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Marilyn Monroe

Norma Jeane Mortenson, better known as Marilyn Monroe was a Golden Globe Award-winning American Hollywood legend, movie star, actress, singer, model and pop icon. She became known for her comedic skills and screen presence, going on to become one of the most popular movie stars of the 1950s. Later in her career, she worked towards serious roles with a measure of success. However, long-standing problems were exacerbated by disappointments in both her career and personal life during her later years. Her death has been subject to speculation and conspiracy theories.

Marilyn Monroe personified Hollywood glamour with an unparalleled glow and energy that enamored the world. Although she was an alluring beauty with voluptuous curves and a generous pout, Marilyn was more than a '50s sex goddess. Her apparent vulnerability and innocence, in combination with an innate sensuality, has endeared her to the global consciousness. She dominated the age of movie stars to become, without question, the most famous woman of the 20th Century.

Monroe was a shimmering on-screen presence - luminous, sensual and larger-than-life. Certain cinematic images, such as her skirt billowing above the subway in Seven Year Itch, or her dressed in a vivid pink gown singing "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend", have become iconic. She was a gifted comic actress, with an instinctive feel for timing. And she projected a smouldering sexuality that was revolutionary in the repressive 1950s.

What she is less remembered for is her singing career, but, as this collection shows, she carried it off with aplomb. Monroe was the ultimate showgirl. Witness her playing her ukelele and giving a raucous rendition of "Running Wild" in Some Like It Hot, or wiggling her way through "A Little Girl From Little Rock" with Jane Russell in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

But as with her acting, Monroe was underrated as a vocalist, perceived by many to be the archetypal `dumb blonde’. Her singing voice wasn’t perfect, but it was expressive, seductive and theatrical. Why else has "I Wanna Be Loved By You" become such a classic, regularly used in advertising and TV? Monroe's voice suggests mood and glamour, something that she worked hard to create

Monroe proved she could carry a big-budget film when she received star billing for Niagara in 1953. Movie critics focused on Monroe's connection with the camera as much as on the sinister plot. She played the part of an unbalanced woman of easy virtue who is planning to murder her husband.

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Video / DVD

Hal Schaefer: Marilyn Monroe and Two Albums

Hal Schaefer:  Marilyn Monroe and Two Albums

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Like Erroll Garner, Hal Schaefer had his own distinctive jazz piano style and transformd every song he played into pure magic. He could turn standards inside out with a swinging fury and, with his right hand, whip up improvised lines that left listeners dazzled. Born in 1925 in Queens, N.Y., Schaefer began playing professionally at resorts in the Catskill Mountains a few hours north of New York. By the mid-1940s, he was playing and recording with Tommy Dorsey and Boyd ...

40

Radio

The Inspiration Behind The Versions Of "Santa Baby" Remakes... Hint, Never Marilyn Monroe!

The Inspiration Behind The Versions Of "Santa Baby" Remakes... Hint, Never Marilyn Monroe!

Source: Cynthia "c." Basinet

Sultry Jazz Pop singer, actress, NOBEL Nominated CYNTHIA BASINET whose ICONIC version of SANTA BABY, that has often be mistaken for Marilyn Monroe all though Marilyn never sang the song, has been the inspiration behind the versions of Santa Baby recorded to date since 2000, whether well-known or not. Cynthia’s one off of Eartha Kitt’s renowned Holiday Tune is a true homage to the famous Cat Woman herself also a lyrical gift to a very special person in Cynthia’s life: ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Marilyn Monroe

Jazz Musician of the Day: Marilyn Monroe

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Marilyn Monroe's birthday today!

Norma Jeane Mortenson, better known as Marilyn Monroe was a Golden Globe Award-winning American Hollywood legend, movie star, actress, singer, model and pop icon. She became known for her comedic skills and screen presence, going on to become one of the most popular movie stars of the 1950s. Later in her career, she worked towards serious roles with a measure of success. However... Read more.

Place our Musician of the Day ...

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Interview

How Marilyn Monroe changed Ella Fitzgerald's life

How Marilyn Monroe changed Ella Fitzgerald's life

Source: Groove Notes

If asked “Who played an important role in the musical career of Ella Fitzgerald?" you might respond with names like Chick Webb, Louis Armstrong, Norman Granz, and Dizzy Gillespie. The name Marilyn Monroe, however, might not come to mind. While touring in the '50s under the management of Norman Granz, Ella, like many African-American musicians at the time, faced significant adversity because of their race, especially in the Jim Crow states. Granz was a huge proponent of civil rights, and ...

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Performance / Tour

Acclaimed Vocalist Rebecca Kilgore Returns to Feinstein's in "Some Like It Hot: the Music of Marilyn Monroe"

Acclaimed Vocalist Rebecca Kilgore Returns to Feinstein's in "Some Like It Hot: the Music of Marilyn Monroe"

Source: Miller Wright & Associates

FEINSTEIN'S AT LOEWS REGENCY, the nightclub proclaimed “Best of New York" by New York Magazine and “an invaluable New York institution" by The New York Post will continue its Summer 2011 season with the return of jazz vocalist REBECCA KILGORE in her new show “Some Like It Hot—The Music of Marilyn Monroe." She will be joined by The Harry Allen Quartet which features Allen on the tenor saxophone, Rossano Sportiello on piano, Joel Forbes on bass, and Chuck Riggs on ...

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Book / Magazine

Marilyn Monroe in Her Own Words

Marilyn Monroe in Her Own Words

Source: Michael Ricci

On Tuesday, publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux announced that it would be publishing Marilyn Monroe's writings in a new book, “Fragments," this fall. “She was a great reader and someone with real writing flair," editor Courtney Hodell told the Associated Press. “There are fragments of poetry that are really quite beautiful, lines that stop you in your tracks." Monroe was married three times: to James Dougherty, four years her senior when she was just 16; later, to baseball great Joe ...

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Music Industry

For Sale: Eternity with Marilyn Monroe

For Sale: Eternity with Marilyn Monroe

Source: Michael Ricci

Elsie Poncher wants to sell the crypt, now occupied by her husband, above the actress to help pay off her Beverly Hills mortgage. Her starting price on EBay: $500,000. The crypt of her husband, Richard, which is directly above that of Marilyn Monroe.

Richard Poncher's eternal sleep will soon be disrupted.

The onetime Beverly Hills resident, who died 23 years ago at the age of 81, will be moving out of the crypt above Marilyn Monroe's resting spot at the ...

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Recording

David Klein Quartet’s "My Marilyn", A Jazz Homage To Marilyn Monroe Now Available In The Us On Enja

David Klein Quartet’s "My Marilyn", A Jazz Homage To Marilyn Monroe Now Available In The Us On Enja

Source: All About Jazz

A Huge Hit in Europe, My Marilyn Features Saxophonist Klein with Mulgrew Miller (piano), Ira Coleman (bass), Marcello Pellitteri (drums) and Miriam Klein (vocals) The David Klein Quintet’s My Marilyn (ENJA) is a heartfelt tribute to the Marilyn Monroe the star and the woman. A huge hit in Europe (selling more that 30,000 copies), My Marilyn is now available in the U.S. The CD has received acclaim from European critics and Marilyn’s friends alike. “Swiss saxophonist David Klein risks an ...

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Incomparable

Les Disques Victo
2012

buy

The Essential Masters

Les Disques Victo
2009

buy

The Blonde Bombshell

Les Disques Victo
2008

buy

Heat Wave - Selected...

Les Disques Victo
2008

buy

Muscic Ages Volume :...

Les Disques Victo
2007

buy

Marilyn/ The...

Unknown label
2007

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Videos

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