Kay's long on-off relationship with Capitol, dating back to 1947, came
to an end in the Spring of 1966. In October 1967 she recorded a single
for ABC. Nearly 30 years in the quickly evolving business and 45 years of age,
Kay's two sides sounded very contemporary for 1967. I especially like
her cover of the Grass Roots "Only When You're Lonely". Her phrasing and
powerful singing gives it a different spin from the Grass Roots version.
Pleased with the single, ABC cut another nine tracks for a LP and
Kay put her vocals on them just before Christmas 1967.
In late 1968 Kay did another single, this one for Dot, with both sides again
sounding very contemporary for 1968 pop. Around the same time Dick Hyman
was preparing 11 tracks for a jazz orchestra LP for Paramount and Kay added
her vocals in early December. Despite being 46 and still very much on
top of it all, that was the end of Kay as an active recording artist.
A few LP's followed in later years, live recordings and small label
cheaply-produced "sings this or sing that" type stuff, but nothing substantial.
So, that's a wrap. Over 20 hours of Kay Starr recordings.
Awesome compilation Wikkid Pissa!!! A tremendous amount of work. Thank you for your dedication to compiling artists in depth. I appreciate it and look forward to listening to this entire collection of Kay Starr.
ReplyDeleteAha! So you're the person that downloaded these!
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