- Born
- Died
- Margaret Whiting was the daughter of Richard A. Whiting, himself a successful songwriter and author of "On The Good Ship Lollipop", "The Japanese Sandman" and "Ain't We Got Fun?" and the sister of actress/singer Barbara Whiting.
Born July 22,1924 in Detroit, she 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. She was a popular vocalist in the 1940s and 1950s, recording dozens of hits for Capitol Records, launched by her father and two partners. 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. In the early 1940s, her hits included "That Old Black Magic" (with Freddie Slack), "Moonlight in Vermont" (with Billy Butterfield) and "It Might As Well Be Spring" (with Paul Weston). Between 1946-54, she had more than 40 solo hit tunes for Capitol. After stints with Dot Records and Verve Records and, a brief return to Capitol in the late 1950s and the early 1960s, she recorded for the London label beginning in 1966.
In the late 1990s, she appeared in the Broadway musical "Dream" (1997) and in the PBS broadcast The Songs of Johnny Mercer: Too Marvelous for Words (1997). 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 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.
Due to a musician's strike in the US, orchestral tracks were recorded outside of the country and vocals added in US studios. Whiting supplied vocals to tracks cut by 'Frank DeVol' (q) and His Orchestra, including "A Tree In The Meadow", a #1 hit in the summer of 1948, recorded in London. 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.
Whiting continued recording for Capitol into the mid-1950s, until her run of hits dried up. She left the company in 1958 for Dot Records but achieved only one hit there. She switched to Verve Records in 1960 and recorded a number of albums, including one with jazz vocalist Mel Tormé. A brief return to Capitol was followed by a hiatus, after which Whiting signed with London Records in 1966, where she recorded her last two charting pop singles. Her recordings continued to appear on the easy listening charts into the 1970s. Whiting was still recording in the early 1990s and performing in cabaret and concerts. She died on January 10, 2011 (aged 86) in Englewood, New Jersey.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Burt Richards (updated by R.M. Sieger)
- SpousesJack Wrangler(1994 - April 7, 2009) (his death)Richard Moore(April 13, 1958 - March 25, 1961) (divorced)Lou Busch(August 19, 1950 - December 17, 1953) (divorced, 1 child)Hubbell Robinson(December 29, 1948 - August 18, 1950) (divorced)
- One of the first artists to be engaged by Capitol Records, where she began recording in 1942.
- She served as President for the Johnny Mercer Foundation, and she continued her work as a performer of Mercer songs.
- Daughter of composer Richard A. Whiting.
- Older sister of actress/singer Barbara Whiting.
- She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 6623 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
- On growth: The one thing I've learned in this business -- and in this life -- is: whenever you say, nothing is going to happen - something happens.
- [on her father, composer Richard Whiting] His greatest pleasure was in finding out what other composers were doing. He was a very good musician, and he loved to take their new songs and play them. Always accepted the new, adored what was going on with his friends. Jerome Kern always insisted that my father listen to whatever new songs he'd written; he always wanted his opinion. My father loved Cole Porter, considered him a real innovator. But his real joy was with Gershwin, whom he'd known in New York as a young man and whom he's helped out. When 'Porgy and Bess' opened in New York in 1935, he took the train from Los Angeles just to be at the opening. And he almost died, as did Gershwin, because the reception to that first production was so half-hearted. He resented it so - Gershwin was his friend, his buddy, in whose work he took such pride.
- [on her father, composer Richard Whiting] He'd say 'Margaret, there's all kinds of music in the world. I was raised to like popular music, but I love the classical too. And if you're going to be a musician or a singer, you may not be able to create it all, but at least you've got to understand it well. There's a whole spectrum of music, just as there are people, and you mustn't shut any of it off. Be exposed to everything'. That was the first thing he taught me.
- If I'm any good at all as a singer, a lot of it is due to something my father taught me. He once said, 'Margaret, you have a good voice, you certainly know how to sing. Now spend years in perfecting your craft. I hate to think of it as a craft. It's something I love to do, but it is a job, it is work, and we work very hard to write a song. You must sing this song with great affection and feeling. It takes the men who write the lyrics a long time. Just believe in their words. Do them simply and honestly. That's how a singer should interpret a song'.
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