s as a ballad singer and as the deadpan foil to her husband Louis Prima.

Keely Smith was born Dorothy Keely in Virginia in 1928. She was part Irish and part Cherokee Indian, but didn’t come from a very musical family. Nonetheless, Dot (as she was called) loved to sing, and sang alongside bandleaders Saxie Dowell and Earl Bennett when she was still a teenager.

In 1947, she made a fateful vacation to New York City where she first encountered singer, bandleader, and trumpeter Louis Prima. 

MUSIC CLIP - LOUIS PRIMA, "JUMP, JIVE, AN' WAIL"

The young Dot was mesmerized by Prima’s energy, charm, and humor. The next summer, she convinced a club owner in her hometown of Norfolk Virginia to hire Prima to perform. At that time, Prima just happened to be in search of a new female singer. She was too shy to audition, but Prima heard that she was a singer. He personally invited her to try out. She sang “Sleepy Time Gal” and “Embraceable You,” and Prima hired her on the spot.

Dot Keely was such a Louis Prima fan that she had all of his arrangements memorized. She changed her name to “Keely Smith” when she joined the band, and started recording with them in 1949. By 1953, Keely Smith became Mrs. Louis Prima.

I’ll play now an early recording from Louis Prima and Keely Smith. This is from 1951, and one of the many wild, bombastic, novelty records that became a signature of theirs.

Here’s Louis Prima and Keely Smith with “Oh-Dahdily-Dah,” on Afterglow

MUSIC - LOUIS PRIMA, FEATURING KEELY SMITH, "OOOH-DAHDILY-DAH"

MUSIC - LOUIS PRIMA, FEATURING KEELY SMITH, "HEY BOY! HEY GIRL!"

Two songs from the husband and wife team of Louis Prima and Keely Smith. That was them in 1958 with the song  “Hey Boy! Hey Girl!” That’s from the soundtrack of the 1959 of the same name, starring both Smith and Prima. Before that, we heard the two on an early novelty record for Columbia called “Oh-Dahdily Dah.”

You can hear in both of those records how Prima’s band—although originally steeped in New Orleans jazz and bebop, began to incorporate elements of boogie woogie, jump blues, and rock and roll into their sound. In many way, Prima’s band was an important bridge between the older generation and the younger sound in the 1950s, and Keely Smith played a big part in that, as did Prima’s saxophonist Sam Butera.

Keely Smith’s biggest success with Prima came in 1958, with their version of the Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer standard “That Old Black Magic.” By that point, the song was already a bit dated, but Prima and Smith breathed new life into it with their jump blues sound. In the recording Prima sings with in his typical bombastic, wild style, while Smith is cool, calm, and direct—a perfect foil to her husband.

Here’s Louis Prima and Keely Smith with “That Old Black Magic,” on Afterglow.

MUSIC - LOUIS PRIMA, FEATURING KEELY SMITH, "THAT OLD BLACK MAGIC"

MUSIC - LOUIS PRIMA, FEATURING KEELY SMITH, "I'VE GOT YOU UNDER MY SKIN"

The wild Louis Prima and Keely Smith, and their take on two pop standards. We just heard Cole Porter’s “I’ve Got You Under My Skin.” Before that, we heard the duo’s most popular recording, Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer’s “That Old Black Magic.” Both of those recordings were for Capitol records in the late 1950s.

When Louis Prima originally signed to Capitol Records, he had one stipulation—a solo contract for his wife Keely Smith. 

Although Smith played the perfect deadpan sidekick to Louis’s crazy antics, she was probably at her best as a ballad singer. Voyle Gilmore was the producer for Smith’s first record with Capitol, and one of the songs he offered to her was a song called “I Wish You Love,” based on an old French melody by Charles Trenet. Gilmore didn’t think much of it, but Smith fell in love with the tune. The normally shy Keely Smith insisted that she record it. It ended up being not only her own personal favorite song, but also one of her most successful.

Here’s Keely Smith with her solo Capitol recording of “I Wish You Love,” on Afterglow

MUSIC - KEELY SMITH, "I WISH YOU LOVE"

MUSIC - KEELY SMITH, "IT'S MAGIC"

Two solo recordings for Capitol Records from Keely Smith. We just heard her in 1958 with the Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn tune “It’s Magic.” And before that, an English version of a French tune… that was “I Wish You Love,” Keely Smith’s signature song. Both of those recordings were conducted by Nelson Riddle.

Keely Smith had quite a bit of success as a solo artist in the late 1950s, recording several albums for Capitol and Dot Records.

But Smith’s biggest successes during this period still came alongside her husband Louis Prima. Smith, Prima, and saxophonist/bandleader Sam Butera became a musical team. In the late 1950s, the three of them began a lounge act out in Las Vegas, at a time when high quality entertainment was still a rare thing on strip. A lounge act, at first, seemed beneath them, but at the time, the trio was broke. 

But in a few weeks, their lounge act became the hottest ticket in Vegas, and the wildest band in town. Celebrities like Frank Sinatra, Howard Hughes, Natalie Wood, Fred Astaire, Sammy Davis Jr., and many more became regulars in their audience. Prima would usually draw most of the attention with his off-the-wall personality, while Smith would play it straight—which was really more of her nature after all. 

Soon, this contrast between wild and deadpan became part of their act, with Smith acting unimpressed, bored, and even downright irritated by Prima’s outrageous behavior. 

I’ll play two songs from their live shows in Nevada now, which to me, represents Keely Smith’s finest work. We’ll hear a ballad, followed by one of their wacky duets.

First, from their 1957 album The Wildest Show At Tahoe, here’s Keely Smith singing “I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues,” on Afterglow.

MUSIC - LOUIS PRIMA, FEATURING KEELY SMITH, "I GOTTA RIGHT TO SING THE BLUES"

MUSIC - LOUIS PRIMA, FEATURING KEELY SMITH, "SOMEBODY LOVES ME/NOTHING'S TOO GOOD FOR MY BABY (MEDLEY)"

Keely Smith poking fun at her husband Louis Prima. That was a medley of “Somebody Loves Me” and “Nothing’s Too Good For My Baby.” That was recorded live at Sahara's Casbah Theater in 1958, and comes from the 2005 Louis Prima album Live In Las Vegas. Before that, we heard Keely Smith alone in 1957 with “I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues,” from the album The Wildest Show at Lake Tahoe.

We’ll have more of our remembrance of singer Keely Smith in just a bit. 

MUSIC CLIP - LOUIS PRIMA, FEATURING KEELY SMITH, "THEM THERE EYES/HONEYSUCKLE ROSE (MEDLEY)"

I’m Mark Chilla, and you’re listening to Afterglow

MUSIC CLIP - ERIC ALEXANDER, "IT'S MAGIC"

MUSIC CLIP - OSCAR PETERSON, "WITCHCRAFT"

Welcome back to Afterglow, I’m Mark Chilla. We’ve been exploring the career of Keely Smith this hour, [who passed away in December of 2017.] Smith became famous in the late 1950s as the musical partner of her husband Louis Prima. But by 1961, her personal and professional relationship with Prima went south. The two divorced, and Smith was on her own.

She had joined his band when she was very young, so Smith barely knew what life was like without Prima taking care of her. Luckily for her, Smith had a strong support network. Dinah Shore, in fact, was the one who helped her break out of her shell by inviting her to perform on her television show. And Frank Sinatra was instrumental in supporting her career.

Sinatra and Smith had been label mates on Capitol Records in the 1950s, not to mention pals in Las Vegas, where they both worked as performers. Back in 1958, the two of them had even recorded a duet together. It was one of the only times Sinatra recorded with another singer in the 1950s.

I’ll play that song now. Here’s Frank Sinatra and Keely Smith with their Capitol single “Nothing In Common,” on Afterglow

MUSIC - FRANK SINATRA, FEATURING KEELY SMITH, "NOTHING IN COMMON"

Frank Sinatra and Keely Smith, backed by the Billy May Orchestra in 1958, and their single “Nothing In Common.” That was written by Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn.

After Keely Smith and Louis Prima divorced in 1961, Smith wasn’t sure if she would have a career anymore. At that time, Sinatra had just begun his own record label called Reprise. And Smith was one of the first artists to join his ranks.

Smith recorded four records for Reprise, as well as appearing on several of Sinatra’s various recording sessions. One of her finest records is her returning to her ballad style for the album The Intimate Keely Smith. Instead of the lush Nelson Riddle Orchestra from the late 1950s, Smith is back by a simple quartet: piano, guitar, bass, and drums. It exposed a different, warmer side of the singer, who was mostly known as a Vegas performer.

Here’s Keely Smith in 1964 with the song “Blame It On My Youth,” on Afterglow

MUSIC - KEELY SMITH, "BLAME IT ON MY YOUTH"

Keely Smith in 1964 with the standard “Blame It On My Youth.” That’s from her Reprise album The Intimate Keely Smith.

Another interesting Keely Smith album from her Reprise years is her 1964 album Keely Smith Sings the John Lennon—Paul McCartney Songbook. When she recorded this album, it was still quite early in the midst of Beatlemania. That makes Smith among the very first artists to cover the Beatles, and most likely the first jazz artist to devote an entire album to Beatles covers.

It’s quite a good album, with some of the arrangements by Benny Carter. And Smith does a wonderful job translating the Beatles music into her particular jazz-pop style, which says as much about Smith’s singing as it does Lennon and McCartney’s songwriting.

The album was a big hit in England in 1964 and 65, but never quite caught on in the states. Thankfully, it was finally remastered and reissued on CD by the Real Gone Jazz label in 2018, possibly in response to Smith’s passing in 2017. 

Here’s Keely Smith doing two Beatles songs now, this is “If I Fell” and “Can’t Buy Me Love,” on Afterglow.

MUSIC - KEELY SMITH, "IF I FELL"

MUSIC - KEELY SMITH, "CAN'T BUY ME LOVE"

Two songs from Keely Smith’s 1964 album Keely Smith Sings The John Lennon-Paul McCartney Songbook. We just heard “Can’t Buy Me Love” (arranged by Benny Carter) and “If I Fell,” arranged by Ernie Freeman. 

By the mid 1960s, Keely Smith mostly retired from the public eye. She recorded again briefly 20 years later, but it wasn’t until the turn of the century that we saw any major activity from the singer. 

She released a string of albums between 2000 and 2005, and even started performing live again. Her second album from that set, a tribute to her long-time friend Frank Sinatra, was even nominated for a Grammy Award. Her return to the spotlight last less than a decade. She mostly retired for good by 2010, and passed away at age 89 in December 2017.

To close off this hour, I’ll play a track from the first album released after a long hiatus, titled Swing, Swing Swing. Here’s Keely Smith recorded in 1999, and channeling Louis Prima a bit, performing “On The Sunny Side of the Street,” on Afterglow

MUSIC - KEELY SMITH, "ON THE SUNNY SIDE OF THE STREET"

Singer Keely Smith with “On The Sunny Side of the Street.” That’s from her 2000 album for Concord Records titled Swing Swing Swing.

Thanks for tuning in to this remembrance of Keely Smith, on Afterglow.

MUSIC CLIP - BENNY GREEN, "I WISH YOU LOVE"

Afterglow is part of the educational mission of Indiana University, and produced by WFIU Public Radio in beautiful Bloomington, Indiana

Playlists for this and other Afterglow programs are available on our website. That’s at indianapublicmedia.org/afterglow.

I’m Mark Chilla, inviting you to tune in next week for our mix of Vocal Jazz and popular song from the Great American Songbook, here on Afterglow