Teddi King was an American jazz and pop vocalist. Born Theodora King in Boston, Massachusetts on September 18, 1929, she won a singing competition hosted by Dinah Shore

Dinah Shore

Dinah Shore was an American singer, actress, and television personality...

 at Boston's Tributary Theatre, later beginning work in a touring revue involved with "cheering up the military in the lull between the Second World War and the Korean conflict

Korean War

The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...

." Improving her vocal and piano technique during this time, she first recorded with Nat Pierce

Nat Pierce

Nat Pierce was an American jazz pianist and arranger born in Somerville, Massachusetts, perhaps best-known for being pianist and arranger for the Woody Herman band from 1951–1955...

 in 1949, later recording with the Beryl Booker

Beryl Booker

Beryl Booker was a swing pianist of the 1950s. Born in 1922 in Philadelphia, she played with Slam Stewart's trio in 1946, and played off and on with him until 1951. She also played accompaniment for Dinah Washington. In early 1952, Booker led a quintet which played Birdland, featuring Don Elliot,...

 trio and with several other small groups from 1954-1955 (recordings which were available on three albums for Storyville). She then toured with George Shearing

George Shearing

Sir George Shearing, OBE was an Anglo-American jazz pianist who for many years led a popular jazz group that recorded for MGM Records and Capitol Records. The composer of over 300 titles, he had multiple albums on the Billboard charts during the 1950s, 1960s, 1980s and 1990s...

 for two years beginning in the summer of 1952, and for a time was managed by the famed George Wein

George Wein

George Wein is an American jazz promoter and producer who has been called "the most famous jazz impresario" and "the most important non-player... in jazz history"...

. King later began performing for a time in Las Vegas

Las Vegas Strip

The Las Vegas Strip is an approximately stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada; adjacent to, but outside the city limits of Las Vegas proper. The Strip lies within the unincorporated townships of Paradise and Winchester...

.

Ultimately signing with RCA, she recorded three albums for the label, beginning with 1956's Bidin' My Time. She also had some minor chart success with the singles "Mr. Wonderful" (which made the Top 20 in 1956), "Married I Can Always Get" and "Say It Isn't So" (both of which made the Hot 100 from 1957–1958). Her critically praised 1959 album All the Kings' Songs found her interpreting the signature songs of contemporary male singers like Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra

Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...

 and Nat King Cole

Nat King Cole

Nathaniel Adams Coles , known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. Although an accomplished pianist, he owes most of his popular musical fame to his soft baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres...

 (the "kings" of the title). In the 1960s, she opened the Playboy Club, where she often performed. After developing lupus

Systemic lupus erythematosus

Systemic lupus erythematosus , often abbreviated to SLE or lupus, is a systemic autoimmune disease that can affect any part of the body. As occurs in other autoimmune diseases, the immune system attacks the body's cells and tissue, resulting in inflammation and tissue damage...

, she managed to make a brief comeback with a 1977 album featuring Dave McKenna

Dave McKenna

Dave McKenna was a jazz pianist. He was known for his "three-handed swing" and was a leading proponent of solo piano style.-Biography:...

, and with two more albums recorded for Audiophile released posthumously. She eventually died of the disease on November 18, 1977. King's style, influenced by Lee Wiley

Lee Wiley

Lee Wiley was an American jazz singer popular in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.Wiley was born in Fort Gibson, Oklahoma. While still in her early teens, she left home to pursue a singing career with the Leo Reisman band. Her career was temporarily interrupted by a fall while horseback riding...

, Mildred Bailey

Mildred Bailey

Mildred Bailey was a popular and influential American jazz singer during the 1930s, known as "The Rockin' Chair Lady" and "Mrs. Swing"...

 and Mabel Mercer

Mabel Mercer

Mabel Mercer was an English-born cabaret singer who performed in the United States, Britain, and Europe with the greats in jazz and cabaret. She was a featured performer at Chez Bricktop in Paris, owned by the hostess Bricktop, and performed in such clubs as Le Ruban Bleu, Tony's, the RSVP, the...

, has won her a small but devoted cult following.

Discography

• Storyville Presents Teddi King (1954, Storyville)
• Now in Vogue (1955, Storyville)
• Bidin' My Time (1956, RCA)
• A Girl and Her Songs (1957, RCA)
• To You From Teddi King (1957, RCA)
• All the King's Songs (1959, Coral)
• This is New (1977, Inner City)
• Lovers and Losers (1978, Audiophile)
• Someone to Light Up Your Life (1979, Audiophile)
• In the Beginning, 1949-1954 (2000 compilation, Baldwin Street Music)

External links

• [ Teddi King at Allmusic]
• Village Voice article by Nat Hentoff, "Remembering Teddi King"