Georgia Gibbs w/ Glenn Osser Orchestra - A Moth And A Flame ~1952

Frieda Lipschitz, aka Georgia Gibbs, was born on August 17, 1918 in Worcester, Massachusetts. Her father died when she was six months old and grew up with her three sisters in a Jewish orphanage. After her mother gained employment enough to care for the girls once more, she came back for them, but would often have to leave them for weeks at a time for work, leaving them with a Philco radio for entertainment. At 13, Frieda auditioned for and got a job at the Plymouth Theater, a hot spot for vaudeville in Boston. She worked the local circuit and got in with some local bands by 17, touring as "Fredda Gibson".

She would find steady work on radio shows including Your Hit Parade, Melody Puzzles, and The Tim And Irene Show and freelanced in the late 1930s and early 1940s singing with the bands of Tommy Dorsey, Hal Kemp, Artie Shaw, and Frankie Trumbauer. Her recording career officially began with an uncredited vocal part with the Hudson-DeLange Orchestra around 1936-37. She recorded sporadically through the rest of the 30's and early 40's. In 1943, she changed her name to Georgia Gibbs and began appearing on the Camel Caravan radio program, remaining a regular performer until 1947. Gibbs would sign with Majestic Records in 1946. She would have some success in record sales but still did much better on the radio, holding true with the performance of her 1950 hit "If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake" which did great on radio stations, but failed to sell many records.

She would continue TV appearances in 1949 and 1950, and signed with Mercury Records in 1951, having much more success in record sales (maybe down to the marketing team at the label?), even achieving a No. 1 on the pop chart with 1952's "Kiss Of Fire". She ultimately preferred ballads to show off her vocal talent, although she became known for more up-tempo tunes. She would stay with Mercury until 1957 when she switched to RCA Victor, going on to chart with over 40 songs for the label. She would continue her TV appearances including The Ed Sullivan Show, and hosted one of her own, "Georgia Gibbs and her Million Record Show". She cut her final album in 1966 and rarely performed afterward. She would marry foreign correspondent and author Frank Gervasi in 1970 raised a daughter. She would die of leukemia in 2006 at age 88.

This is a song debuted by Gibbs called "A Moth And A Flame", originally written by Bernie Bennett and Arnold Shaw. She's backed by the fantastic brass of Glenn Osser's orchestra. The recording took place in October 1952 and releasing the following month.