The “Golden Hits Of The 50s”
Main MenuConcept Refinement The Author..Wayne JancikGolden Age Of The 50sGolden Age Of The 60s1970s and There After
TEDDI KING
“MR. WONDERFUL”
(Jerry Block, Larry Holoflener, George Weiss)
RCA Victor 6392
No. 18 March 24, 1956
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For a jazz-influenced songstress, Teddi King did well commercially when she charted with “Mr.
Wonderful,” from the Broadway musical of the same name, followed by “Married I Can Always Be” {#75,
1956) and “Say It Isn’t So” (#98, 1957). “I worked the big rooms and was on network TV and the public
became aware of my name,’ King told Whitney Balliett in American Singers. “But it wasn’t me. I was
doing pop pap, and I was in musical despair. I didn’t have my lovely jazz music and the freedom it gives.”
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Teddi quickly walked away from the glare of the limelight. For much of the ’60s, she worked the Playboy
Club in New York City. In 1970,she was diagnosed as suffering from systemic lupus. Singing engagements
diminished in number, and King died of the debilitating disease on November 18, 1977.
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Teddi was born Theodora King in Boston on September 18, 1929. After graduating from high school,
she joined the Tributary Theatre and eventually won RKO’s Dinah Shore sing-alike contest. She briefly
studied classical singing, as well as classical and jazz piano; she worked with bands led by Jack Edwards
and George Graham. Her recording debut came in 1951 with the taping of a set by Nat Pierce’s band.
Before going solo, Teddi toured for two years and recorded with George Shearing. It was her solo
appearances at Chicago’s Mr. Kelly’s and Philadelphia’s Rendezvous that brought her to the attention
of RCA and her subsequent “pop pap” recordings.
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Months before Teddi’s death, the Audiophile label issued two albums of what King referred to as
“my lovely jazz music.” Both Lovers and Losers and Someone to Light Up Your Life are to be found
somewhere.