About
Georgia Gibbs (born Frieda Lipschitz, August 17, 1918 – December 9, 2006) was an American popular singer and vocal entertainer rooted in jazz. Already singing publicly in her early teens, Gibbs first achieved acclaim (and notoriety) in the mid-1950s interpreting songs originating with the black rhythm and blues community and later as a featured vocalist on a long list of radio and television variety and comedy programs. Her key attribute was tremendous versatility and an uncommon stylistic range from melancholy ballad to uptempo swinging jazz and rock and roll.
She was very popular in the 1950s in the United States. In 1952 her song Kiss of fire (adaptation in English of the famous tango El choclo) was ranked No. 1 on the Billboard charts. She then followed several successes: in 1953, Seven lonely days, in 1955, Tweedle Dee and Dance with me Henry (also ranked No. 1 on the Billboard) and I Want You to Be My Baby, a song previously performed the same year by Lillian Briggs.
Her career, which began in 1936 with a first recording accompanied by the Hudson-DeLange Orchestra, ended in 1958 with her last big hit, The Hula Hoop Song, followed by a brief return to the music scene in 1965-1966, without matching her successes of the 1950s.