Teresa Brewer

Brewer was born in Toledo, Ohio, the eldest of five siblings.[1] Her father was a glass inspector for the Libbey Owens Company (now part of Pilkington Glass), and her mother was a housewife.

An agent, Richie Lisella, heard her sing and took her career in hand, and soon she was signed to a contract with London Records. In 1949 she recorded the song Copenhagen (a jazz perennial) with the Dixieland All-Stars. For the B side she recorded the song "Music! Music! Music!". Unexpectedly, it was not the A side but the B side which took off, selling over a million copies and becoming Teresa's signature song. Another novelty song, "Choo'n Gum", hit the top 20 in 1950, followed by "Molasses, Molasses". Although she preferred to sing ballads, her only recorded ballad to make the charts was "Longing for You" in 1951.

In 1951 Brewer switched labels, going to Coral Records. Since she never learned to read music, she had demos sent to her to learn the melodies of the songs she would record. Despite her lack of formal training, she had a number of hits for Coral. In 1952, she also recorded "You'll Never Get Away" in a duet with Don Cornell, followed in 1953 by her best selling hit, "Till I Waltz Again with You". In the mid-1950s she did a number of covers of rhythm and blues songs like "Pledging My Love" and "Tweedle Dee". She covered some country songs like "Jilted", "I Gotta Go Get My Baby", and "Let Me Go, Lover!". In 1956 she co-wrote "I Love Mickey", about New York Yankees center fielder Mickey Mantle, who appeared on the record with Brewer. It was also reported that the two had developed a mutual attraction. Another 1956 hit was Brewer's syncopated rendition of "Mutual Admiration Society". In the same year her hit "A Sweet Old Fashioned Girl" demonstrated in one song her ballad and rock talents. In 1957 she recorded more covers: of country song "Teardrops in My Heart" and R&B songs "You Send Me"[4] and "Empty Arms".

She appeared as Pat Edmonds in the 1953 film musical Those Redheads from Seattle – she was a natural redhead herself. Her song from the film, "Baby Baby Baby" was successful as a single.[5] She appeared on television as a guest star on such television shows as The Muppet Show and Sha Na Na.[6] In 1968, Brewer sang the Star Spangled Banner at the 1968 MLB All Star Game. She released "Danny's Song" (written by Kenny Loggins) in 1972 (album, Singin' a Doo Dah Song), in 1975 (album, Teresa Brewer – Her Greatest Hits), in 1986 (album, Portrait) and, again in 1991 (album, Sixteen Most Requested Songs) [7]

Brewer re-emerged as a jazz vocalist on Thiele's Amsterdam label in the 1980s and 1990s recording a number of albums including tribute albums to Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller and Irving Berlin. She also recorded with such jazz greats as Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Earl Hines, Svend Asmussen and Bobby Hackett. A landmark recording in her career was Softly I Swing (Red Baron Records, 1992) which was produced by Thiele and featured David Murray, Ron Carter, Kenny Barron and Grady Tate. "Memories of Louis", also recorded for Thiele's Red Baron Records, features a number of great trumpeters including Clark Terry, Nicholas Payton, Ruby Braff, Freddie Hubbard, Wynton Marsalis, Roy Hargrove, Sweets Edison, Lew Soloff, Terence Blanchard Yank Lawson, Red Rodney and Dizzy Gillespie.[8]

On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Teresa Brewer among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.[9]