Gogo DeLys (born Marie Gabrielle Belanger, 1908 - February 19, 2003) was an American singer in vaudeville and with the Jimmy Grier Band and on

old-time radio The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial radio broadcasting in the early ...

. Her last name was also seen as Delys.

Early years

Born in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

, Alberta, Canada, DeLys performed in a talent show while she was a law student at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

. A talent scout saw her and turned her career plans from law to singing.

Career

Dubbed "the Canadian Canary" by newspaper columnist

Walter Winchell Walter Winchell (April 7, 1897 – February 20, 1972) was a syndicated American newspaper gossip columnist and radio news commentator. Originally a vaudeville performer, Winchell began his newspaper career as a Broadway reporter, critic and co ...

, DeLys was active professionally from the 1920s into the 1940s. In 1928, she performed in vaudeville shows headed by

Eddie Peabody Edwin Ellsworth Peabody, known as Eddie Peabody (February 19, 1902 – November 7, 1970) was an American banjo player, instrument developer and musical entertainer whose career spanned five decades. He was the most famous plectrum banjoist o ...

and Paul Ash. Before January 1931, DeLys had moved from Vancouver to Los Angeles, singing on radio station KHJ, where ''Radio Digest'' magazine said, "she promptly became an instantaneous hit". By June 1931, DeLys had become the female vocalist with

Georgie Stoll Georgie Stoll (born George Martin Stoll; May 7, 1905 – January 18, 1985) was a musical director, conductor, Academy Award-winning composer, and jazz violinist, associated with the Golden Age of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musicals and performers fr ...

and his orchestra. The following year she sang with Jimmy Grier's orchestra. On October 29, 1932, she recorded "Second Hand Heart (for sale)" with Grier and his orchestra on the Victor label. On radio, DeLys sang with Jerry Joyce's Boys. She also sang on ''Little Ol' Hollywood'', and on '' Your Hit Parade'', and ''Carefree Carnival''. In 1936, she had her own twice-weekly program on CBS, and in 1937 she was featured with The Norsemen, James Melton, and Don Voorhees' orchestra in a series of transcribed programs sponsored by Rexall. In July 1937, ''Mid-Summer Night's Serenade'' debuted on CBS with DeLys as its star. A review in the trade publication ''Radio Daily'' described the program as "a well-balanced 15 minutes of evening music ..."

Death

On February 19, 2003, DeLys died of natural causes in St. John's Hospital in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

, at age 95.

Personal life

DeLys retired after marrying Robert Redd.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:DeLys, Gogo 1908 births 2003 deaths 20th-century women musicians 20th-century American women singers 20th-century American people 21st-century American women American radio personalities