1. Dorothy Jacqueline Keely, professionally known as Keely Smith, was an American jazz and popular music singer, who performed and recorded extensively in the 1950s with then-husband Louis Prima, and throughout the 1960s as a solo artist.
15 Facts About Keely Smith
1. 2.
Jesse Keely Smith, her stepfather, was a carpenter, and her mother took in laundry to earn money to buy gowns for Keely Smith to wear when she performed.
3.
When Keely Smith was 11 years old, she sang regularly as a cast member of The Joe Brown Radio Gang program on a Norfolk station.
4.
At age 14, Keely Smith sang with a naval air station band led by Saxie Dowell.
5.
Keely Smith saw Louis Prima perform in New York City in 1949.
6.
Keely Smith and Prima's act was a mainstay of the Las Vegas lounge scene for much of the 1950s.
7.
Keely Smith then signed with Reprise Records, where her musical director was Nelson Riddle.
8.
Keely Smith returned to singing in 1985, recording the album I'm in Love Again with Bud Shank, Bill Perkins and Bob Cooper.
9.
Keely Smith's albums, Swing, Swing, Swing, Keely Sings Sinatra for which she received a Grammy nomination, and Keely Swings Basie-Style With Strings won critical and popular acclaim.
10.
Keely Smith earned positive reviews for her performances at Feinstein's nightclub in Manhattan in 2005.
11.
Keely Smith had affairs with Sam Giancana and Frank Sinatra prior to her divorce from Prima in 1961.
12.
In 1975, Keely Smith married singer Bobby Milano in Palm Springs.
13.
On December 16,2017, Keely Smith died of apparent heart failure in Palm Springs, California, at the age of 89.
14.
Keely Smith is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills.
15.
Keely Smith has a star at 7080 Hollywood Boulevard in the Recording section of the Hollywood Walk of Fame.