Anita O'Day

Anita O'Day, born Anita Belle Colton on October 18, 1919, and who died on November 23, 2006, was an American singer known for her work in jazz. Regarded as an influential jazz singer for her ability to follow extremely fast arrangements and for her distinctive vocal style, her music was critically acclaimed.

O'Day started out as a walkathon competitor before devoting herself to singing, in Chicago's jazz clubs, where she was spotted by Gene Krupa, becoming his lead singer, with hits such as “Let Me off Uptown” (1941). She also sang for Stan Kenton's orchestra, with the hit “And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine” (1944), before launching a solo career in 1947 in the nascent bebop genre; her use of marijuana and heroin earned her several widely reported arrests, including six months in prison in 1953.

She found success with a series of albums for Verve Records between 1956 and 1964, including Anita (1956) and Anita Sings the Most (1958), and a celebrated performance at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1958. A heroin addiction led to a near-fatal overdose in 1966, after which she relaunched her career in the 1970s, touring in Japan and founding her own label. She published her autobiography, High Times Hard Times, in 1981, and still performed at her 50th anniversary concert at Carnegie Hall in 1985. After a near-fatal bout of pneumonia in 1996, she recovered in 1999 and continued performing into the 2000s; her final album, Indestructible!, was released in 2006, the year she died.