Kitty White was a 1950s/60s jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 vocalist, who for years was a nightclub favorite among audiences in Los Angeles, known for her sophisticated songs with well-traveled lyrics.

She recorded mostly on the West Coast with top jazz musicians like Buddy Collette

Buddy Collette

William Marcel "Buddy" Collette was an American tenor saxophonist, flautist, and clarinetist. He was highly influential in the West coast jazz and West Coast blues mediums, also collaborating with saxophonist Dexter Gordon, drummer Chico Hamilton, and his lifelong friend, bassist Charles...

, Gerald Wiggins

Gerald Wiggins

Gerald Wiggins was a jazz pianist and organist. He studied classical, but switched to jazz in his teens. He began as a professional playing accompaniment to Stepin Fetchit. He worked with Louis Armstrong and Benny Carter. In the 1940s he moved to Los Angeles where he played music for television...

, Chico Hamilton

Chico Hamilton

Chico Hamilton , is an American jazz drummer and bandleader.-Early life through 1960s:Hamilton was born in Los Angeles, California. He had a fast-track musical education in a band with Charles Mingus, Illinois Jacquet, Ernie Royal, Dexter Gordon, Buddy Collette and Jack Kelso...

, Bud Shank

Bud Shank

Clifford Everett "Bud" Shank, Jr. was an American alto saxophonist and flautist. He rose to prominence in the early 1950s playing lead alto and flute in Stan Kenton's Innovations in Modern Music Orchestra and throughout the decade worked in various small jazz combos. He spent the 1960s as a first...

 and Red Callender

Red Callender

Red Callender, , was a jazz bass and tuba player, famous for turning down a chance to work with Duke Ellington's Orchestra and the Louis Armstrong All-Stars....

. She sang many demo recordings for her friend, the prolific Los Angeles blues composer Jessie Mae Robinson

Jessie Mae Robinson

Jessie Mae Robinson was a songwriter who wrote popular songs for many blues and R & B singers. Among her best-known songs are "I Went to Your Wedding", "Keep it a secret", "The Other Woman" and "Let's Have a Party"....

, including "I Went to Your Wedding", a No. 1 hit for Patti Page

Patti Page

Clara Ann Fowler , known by her professional name Patti Page, is an American singer, one of the best-known female artists in traditional pop music. She was the best-selling female artist of the 1950s, and has sold over 100 million records...

 in 1953. She moved to Palm Springs in the late 1960s and lived there until her death. Kitty White recorded primarily for Capitol Records

Capitol Records

Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...

 and EmArcy, the jazz division of Mercury Records

Mercury Records

Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...

.

Early life

Jean "Kitty" Bilbrew was born on July 7, 1923 in Los Angeles, California. She was raised in a musical family - her parents were singers, and her uncle was a well-known vaudevillian and disc jockey. She started her career at the age of 16 as a singer and a pianist. She appeared in local night clubs in her home town Los Angeles like the Hob Nob, the Club Gala, the Haig and The Captain's Table. When Kitty branched out and opened at the Black Orchid in Chicago, IL, she was introduced to the executives of Mercury Records, and she became a Mercury recording artist.

Her twin sister, Maudie Jeanette, also sang and briefly worked with Duke Ellington

Duke Ellington

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...

's revue, Jump For Joy, but never pursued an active career. Their mother, known as A.C. Bilbrew, organized an all-black chorus that performed in the 1929 film Hearts of Dixie.

A.C. later recorded the 1955 protest song "The Ballad of Emmett Till" for Dootone Records. Kitty picked up her catchy jazz name legitimately by marrying songwriter Eddie White in the 1940s. She died in Palm Springs on August 11, 2009, after suffering a stroke.

Films

Kitty White worked in several films. She sang "The Lullaby Song" that accompanied the magical scene of the children floating down the Ohio River in a rowboat in Charles Laughton

Charles Laughton

Charles Laughton was an English-American stage and film actor, screenwriter, producer and director.-Early life and career:...

's 1955 classic The Night of the Hunter

The Night of the Hunter (film)

The Night of the Hunter is a 1955 American thriller film directed by Charles Laughton and starring Robert Mitchum and Shelley Winters. The film is based on the 1953 novel of the same name by Davis Grubb, adapted for the screen by James Agee and Laughton...

, after composer Walter Schumann

Walter Schumann

Walter Schumann was an American composer for film, television, and the theater. His notable works include the score for The Night of the Hunter and the Dragnet Theme...

 (1913-1958), who wrote the song, discovered her in a small club. She sang "Crawfish" with Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley

Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....

 in his 1958 film King Creole

King Creole

King Creole is a 1958 American film directed by Michael Curtiz and produced by Hal B. Wallis. The story was adapted from the Harold Robbins novel A Stone for Danny Fisher and featured Elvis Presley, Carolyn Jones, and Walter Matthau. The film tells the story of a nineteen-year-old who gets mixed...

. Until 1990 the duet was only available on bootleg records and on a single, released 1978.

She voiced the song "Rather Have the Blues" for actress Mady Comfort in Robert Aldrich

Robert Aldrich

Robert Aldrich was an American film director, writer and producer, notable for such films as Kiss Me Deadly , The Big Knife , What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? , Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte , The Flight of the Phoenix , The Dirty Dozen , and The Longest Yard .-Biography:Robert...

's 1955 cult film noir Kiss Me Deadly

Kiss Me Deadly

Kiss Me Deadly is a 1955 film noir drama produced and directed by Robert Aldrich starring Ralph Meeker. The screenplay was written by A.I. Bezzerides, based on the Mickey Spillane Mike Hammer mystery novel Kiss Me, Deadly. Kiss Me Deadly is often considered a classic of the noir genre. The film...

, accompanied by pianist Earl Grant

Earl Grant

Earl Grant was an American easy listening pianist, Hammond organist, and vocalist popular in the 1950s and 1960s.-Career:...

, who's best known for the 1958 pop hit "The End." She also sang the title theme of Riders to the Stars

Riders to the Stars

Riders to the Stars is an American science fiction film that was released in 1954 by Ivan Tors Productions and directed by Richard Carlson. It stars William Lundigan, Martha Hyer, Herbert Marshall, and Richard Carlson.- Plot :...

 in 1954 and The Magnificent Matador in 1955.

Discography

• 1955 'A New Voice in Jazz' (EmArcy 36020)
• 1956 'Kitty White' (EmArcy 36068)
• 1956 'A Moment of Love' (Pacifica 2002)
• 1960 'Wimoweh' (Dot 16157)
• 1962 'Kitty White' (Clover CL 1229)
• 1965 'Kitty White and Laurindo Almedia with the Buddy Collette Orchestra' (Horizon WP 1606)
• 1978 'Crawfish' Duet with Elvis Presley (Remake, Dot CR1908)