Jo Ann Greer

about

Jo Ann Greer was well known to Hollywood casting people from the days of her marriage to Freddie Slack in the 1940's and herlater long employment with Les Brown and his Band of Renown. She was still singing with the band as late as 1976. I met her for the first time in San Francisco in 1975 or 1976 although we had spoken regulary for long hours on the telephone for over a year. When Rita Hayworth returned to work in Hollywood from a failed European marriage, she was determined to do her own singing in motion pictures. Morris Stoloff told me than he pieced together something like 34 tracks of Rita singing "I've Been Kissed Before" but the composite lacked punch because Rita could not sustain notes well for the big finish. Rita also had a strange way of prouncing words when she sang. "April" became "Apreel" for example. Joan (aka Jo Ann) was hired not only for her great way with a song but also because she had a slight lisp as did Rita. She'd dubbed for Charlotte Austin in a Frankie Laine film and later dubbed for Esther Williams in JUPITER'S DARLING, June Allyson in THE OPPOSITE SEX ("A Perfect Love" only), May Wynn in CAINE MUTINY, Gloria Grahame in NAKED ALIBI and Susan Kohner in IMITATION OF LIFE. But she was primarily hired to dub for Rita in AFFAIR IN TRINIDAD, MISS SADIE THOMPSON, PAL JOEY and an unused track for FIRE DOWN BELOW. She did lots of V-disks with Les, radio with Bob Hope in 51-53. Record collectors and radio buffs collect these tracks with Les Brown. In SA

top songs

albums

Hollywood's Secret Singing Star

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Film Noir (Collection BD Jazz)

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Hollywood Legend Sings

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No Moon at All

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Capitol Sings George Gershwin: Fascinatin' Rhythm

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The Very Best Of

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Jazz Legends: The Essential Women of Jazz

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I've Been Kissed Before

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BD Ciné: Rita Hayworth

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The Voices of Classic Cinema. Behind the Divas

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Fascinatin' Rhythm: Capitol Sings George Gershwin

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Pal Joey-original Film Soundtrack - Frank Sinatra , Kim Novak , Rita Hayworth

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