Georgia Gibbs is known more for her body of work from the mid-1950's, but Georgia got her start in the heart of The Big Band Era. She was blessed with a voice that had tremendous versatility and fantastic range.
Her professional career started at the age of 17 when she joined the Hudson-DeLange Orchestra in 1936. Her stage name at the time was Fredda Gibson (her birth name was Frieda Lipschitz). She was a featured vocalist with Hudson-DeLange for just under a year and then went on to do freelance work with some big name bands in the late 30's and early 40's. Bands like Tommy Dorsey, Hal Kemp, Artie Shaw, and Frankie Trumbauer. It was also at this time that she settled on the name Georgia Gibbs.
Georgia built her name and reputation with her work on radio. She found steady work on shows like Your Hit Parade, Melody Puzzles, and The Tim And Irene Show. She was also a featured vocalist on the Camel Caravan radio program, hosted by Jimmy Durante, where she remained a regular performer until 1947.
In the 1950's, she would go on to be a regular on many TV variety shows and landed a boatload of songs on the charts. She remained in public eye well into the 1960's.
Listen to: "Ballin’ The Jack" by Georgia Gibbs from 1947
You can hear the beautiful voice of Georgia Gibbs right her on Swing City Radio.
