Doris Mary Ann Kapfelhof was born in Cincinnati, Ohio to William Joseph Kapfelhof and the former Alma Sophia Welz, themselves both born to immigrants from Germany. (Some sources put a "von" before the last name.) During her teenage years, she was one half of a dance duo that performed around Cincinnati, until her right leg was injured in a car accident. While recovering, she would sing along with songs on the radio, and soon afterwards was taking singing lessons. She was hired to sing on the radio by local station WLW, which would catch the ear of bandleader Barney Rapp. He invited her to audition, at which she beat out about 200 other singers (according to him) to get the job. While she worked for him, he suggested that she use the surname "Day", which referred to a song she sang entitled Day After Day. She would also work with several other bands, scoring her first hit, Sentimental Journey, with the Les Brown Band.
Day's performance of Embraceable You, by Jule Styne and Sammy Kahn led the two writers to recommend her for a role in movie Romance on the High Seas. Her movie career would include appearances in My Dream Is Yours, Tea For Two, I'll See You In My Dreams, Calamity Jane (in the title role), The Man Who Knew Too Much (which included the song Que Sera Sera), The Pajama Game, Please Don't Eat The Daisies, That Touch Of Mink, With Six You Get Egg Roll, and many more. Day also had a self-titled TV show, first from 1952 to 1953, and again from 1968 to 1973.
Day was married four times, to Al Jorden (1941-1943), George Weidler (1946-1949), Martin Melcher (1951-1968), and Barry Comden (1976-1981). Her only child was Terry Melcher, who was the biological son of Jorden, but later adopted by Melcher. The younger Melcher was a successful music producer. He died from melanoma in 2004, which appears to have left his son Ryan Melcher as Day's only survivor.
Day's first hit was Sentimental Journey, with the Les Brown Band. The song was written by Brown, Ben Homer and Bud Green. The video shows various scenes from her life and career. It would later be covered by Ringo Starr as the title track of his first solo album.
If Day had a signature song, it would arguably be Que Sera Sera, from movie The Man Who Knew Too Much. The song was written by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans, won an Academy Award, and was later covered by Sly and the Family Stone, with Rose Stone on lead vocals. Here is Day's original version:
No comments:
Post a Comment