1. Already singing publicly in her early teens, Gibbs achieved acclaim and notoriety in the mid-1950s copying songs originating with the black rhythm and blues community and later became a featured vocalist for many radio and television variety and comedy programs.
Georgia Gibbs's key attribute was tremendous versatility and an uncommon stylistic range from melancholy ballad to uptempo swinging jazz and rock and roll.
Georgia Gibbs was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, the youngest of four children of Russian Jewish descent.
Georgia Gibbs's father died when she was six months old, and she and her three siblings spent the next seven years in a local Jewish orphanage.
The Plymouth's manager had already heard her sing on the local Worcester radio station, and Georgia Gibbs was hired and moved to Boston, eventually landing at the Raymor Ballroom.
Georgia Gibbs joined the Hudson-DeLange Orchestra in 1936, and toured with them for 10 months as Fredda Gibson.
Georgia Gibbs found steady work on radio shows including Your Hit Parade, Melody Puzzles, and The Tim And Irene Show and freelanced in the late 1930s and early 1940s singing with the bands of Tommy Dorsey, Hal Kemp, Artie Shaw, and Frankie Trumbauer.
Georgia Gibbs first charted with Shaw's band in 1942 on Absent Minded Moon, which received a lukewarm review at the time.
Georgia Gibbs was the first singer to record The Laziest Gal in Town, a Cole Porter song which was made much more famous in the 1960s by Nina Simone.
In 1943, with her name changed to Georgia Gibbs, she began appearing on the Camel Caravan radio program, hosted by Jimmy Durante and Garry Moore, where she remained a regular performer until 1947.
Georgia Gibbs signed with Majestic Records in 1946 cutting multiple records including the first of three recordings of Ballin' The Jack.
Georgia Gibbs had a big, old-fashioned voice, a good ear, a vivacious personality, and she knew how to sing from the shoulder.
In 1957, Georgia Gibbs signed with RCA Victor going on to chart with over 40 songs before retirement from singing, and was briefly successful doing rock 'n' roll songs as well.
Georgia Gibbs's Mercury record "Silent Lips" was a big hit in Sweden peaking at number 5 in the best-selling charts, and there were even several Swedish cover versions of that song, "Ingenting" by among others Towa Carson, Lill-Babs and Britt Rylander.
Georgia Gibbs has appeared on many television shows including The Ed Sullivan Show, and hosted one of her own, Georgia Gibbs and her Million Record Show.
Georgia Gibbs cut her final album Call Me, in 1966 and rarely performed after that.
Decades later, Georgia Gibbs commented that she, like most artists of the day, had no say in their choice of material and arrangements.
Georgia Gibbs died of leukemia on December 9,2006, aged 88, at New York's Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
Interest in Georgia Gibbs' work has enjoyed a revival with the re-issue on CD of long unavailable material.
Georgia Gibbs was the rare fifties canary with a genuine flair for rock and roll.