Mary Jo Chelette
   HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - Mary Jo Chelette
OR:
Mary Jo Chelette on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

Mary Jo Chelette (May 13, 1939 – May 14, 1984) was an American country singer from
Port Arthur, Texas Port Arthur is a city in Jefferson County within the Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area of the U.S. state of Texas. A small, uninhabited portion extends into Orange County; it is east of Houston. The largest oil refinery in the United Sta ...
. Along with her two younger sisters she was billed as The Chelette Sisters and was a featured performer on radio station KPAC and later The Louisiana Hayride. As a solo performer, she has the unique distinction of being the first artist to release a record for Starday Records. Her first recording session took place at the ACA studios in
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
on May 21, 1953. Starday single #101 was "Gee, It's Tough to Be Thirteen" with "Cat Fishing" on the opposite side.
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
reviews for this disc were neutral to unfavorable. She went on to release several more solo singles for Starday including a third answer to the song to ''
Mexican Joe Jose Barrera (1876 – 1949) became famous as Wild West showman "Mexican Joe". Barrera was reportedly born in Monterrey, Mexico in 1876. In 1897, Pawnee Bill's Wild West Show was the first to hire Jose as a performer. Only fifteen years old at the ...
'' which received much-improved reviews. Mary Jo Chelette and the Chelette Sisters were managed by Neva Starns, wife of Starday co-founder Jack Starns. The Starns created a radio program called "Houston Hometown Jamboree" to showcase Starday talent, and Mary Jo and the Chelette Sisters (who did not record for Starday) were featured on the program. By the end of 1953 she was making fifteen personal appearances a month. On November 25, 1955 the Chelette Sisters appeared with a young
Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
, equally billed with him in a Louisiana Hayride benefit concert for the Port Acres fire department. Label-mate Patsy Ehsire recalls being "a little bit jealous" of Mary Jo Chelette, because of her physical appearance, including striking red hair, and the matching white Western outfits worn by the Chelette Sisters. Elshire commented positively about Chelette's personality. She married William Harvey Campbell.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chelette, Mary Jo 1939 births 1984 deaths People from Port Arthur, Texas American country singer-songwriters American women country singers Starday Records artists 20th-century American singers Singer-songwriters from Texas 20th-century American women singers Country musicians from Texas