Judy Johnson (born Betty Bonney; March 8, 1924 in

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...

, USA) is an American pop singer most notable for her regular appearances on the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

television series ''

Your Show of Shows ''Your Show of Shows'' is a live 90-minute variety show that was broadcast weekly in the United States on NBC from February 25, 1950, through June 5, 1954, featuring Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca. Other featured performers were Carl Reiner, Howar ...

'' in the 1950s. Early in her career, she was billed under her birth name.

Early years

In the late 1930s, Johnson and her family moved to Nutley, New Jersey, and while there she learned tap dancing. After two years, they moved back to Norfolk. There she began singing on a radio station and began singing with a band at age 11. She performed at age 14 as a dancer and singer in a tent show headed by

Gene Austin Lemeul Eugene Lucas (June 24, 1900 – January 24, 1972), better known by his stage name Gene Austin, was an American singer and songwriter, one of the early "crooners". His recording of " My Blue Heaven" sold over 5 million copies and was for a ...

. When she was 18, she moved to New York to study musical comedy. In addition to studying, she traveled on

USO The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...

tours and appeared in night clubs, including the Copacabana in New York.

Career

In the early 1940s, she sang with the Les Brown Orchestra. In 1941, she had a hit of "Joltin' Joe DiMaggio" with Brown's group. She later sang with

Frankie Carle Frankie Carle (born Francis Nunzio Carlone, March 25, 1903 – March 7, 2001) was an American pianist and bandleader. As a very popular bandleader in the 1940s and 1950s, Carle was nicknamed "The Wizard of the Keyboard". "Sunrise Serenade" was Ca ...

and his orchestra. Her biggest hit was "

How Little We Know "How Little We Know" is a song written by Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer for the 1944 film ''To Have and Have Not'', where it is performed by the character "Slim" played by Lauren Bacall. A young Andy Williams recorded the song for the film as ...

", written by

Hoagy Carmichael Hoagland Howard Carmichael (November 22, 1899 – December 27, 1981) was an American musician, composer, songwriter, actor and lawyer. Carmichael was one of the most successful Tin Pan Alley songwriters of the 1930s, and was among the first ...

and

Johnny Mercer John Herndon Mercer (November 18, 1909 – June 25, 1976) was an American lyricist, songwriter, and singer, as well as a record label executive who co-founded Capitol Records with music industry businessmen Buddy DeSylva and Glenn E. Wallich ...

for the character played by

Lauren Bacall Lauren Bacall (; born Betty Joan Perske; September 16, 1924 – August 12, 2014) was an American actress. She was named the 20th-greatest female star of classic Hollywood cinema by the American Film Institute and received an Academy Honorary Aw ...

in the film ''

To Have and Have Not ''To Have and Have Not'' is a novel by Ernest Hemingway published in 1937 by Charles Scribner's Sons. The book follows Harry Morgan, a fishing boat captain out of Key West, Florida. ''To Have and Have Not'' was Hemingway's second novel set in th ...

''. In 1943, Johnson sang with

Jan Savitt Jan Savitt (born Jacob Savetnick; September 4, 1907 – October 4, 1948), known as "The Stokowski of Swing", from having played violin in Leopold Stokowski's orchestra, was an American bandleader, musical arranger, and violinist. Early life and ...

and his orchestra and Jerry Wald and his orchestra. Johnson's TV appearances included singing on the syndicated game show ''Hidden Treasure'', the NBC game show ''

Judge for Yourself A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility a ...

'', and the NBC variety show '' Tonight! America After Dark''. 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 ...

, she was a regular on ''The Robert Q. Lewis Show''. Most of the kinescopes of ''Your Show of Shows'' were discarded by NBC, so few video appearances of Johnson remain. In one remaining film clip Johnson sings a cover of the Four Lads song "No, Not Much!". Her last television singing appearance was on ''

The Arthur Murray Party ''The Arthur Murray Party'' is an American television variety show which ran from July 1950 until September 1960. The show was hosted by famous dancers Arthur Murray, Arthur and Kathryn Murray, and was basically one long advertisement for their c ...

'' in 1959. In 1950, Johnson joined

Sammy Kaye Sammy Kaye (born Samuel Zarnocay Jr.; March 13, 1910 – June 2, 1987) was an American bandleader and songwriter, whose tag line, "Swing and Sway with Sammy Kaye", became one of the most famous of the Big Band Era. The expression springs fr ...

as a singer with his orchestra. In 1952, she signed a contract with

MGM Records MGM Records was a record label founded by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946 for the purpose of releasing soundtrack recordings (later LP albums) of their musical films. It transitioned into a pop music label that continued into the ...

to join Bill Hayes, with whom she sang on ''Your Show of Shows'', to record duets. In 1955, she performed on Broadway as Miss Adelaide in ''

Guys and Dolls ''Guys and Dolls'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. It is based on "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown" (1933) and "Blood Pressure", which are two short stories by Damon Runyon, and also bo ...

''.

Personal life

Johnson married composer and conductor

Mort Lindsey Mort Lindsey (born Morton Lippman; March 21, 1923, Newark, New Jersey – May 4, 2012, Malibu, California), was an orchestrator, composer, pianist, conductor and musical director for Judy Garland, Barbra Streisand, Pat Boone, Jack Narz, and Merv Gr ...

in 1954.

References

1928 births Living people 20th-century American women singers Musicians from Norfolk, Virginia Traditional pop music singers 20th-century American singers 21st-century American women {{US-pop-singer-stub