JO'S BIOGRAPHY: THE ROOTS OF SOME GREAT MUSIC
Courtesy of Corinthian Records: See home page at: Corinthian Records
Jo Elizabeth Stafford was born November 12 on a tract of land
known as "Lease 35" at Coalinga, California. Her
mother, Anna York Stafford, was a distant cousin of World War I
hero Alvin York , and was famed as one of the finest five-string
banjoists in Gainsboro, Tennessee. Her father, Grover Cleveland
Stafford, had come West to seek his fortune in the California oil
fields.
Jo's first professional work was with the Stafford Sisters, a
trio in which Jo joined her sisters Christine and Pauline. They
had their own weekly radio show on KHJ, were regular performers
on David Broekman's California Melodies and the Crockett Family
of Kentucky shows, and did both solo and studio vocal work with
all the major motion picture companies.
After marriage broke up the Stafford Sisters trio , Jo joined a
group called the Pied Pipers, and along with her seven other
group members was hired by Tommy Dorsey for the Raleigh-Kool
program in 1938. After ten weeks with Dorsey the group dissolved,
but Jo was hired back with three others as the Pied Pipers who
sang with Dorsey for three years, recorded "I'll Never Smile
Again" with Frank Sinatra, and provided Jo with the
opportunity of making her own solo recordings with the Dorsey
band. Her first solo recording was "Little Man with a Candy
Cigar."
When Johnny Mercer assembled the artists to start Capitol Records
in 1943, Jo began a recording career that was to culminate in
Columbia Records giving her a Diamond Award as the first
recording artist to sell 25,000,000 Records. Her Hits included:
"You Belong to Me", "Timtayshun" ,
"Whispering Hope" ( with Gordon MacRae ), "Shrimp
Boats", "Make Love to Me", "Jambalaya",
her album of "American Folk Songs", and the comedy
albums made under the name of Darlene Edwards. One of these,
"Jonathan and Darlene in Paris" , has won a Grammy
Award. Nine of her best known albums including "JO +
JAZZ", are currently in release on the Corinthian Records
label.
After guesting on all the major radio shows, Jo started her own
series with the Chesterfield Supper Club, to which was added the
Jo Stafford Show for Revere Camera, followed by feature roles on
the Carnation and Club 15 Shows.
In 1950, Jo began a series of programs that brought her
international recognition. In Hollywood she tape-recorded a
weekly fifteen minute Youth Program for the Voice of America to
broadcast world-wide in the cause of democracy.
Soon she added another weekly half-hour musical show, also
recorded in Hollywood, for broadcast over 200,000 watt Radio
Luxembourg; Europe's most powerful station. During this period
Frank Lee , then British director of Radio Luxembourg said:
"In her own quiet way Stafford is selling America to
Europe."
In 1952 European demand took her to London, where she headlined
the bill at the Palladium and made appearances for the Voice of
America in the British Isles and on the continent. In 1952 she
and Paul Weston were married, had two children, Tim and Amy, and
have made their home in Beverly Hills for the past twenty-five
years.
With the advent of television , Jo Stafford guested on all the
major variety shows, and in 1954 was given her own JO STAFFORD
SHOW on CBS-TV. Thus when Hollywood decided to commemorate its
stars with plaques in the sidewalks of Hollywood Boulevard and
Vine Street Jo Stafford was one of the few stars to have three
separate plaques, one for records, one for radio, and one for
television. In the late fifties she cut down her activities
sharply in order to devote her time to her children, and aside
from a few trips to New York to do the Garry Moore and Firestone
Hour Shows, she did only recordings and TV shows based in
Hollywood.
In 1961 the family moved to London for the summer so that Jo
could do her own series for the ATV British Network. These shows
were seen in this country, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, as
well as in the British Isles, and her guests included Bob Hope,
Ella Fitzgerald and Peter Sellers.
When family duties curtailed her public appearances, Jo continued
to record for Capitol, Dot , and Readers Digest Records, as well
as making religious albums for Corinthian and the World Library
of Sacred Music. She is a past-president of SHARE, one of
Hollywood's best known charitable organizations, which concerns
itself with aiding mentally handicapped children. Her last public
appearance was at SHARE's 25th Anniversary Show, along with Frank
Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis,Jr., Johnny Carson and Milton
Berle. Her Corinthian records continue to enjoy sales in this
country, England, the Benelux countries and Japan.