Georgia Gibbs

Real name: Fredda Lipson

Born: August 17, 1920

Raised in an orphanage until the age of 8, Georgia began singing there to help raise money +++ Had her first singing job at 11 and sang all through her teens to feed the family +++ Sang on various radio shows between 1937 and 1939 +++ Reappeared, after a "career gap" of several years, in 1943 on Jimmy Durante's radio show, where she stayed for more than 2 years +++ Got her trademark "Her Nibs" from another Durante regular, Gary Moore, during one of the shows +++ Began recording for CORAL records and had her first hit with "If I knew you were comin' I'd've baked a cake" in 1950 +++ In 1951, she signed with the MERCURY label and had a string of further hits, including "Kiss of fire", "Tweedle Dee" (cover of LaVern Baker's hit) and "Dance with me Henry" (another cover, originally recorded by Etta James) +++ Had her own weekly TV show from 1957 +++ Later, she retired to live with her husband in Italy +++ Still tried a comeback in 1971, however, without success +++