| (July 22, 1924 – January 10, 2011) |
Biography
Youth
Whiting was born in Detroit and her family moved to Los Angeles in 1929. Her father, Richard A. Whiting, was a composer of popular songs ("Hooray for Hollywood," "Too Marvelous for Words"). Her sister, Barbara Whiting, was an actress (Junior Miss, Beware, My Lovely) and singer. An aunt, Margaret Young, was a singer and popular recording artist in the 1920s. In her childhood, Whiting's singing ability had already been noticed, and at the age of only seven she sang for singer-lyricist Johnny Mercer, with whom her father had collaborated on some popular songs. In 1942, Mercer co-founded Capitol Records and signed Margaret to one of Capitol's first recording contracts.Recording career
Whiting's first recordings were as featured singer with various orchestras:- "That Old Black Magic", with Freddie Slack and His Orchestra (1942)
- "Moonlight in Vermont", with Billy Butterfield's Orchestra (1943)
- "It Might as Well Be Spring", with Paul Weston and His Orchestra (1945)
- "All Through the Day" (1945, becoming a bestseller in the spring of 1946)
- "In Love in Vain" (1945)
- (these two from the movie "Centennial Summer")
- "Guilty" (1946)
- "Oh, But I Do" (1946)
- "A Tree in the Meadow" (a number 1 hit in the summer of 1948)
- "Slippin' Around", a duet with country music star Jimmy Wakely (a number 1 hit in 1949)
- "Baby, It's Cold Outside" (duet with Johnny Mercer, 1949)
- "Blind Date", a novelty record with Bob Hope (1950)
- "Faraway Places (With Strange Sounding Names)"
- the Christmas song Silver Bells (duet with Jimmy Wakely, 1951)
Television career
Margaret and Barbara Whiting starred as themselves in the situation comedy Those Whiting Girls. The show, produced by Desilu Productions, aired on CBS as a summer replacement series (in place of I Love Lucy) between July, 1955 and September, 1957.Margaret Whiting was a regular guest on variety shows and talk shows throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, including The Big Record, The Bob Hope Show, The Colgate Comedy Hour, The David Frost Show, The Ed Sullivan Show, The George Jessel Show, The Guy Mitchell Show, The Jonathan Winters Show, The Merv Griffin Show, The Mike Douglas Show, The Nat King Cole Show, Over Easy, The Pat Boone Show, The Patti Page Show, The Red Skelton Hour, The Steve Allen Show, The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show, The Texaco Star Theater, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, The Virginia Graham Show, and The Voice of Firestone.
In the 2000s, she appeared in several documentaries about singers and songwriters of her era, including Judy Garland: By Myself (2004), Fever: The Music of Peggy Lee (2004), Anita O'Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer (2007), Johnny Mercer: The Dream's on Me (2009), and Michael Feinstein's American Songbook (2010).
Marriages
- Hubbell Robinson Jr., a writer, producer, and television executive (December 29, 1948 - divorced August 18, 1949)[2]
- Lou Busch, a ragtime pianist known as "Joe 'Fingers' Carr" (divorced; one daughter, Deborah, born 1951)
- John Richard Moore, a founder of Panavision (married 1958 - divorced)
- Jack Wrangler (né John Stillman; 1994 – April 7, 2009; his death)
When the couple first got together, Wrangler protested, "But I'm gay!" to which Whiting reportedly replied, "Only around the edges, dear." In an interview later in life, Wrangler said, "I'm not bisexual and I'm not straight. I'm gay, but I could never live a gay lifestyle because I'm much too competitive. When I was with a guy I would always want to be better than him: what we were accomplishing, what we were wearing – anything. With a woman you compete like crazy, but coming from different points of view, and as far as I'm concerned, that was doable".[4] Jack Wrangler predeceased his much older wife, dying from emphysema in 2009.
Death
Whiting died on January 10, 2011, aged 86, from natural causes at the Lillian Booth Actors' Home in Englewood, New Jersey.[citation needed]Trivia
Susan Hayward's singing voice was dubbed by Whiting for the song "I'll Plant My Own Tree" in 1967's Valley of the Dolls, earlier performed by Judy Garland, whom Hayward replaced.According to the Internet Movie Database, early in her career Whiting provided the singing voices for actresses in two Republic films: for Sally Carlyle in Youth on Parade (1942), and for Brenda Joyce in Thumbs Up (1943).
Discography
Albums
| Year | Album | US Pop LPs | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | Margaret Whiting Sings Rodgers and Hart | Capitol | |
| 1954 | Love Songs by Margaret Whiting | ||
| 1956 | Margaret Whiting Sings for the Starry-Eyed | ||
| 1957 | Goin' Places | Dot | |
| 1958 | Margaret | ||
| 1959 | Margaret Whiting's Great Hits | ||
| Ten Top Hits | |||
| 1960 | Just a Dream | ||
| Margaret Whiting Sings the Jerome Kern Songbook | Verve | ||
| Broadway, Right Now! (with Mel Tormé) | |||
| 1961 | Past Midnight | MGM | |
| 1967 | The Wheel of Hurt | 109 | London |
| Maggie Isn't Margaret Anymore | |||
| 1968 | Pop Country | ||
| 1980 | Too Marvelous for Words | Audiophile | |
| 1982 | Come a Little Closer | ||
| 1985 | The Lady's in Love with You | ||
| 1991 | Then and Now | DRG |
Singles
| Year | Single | Contributing Artist | Chart Positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pop | Country | AC | |||
| 1942 | "That Old Black Magic" | Freddie Slack & His Orchestra | 10 | - | - |
| 1943 | "My Ideal" | Billy Butterfield & His Orchestra | 12 | - | - |
| 1944 | "Silver Wings In the Moonlight" | Freddie Slack & His Orchestra | 19 | - | - |
| 1945 | "Moonlight In Vermont" | Billy Butterfield & His Orchestra | 15 | - | - |
| "It Might as Well Be Spring" | Paul Weston & His Orchestra | 6 | - | - | |
| 1946 | "All Through the Day" | - | 11 | - | - |
| "In Love In Vain" | - | 12 | - | - | |
| "Come Rain or Come Shine" | - | 17 | - | - | |
| "Along With Me" | - | 13 | - | - | |
| "Passe" | - | 12 | - | - | |
| "Guilty" | - | 4 | - | - | |
| "Oh, But I Do" | - | 7 | - | - | |
| 1947 | "Beware My Heart" | - | 21 | - | - |
| "Old Devil Moon" | - | 11 | - | - | |
| "Ask Anyone Who Knows" | - | 21 | - | - | |
| "Little Girl Blue" | - | 25 | - | - | |
| "You Do" | - | 5 | - | - | |
| "Lazy Countryside" | - | 21 | - | - | |
| "Pass That Peace Pipe" | - | 8 | - | - | |
| 1948 | "Let's Be Sweethearts Again" | - | 22 | - | - |
| "But Beautiful" | - | 21 | - | - | |
| "Now is the Hour" | - | 2 | - | - | |
| "What's Good About Goodbye" | - | 29 | - | - | |
| "Please Don't Kiss Me" | - | 23 | - | - | |
| "A Tree in the Meadow" | - | 1 | - | - | |
| "Far Away Places" | - | 2 | - | - | |
| 1949 | "Forever and Ever" | - | 5 | - | - |
| "A Wonderful Guy" | - | 12 | - | - | |
| "Baby, It's Cold Outside" | Johnny Mercer | 3 | - | - | |
| "Slippin' Around" | Jimmy Wakely | 1 | 1 | - | |
| "Wedding Bells" | 30 | 6 | - | ||
| "Dime a Dozen | - | 19 | - | - | |
| "I'll Never Slip Around Again" | Jimmy Wakely | 8 | 2 | - | |
| 1950 | "Broken Down Merry Go Round" | 12 | 2 | - | |
| "The Gods Were Angry With Me" | 6 | 3 | - | ||
| "I Said My Pajamas (and Put on My Prayers)" | Frank De Vol | 21 | - | - | |
| "Let's Go to Church (Next Sunday Morning)" | Jimmy Wakely | 13 | 2 | - | |
| "My Foolish Heart" | - | 17 | - | - | |
| "Blind Date" | Bob Hope | 16 | - | - | |
| "A Bushel and a Peck" | Jimmy Wakely | 6 | 6 | - | |
| 1951 | "When You and I Were Young, Maggie, Blues" | 20 | 7 | - | |
| "Good Morning, Mr. Echo" | - | 14 | - | - | |
| "I Don't Want to Be Free" | Jimmy Wakely | - | 5 | - | |
| 1952 | "I'll Walk Alone" | - | 29 | - | - |
| "Outside of Heaven" | - | 22 | - | - | |
| 1953 | "Why Don't You Believe Me?" | - | 29 | - | - |
| 1954 | "Moonlight In Vermont" new version | - | 29 | - | - |
| 1956 | "The Money Tree" | - | 20 | - | - |
| 1958 | "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still In Love With You)" | - | 74 | - | - |
| 1966 | "Somewhere There's Love" | - | - | - | 29 |
| "The Wheel of Hurt" | - | 26 | - | 1 | |
| 1967 | "Just Like a Man" | - | 132 | - | 29 |
| "Only Love Can Break a Heart" | - | 96 | - | 4 | |
| "I Almost Called Your Name" | - | 108 | - | 4 | |
| 1968 | "I Hate to See Me Go" | - | 127 | - | 27 |
| "It Keeps Right On a Hurtin'" | - | 115 | - | 28 | |
| "Faithfully" | - | 117 | - | 19 | |
| "Can't Get You Out of My Mind" | - | 124 | - | 11 | |
| 1969 | "Where Was I" | - | - | - | 24 |
| 1970 | "(Z Theme) Life Goes On" | - | - | - | 14 |
| "Until It's Time For You to Go" | - | - | - | 32 | |
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